Gerard Whateley - Best in the business?

[Plugger35]

It's not hard to be the smartest guy in the room in a room full of ex-football players.

 

[Sweet Jesus]

It's not hard to be the smartest guy in the room in a room full of ex-football players.

He's such a wordsmith!

That said, his writing reads like something an above average Year 10 kid could produce.

 

[Lethality]

Still using words he doesn't understand to try and sound smart. Today he described Buddy's kicking style as archetypal. That would mean that Buddy kicks the ball like a typical AFL player, which of course he doesn't.

 

[Sweet Jesus]

I like it how Gerard and King do their "top 4 seeds" like their voodoo bullshit is a better indication than the ladder.

And surprise, surprise, their top 4 seeds at the end of R23 are just the top 4 on the ladder. Such insight.

 

[RAPPA]

Whateley's morning monologues are just him fapping to himself. At least KB's were short and sweet.

 

[Elmer_Judd]

He is a shocker, pompous, hypocritical and sanctimonious dork.

 

[Elmer_Judd]

Whateley's morning monologues are just him fapping to himself. At least KB's were short and sweet.

I always enjoyed how KB liked trolling listeners and winding them up, he has a real sense of talkbalk theatre. Whatley can put even the most restless insomniac to sleep

 

[Dogs Rule]

I like it how Gerard and King do their "top 4 seeds" like their voodoo bullshit is a better indication than the ladder.

And surprise, surprise, their top 4 seeds at the end of R23 are just the top 4 on the ladder. Such insight.

Brings to mind King's 'Premiership Quadrant' from 2016.

Dogs not even in the frame, then you know, something not found in his statistical mumbo jumbo stepped in and he was shown up to be utter bulltish artist.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Still one of the best in the business. That’s both a slap on the back to him and a kick up the arse the rest in the business

 

[peternorth]

Still one of the best in the business. That’s both a slap on the back to him and a kick up the arse the rest in the business

Certainly has a place in the AFL/Sporting landscape. Interviews with top international sportspersons are very good.

 

[Sweet Jesus]

Still one of the best in the business. That’s both a slap on the back to him and a kick up the arse the rest in the business

He's a professional commentator. In that regard, I'd say he's both unique and profoundly ordinary.

He's not a former player, so he's already starting behind the more thoughtful contenders in that lane i.e. Gerard Healy.

And while he may once have brought a journalist's sensibilities to his coverage - or at least claimed to bring them - I think, increasingly, that dog won't hunt.

So what is he these days? An incrementally more cerebral version of Andy Maher?

He's a professional broadcaster. That's the best I can say about him these days. If the autocue freezes, Gerard won't fall off his chair. In terms of content, it's diminishing returns when you have dedicated analysts like David King and increasingly polished former players like Nick Riewoldt. I guess you still need someone to intro segments and then throw to commercials without forgetting the name of the show.

Certainly has a place in the AFL/Sporting landscape. Interviews with top international sportspersons are very good.

I recall Trump being described as a poor person's idea of what a rich guy looks like.

Increasingly, Gerard strikes me as a dumb person's idea of what a smart person sounds like. And there's no doubt there's an audience for that.

It would be like McDonald's designing a marginal upgrade on its dishwater coffee and rebranding it as its "boutique offering". Likewise, Gerard is "the clever alternative" to the blokey back-slapping and penis-fencing - the "boutique offering" once you get sick of McCafe swill. I mean, even for someone of below average intelligence, presumably there's only so much Andy Maher you can handle. So that's where you need Gerard to come along and spend 30 minutes asking "where does it sit?"

Because that's what "insight" and "analysis" sound like for people incapable of either.

 

[incaciawin]

Can imagine him as a High Priest in his previous life.

 

[Sweet Jesus]

This week's Toby Greene

4

Toby Greene

Age

30

Ht

182cm

Wt

85kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

22.7

5star

K

12.5

5star

HB

10.2

5star

M

4.8

5star

T

3.0

5star

G

1.2

4star

D

17.5

4star

K

9.5

4star

HB

8.0

4star

M

4.8

4star

T

1.0

2star

G

2.3

5star

D

26.6

5star

K

12.4

5star

HB

14.2

5star

M

4.8

5star

T

3.6

5star

G

0.0

1star

episode made me wonder - does Gerard get briefed by the AFL about the penalty it will seek, allowing him to get the ball rolling on the public messaging while passing it off as "commentary"?

He does seem to have been an early mouthpiece for the AFL position, before making their case on Monday and pushing their appeal on Tuesday. That's quite something. That's not neutral commentary. He's been the spokesman for the AFL case.

If the AFL did brief someone to carry water for them, they couldn't ask them to do more than Gerard did this week. He's been not just in lockstep with the AFL position, but the advance party for it.

 

[SuperMal]

Whately is an agenda-driven sycophantic ‘pseudo intellect’ who has a strong command of language, but uses his intellect to pursue his own positions with regard to events - and as such disguises that he gives any other view short shrift. In this he’s no better than Neil Mitchell - Makes a big story premised on HIS belief.

He’s also gutless..whenever a footballer disagrees with him...he says ZERO in response - watch him when Dunstall has a different view....he looks like a cowering puppy.

As for his ‘Blighty this, Blighty that’ and other suck-holing behaviour......anyone with such a weak will cannot be relied on to present a balanced argument.

 

[buzzbuzz]

Still using words he doesn't understand to try and sound smart. Today he described Buddy's kicking style as archetypal. That would mean that Buddy kicks the ball like a typical AFL player, which of course he doesn't.

Actually in this context he would be stating that Buckley's kicking style is its very own archetype, an idiosyncratic style of his own that is recognisable by anyone and also the perfect example of kicking.


archetype \AHR-kih-type\ noun. 1 : the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies : prototype; also : a perfect example. 2 : a transcendent entity that is a real pattern of which existing things are imperfect representations

 

[Lethality]

Actually in this context he would be stating that Buckley's kicking style is its very own archetype, an idiosyncratic style of his own that is recognisable by anyone and also the perfect example of kicking.


archetype \AHR-kih-type\ noun. 1 : the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies : prototype; also : a perfect example. 2 : a transcendent entity that is a real pattern of which existing things are imperfect representations

I was talking about Buddy though, not Buckley.

I doubt Buddys style will be remembered as the original perfect copy of anything. It's not even the original, he learnt it from Peter Sumich

Also archetype and archetypal are two different words

 

[XhazzafootyX]

The guy is a coward

 

[The 747]

Was much better covering cricket, where the ability to draw existential waffle out of an essentially dull game is a requirement.

On football he is cringeworthy.

"As we come to penultimate round, rushing headlong towards the denouement of this season that has been everything and anything but ordinary, the heads of the greats turn to nod their appreciation of this great coach, this champion and say there but for the wind go I....etc"

Followed by Robbo *Drunken waffle*

 

[SuperMal]

Was much better covering cricket, where the ability to draw existential waffle out of an essentially dull game is a requirement.

On football he is cringeworthy.

"As we come to penultimate round, rushing headlong towards the denouement of this season that has been everything and anything but ordinary, the heads of the greats turn to nod their appreciation of this great coach, this champion and say there but for the wind go I....etc"

Followed by Robbo *Drunken waffle*

Well said.

 

[Chalky White]

An AFL mouthpiece. Leaked snippets of information but in return has to be complimentary to a basically corrupt organization. Then gives the impression he is the smartest nerd in the room for working out the AFLs agenda, when in fact he is drip-fed the information and used as an AFL puppet.

 

[Wight Wolf]

He is a shocker, pompous, hypocritical and sanctimonious dork.

Using words like that indicates you are exactly what you're describing

 

[Dogs Rule]

Was much better covering cricket, where the ability to draw existential waffle out of an essentially dull game is a requirement.

On football he is cringeworthy.

"As we come to penultimate round, rushing headlong towards the denouement of this season that has been everything and anything but ordinary, the heads of the greats turn to nod their appreciation of this great coach, this champion and say there but for the wind go I....etc"

Followed by Robbo *Drunken waffle*

Spot on. The classic example of someone who uses three or four words where one will
do. Someone who spent too much time reading the thesaurus at school thinking it would impress the teachers. Doesn't make you look like an intellectual Gerard, just makes you look like a pompous twat.

 

[imadodgyumpire]

His mum was an English teacher.

 

[The 747]

His mum was an English teacher.

That is not an excuse, he is an adult man.

 

[Tugga27]

Whately is an agenda-driven sycophantic ‘pseudo intellect’ who has a strong command of language, but uses his intellect to pursue his own positions with regard to events - and as such disguises that he gives any other view short shrift. In this he’s no better than Neil Mitchell - Makes a big story premised on HIS belief.

He’s also gutless..whenever a footballer disagrees with him...he says ZERO in response - watch him when Dunstall has a different view....he looks like a cowering puppy.

As for his ‘Blighty this, Blighty that’ and other suck-holing behaviour......anyone with such a weak will cannot be relied on to present a balanced argument.

Don't hold back mate.

Tell us what you really think.