Open Mike

[Puddy]

Paul Kelly, Choco Williams, Neil Craig, Scott Hodges and Roger Merrett off the top of my head

 

[mr bagcroft]

Did Mike ask how much he was paid to play. Per month, per year?

 

[Belnakor]

Such a boring interview from a boring ex-player.

Bob is actually normally quite well spoken and has a thoughtful viewpoint. The problem is Mike is very very limited as an interviewer and didn't bring anything of controversy up unfortunately.

I would suggest Mike should go around and re-interview some of the better ones that should have been an hour, but Mike's limitations make that hard.

 

[Belnakor]

I would like to see Denis interviewed first if he hasnt already.
He would have 10 hours worth of stories and tidbits.

I heard a Denis interview on the radio before he retired and he was brilliant, went for 2 hours i think and there was no shortage of interesting stories etc.

Mike is finished in this format, doesn't ask the hard questions just wants to talk about money and other bullshit, or just blow smoke up people's arses.

 

[TheJanuaryMan]

Note to the shows researchers. Check if the upcoming guest has written a book. It would make your job easier and the show more interesting.

unless it is Doug Hawkins.

"Hawk Namure"

 

[Minka Beaver]

I didn't mind the Bob Murphy episode. He can tell an anecdote (some of which I hadn't heard), although he's more of a cashed-up bogan than the hipster that the footy media make him out to be.

I had a chuckle at Dale Weightman claiming he wasn't dirty. It wasn't by accident that the 'Flea' got nabbed 16 times. Ultimately though it was a poorly researched interview used as an excuse to insert some Dusty Martin/Neil Balme talk.

 

[DangerSloane]

I heard a Denis interview on the radio before he retired and he was brilliant, went for 2 hours i think and there was no shortage of interesting stories etc.

Mike is finished in this format, doesn't ask the hard questions just wants to talk about money and other bullshit, or just blow smoke up people's arses.

Thats not necessarily Mike's fault.
Thats society being a bunch of wusses. Probably told he cant ask questions to make the guests feel uncomfortable because it may affect their mental health or some rubbish.

 

[TheLoungeLizard]

Thats not necessarily Mike's fault.
Thats society being a bunch of wusses. Probably told he cant ask questions to make the guests feel uncomfortable because it may affect their mental health or some rubbish.

Nah Mike's just a rubbish interviewer

 

[DangerSloane]

Nah Mike's just a rubbish interviewer

But he didnt used to be....
So why has he just suddenly become crap?

 

[Beerfish]

But he didnt used to be....
So why has he just suddenly become crap?

Not sure it's been 'sudden'. I think it's just laziness.

 

[Minka Beaver]

Not sure it's been 'sudden'. I think it's just laziness.

Mike has never been a great interviewer - his questioning is repetitive and lacks insight beyond footy - but his vault of footy knowledge was always superb, so he cultivated interesting conversations.

The problem is that he's obsessed with money and vicarious fame. So instead of uncovering the best stories or the best footy insights, Open Mike has become a stream of golf mates, Sorrento neighbours and assorted people he wishes to know better. Christ, even the Murphy interview couldn't go without Mike referencing seeing Bob at a pub in Sorrento.

 

[TheLoungeLizard]

But he didnt used to be....
So why has he just suddenly become crap?

Not sure it's been 'sudden'. I think it's just laziness.

Partly the guests, partly Mike, partly Fox Footy.

On the guests, I recall Michael Parkinson saying once the bets guest is the one you don't have to ask questions to because they just tell stories and answer any possible questions.
He needs to get more people who have spent time outside of the game and have more experiences on.
As great as someone like Brendon Gale was for the aspect of rebuilding a club from the inside - he should be on in 2-3 years when he's walked away from it all.

On Mike, he's all but retired from the landscape barring the odd call up to fill in on a show when someone's unwell.
He's clearly the sub teacher of Fox Footy and rolls in for half an hour a week for extra money, his heart isn't in it at all anymore and it really shows.

On Fox Footy, they have to know this, they have to open the budget to get bigger and better names if that's whats needed and if they like Mike so much they need to invest in better researchers and stop Mike winging it with questions like "If I recall..."

 

[Bombermania]

Mike seems to have never recovered from the Jackson interview, before that his interviews seemed to be more in depth but then again his interview skills were always soft or light rather than hard hitting.

 

[tugga]

Merv Keane, 1980 premiership player and RFC team of the century, should be a good one.
He lost his wife and daughter last September and apparently he really opens up about it.

 

[jimbler]

^ Wasn't his son diagnosed with cancer around the same time? Haven't watched it this year, but will tune in for this one.

 

[mr bagcroft]

Dunno if I want to watch that but I probably will. Beyond tragic by the sound of it.

 

[Marstermind]

Rubbish interview. At one point Mike had literally run out of questions and finished up by confirming with Keane that the interview wasn't forced and that Mike was not being "opportunistic."

Having said that, it's an gut-wrenchingly tragic story. Merv Keane is a stronger man than me. His ability to sit there and talk about it so soon was incredible. I'd be a mess. Despite the poor interview, I just sat there full of admiration for the bloke.

 

[Jane Doe]

Rubbish interview. At one point Mike had literally run out of questions and finished up by confirming with Keane that the interview wasn't forced and that Mike was not being "opportunistic."

Having said that, it's an gut-wrenchingly tragic story. Merv Keane is a stronger man than me. His ability to sit there and talk about it so soon was incredible. I'd be a mess. Despite the poor interview, I just sat there full of admiration for the bloke.

I agree regarding the comments regarding Merv Keane I don’t know how he can cope. I fully admire him and his sons

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Where can I watch this and Flea's?

 

[Pykie]

Really dislike interviewing guys like Murphy the year after they retire.

We already know his story, it's fresh in the mind and they are far to near out of the system to reveal anything interesting, because they won't tread on any toes, it's garbage and lazy.

99% of the show should be interviews from players in the 60's, 70's, 80's and if they retired in the 90's, that era is probably acceptable.

Do this before their stories are lost forever. It's the point of this show.

Bob Murphy
Lonergan & Mackie
Dustin Fletcher
Corey Enright
Nick Dal Santo
Matthew Pavlich
Brian Lake
Jake King
Simon Black
Jonathon Brown
Justin Koschitzki
Brent Guerra
Matthew Scarlett
Gary Ablett Jnr
Chris Judd
Brett Kirk


Were all absolute shit for the above reason.

There's plenty of ex players to interview out there without using 25% of the inerviews up with recently retired players.

 

[SuperSteele22]

Watched last nights episode with Merv Keane and thought it was one of Mike’s better interviews until he basically asked Merv at the end to assure the viewers that he actually wanted to come on the show because Mike didn’t want to be seen as opportunistic.

Seriously, imagine sitting there interviewing a fella that has only recently suffered immense heartache that most people could only imagine and the whole way through it you’re worried about your own reputation and what people might think of you. Petty and insensitive as can be.

 

[Hammer#8]

Just rewatched Matty Lloyd's, what a great episode.

He mentioned kicking 2.7 in a game against Freo leaving him devastated, but it was most likely the game where he kicked 0.4 against them in 98.

I also remember he should have won the Coleman in 2002, but I think Neitz pipped him by one goal at the end of the H&A.

My memory of Lloyd's career was that post 2001 his form dipped badly and that he was perhaps the byproduct of being in a great side. In hindsight he upheld an amazingly consistent and high output of form throughout his whole career.

 

[Procrastinator35]

My memory of Lloyd's career was that post 2001 his form dipped badly and that he was perhaps the byproduct of being in a great side. In hindsight he upheld an amazingly consistent and high output of form throughout his whole career.

Interesting....My memory of Lloyd, is of a player who retired at years end because if he didn't, he knew the retribution that was coming his way for breaking Brad Sewell's jaw, by running off the line of the ball from the centre square bounce.....And that was on top of his use of an arm-guard, to break the jaw of a first year player in Thurgood a year prior to that.....The word coward comes to mind.

Now you know how he earn't the monicker; 'The velvet sledge-hammer'.

 

[Hammer#8]

Interesting....My memory of Lloyd, is of a player who retired at years end because if he didn't, he knew the retribution that was coming his way for breaking Brad Sewell's jaw, by running off the line of the ball from the centre square bounce.....And that was on top of his use of an arm-guard, to break the jaw of a first year player in Thurgood a year prior to that.....The word coward comes to mind.

Now you know how he earn't the monicker; 'The velvet sledge-hammer'.

The Thurgood one was a shocker by Lloyd, I forgot that incident.

Mike could have asked him if it was a tactic to 'almost go out and hurt other blokes'.

I thought when his career tailed off a little (again only my recollection) that he did play a different role and try to become more Tony Lockett than Peter Knights.

Similar to Fraser Gehrig, started as a lightly built, skillful backman/wingman at the Eagles to then become a snarling, barrel-chested, bad-arse mofo at the Saints.

 

[Belnakor]

Really dislike interviewing guys like Murphy the year after they retire.

We already know his story, it's fresh in the mind and they are far to near out of the system to reveal anything interesting, because they won't tread on any toes, it's garbage and lazy.

99% of the show should be interviews from players in the 60's, 70's, 80's and if they retired in the 90's, that era is probably acceptable.

Do this before their stories are lost forever. It's the point of this show.

<List of recent players>

Were all absolute shit for the above reason.

There's plenty of ex players to interview out there without using 25% of the inerviews up with recently retired players.

to be fair some of those blokes would give a shit interview even if they had retired for 20 years. ie: Pavlich and Judd who gave the media nothing except cliches their entire career, everyone was a good bloke etc. No comment on blokes they didn't rate etc. Dal Santo was the best of that lot.