The downfall of Fox Footy.

YouBeauty

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Sep 26, 2004
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Is it just me or has Fox Footy gone down hill dramatically. I used to love it and now I loathe it as much as channel 7. I feel maybe it's a much lower cost production and it's starting to show.
  • The same personalities on nearly every game, brown Riewoldt and Kath
  • Wrong scores during ad breaks, showing teams from the previous night
  • Crap shows like bounce and best on ground
  • Shoving boxing events down our throats
  • The talking segments before the games are just weird, they all try to talk really fast and are constantly blurting out rubbish to fill time
  • Sportsbet ads
 

wagstaff

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100% agree. Not only is the quality of the content steadily degenerated but from a technical perspective they've become stagnant and lazy.

No significant technical innovation i can recall they've provided in recent years, probably because they spent so much on the rights they decided it wasn't of value.

Only watch it for the matches now (often with the sound off).

Similar thing has happened when Fox got the cricket rights; commentary is dire and tbh, prefer Ch 7's coverage (even with ads).
 

The_Eagles

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Jun 30, 2005
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I would just rather listen to 3AW or 6PR than watch the pre or post game nowadays, and with channel 7 axing talking footy and Sunday preambles, the whole shooting match seems lacklustre across the board. Bring back the mahogany and suits..Hopefully the post-covid rebound comes into effect over the next few years
 

MM2021

Draftee
Apr 13, 2022
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The state of Broadcasting this game is at an all time low. Direction, Production and talent are all dragging the coverage down. There is a lack of editorial clout in production and direction that really damages the game. There is a fascination with Crowds and crowd shots when the story is the player. Replays going to long and shown at inappropriate times over live play. The worst and i mean the absolute worst shot choice when players are kicking for goal and you can never tell if the ball has gone through the middle or is a point.

Ch7 is really on the nose with the AFL, i think there is a real danger for them that they will lose the rights, i hear that they are going to really mix up their talent choice for next season. Make no mistake about it, they are under pressure to be better.

In my opinion, the shows surrounding the game are no better, or nothing different to what has been in place for 25 years. Couch is still a good show and First Crack is good watch, it should be on Saturday Nights. The basic take is there is more bad than good in the broadcasting of the game and when it gets to that stage its in trouble. Its never going to be perfect, its a very hard game to cover, but there should always be more good than bad, sadly its the other way around.
 

Rusty Brookes

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It used to be great. The Winners with Flares - old episodes of the Winners so you could watch old obscure games from the VFL. Grumpy Old Men was a lot of fun. They used to have the one hour wrap up of the round - all the highlights in the one place. I was hoping they'd expand that sort of stuff - old WAFL, SANFL and VFL games. Highlight packages from the secondary leagues. etc

Now it's just endless replays of the whole round and as that tweet so beautifully points out, 10 different shows with the same people ad nauseam.
 

5ammy

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Jun 16, 2015
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I think it might boil down to cost-cutting due to the pandemic & streaming services becoming more popular having an effect. They got rid of a fair few people so therefore the same faces keep popping up.

I still love my Fox Footy though, I'm a bit of a dinosaur it seems Lol
 
I reckon I watched just about every episode of 360 up until the pandemic hit and the AFL went into recess. I sort of got out of the habit of it but watched an episode last night, and the bloody thing was opening segment - player interview - player interview - player interview - concluding segment. I find player panels and interviews tedious and largely pointless, so I if that's what the show's like now then I don't think I've been missing much.

Also, I used to enjoy Saturday Stretch but I flatly refuse to watch that new bounce-inspired thing that's replaced it. They keep trying this 'comedy' bullshit and it keeps failing, so why? It just reminds me of how I hate that there's no proper review of the round on Sundays, only that imbecilic pile of crap that they cut away from the last game for.

Also, why isn't there a half-hour Supercoach show every week? Not like that crappy half arsed thing they used to do, but a nerdy, proper one? Surely it would be cheap enough, and it's not like they don't have tonnes of airtime going to waste.
 
Sep 7, 2005
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Is there anything worse than your team winning on a Saturday night or Sunday twilight? All you want to is bask in the victory via footage from the rooms, highlights, analysis, coach presser etc but the coverage switches immediately to Best on Ground / Bounce.
 

YouBeauty

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Sep 26, 2004
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The analysis seems so cookie cutter now.

Almost templated speeches where they recall the same stats and reason for winning like 'contested possessions'.

There seems to be an emphasis on over the top extravert types like Brown and Riewoldt with their different stances and hand waving actions.

It needs grittiness and more detail oriented type analysts.

Commentary during the game is full of opinion and useless stats. Just call the game! Jason Bennett is the best going around because he is no frills.
 

wagstaff

Norm Smith Medallist
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It used to be great. The Winners with Flares - old episodes of the Winners so you could watch old obscure games from the VFL. Grumpy Old Men was a lot of fun. They used to have the one hour wrap up of the round - all the highlights in the one place. I was hoping they'd expand that sort of stuff - old WAFL, SANFL and VFL games. Highlight packages from the secondary leagues. etc

Now it's just endless replays of the whole round and as that tweet so beautifully points out, 10 different shows with the same people ad nauseam.
Yep, the original Fox Footy 2002-06 channel version was great for showing old VFL highlights. One weekend when there was only one match on they had 6-7 hours devoted to showing 1980s highlights.
 

wagstaff

Norm Smith Medallist
Nov 28, 2001
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4,275
The Sea of Holes
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Richmond
Other Teams
Melbourne Stars, Arsenal
The state of Broadcasting this game is at an all time low. Direction, Production and talent are all dragging the coverage down. There is a lack of editorial clout in production and direction that really damages the game. There is a fascination with Crowds and crowd shots when the story is the player. Replays going to long and shown at inappropriate times over live play. The worst and i mean the absolute worst shot choice when players are kicking for goal and you can never tell if the ball has gone through the middle or is a point.

Ch7 is really on the nose with the AFL, i think there is a real danger for them that they will lose the rights, i hear that they are going to really mix up their talent choice for next season. Make no mistake about it, they are under pressure to be better.

In my opinion, the shows surrounding the game are no better, or nothing different to what has been in place for 25 years.
When Ch 9 showed footy for the first time back in 2002, I remember how they would switch to the opposite wing when set shots could be better viewed from there; it was a genuine innovation and improvement for TV viewers.

Have Fox or 7 improved the watching of footy in the past decade in any notable way? None that I can think of.

TV coverage has stagnated badly in recent years and I think it's hurting people's enjoyment of the game. It still feels like they're in 2007 mode with their coverage.
 
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offtherails9

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May 30, 2012
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It used to be great. The Winners with Flares - old episodes of the Winners so you could watch old obscure games from the VFL. Grumpy Old Men was a lot of fun. They used to have the one hour wrap up of the round - all the highlights in the one place. I was hoping they'd expand that sort of stuff - old WAFL, SANFL and VFL games. Highlight packages from the secondary leagues. etc

Now it's just endless replays of the whole round and as that tweet so beautifully points out, 10 different shows with the same people ad nauseam.

Spot on. I wish they'd show more old s**t, surely they've got a massive catalogue to choose from? Shows like Grumpy Old Men that are a bit original too.

I dunno why they bother with the replays when they're on demand anyway, surely most people have at least the opportunity to record games or stream them in 2022. So much other s**t they could be doing. Be creative.

I'm replying to a few different posts here so don't mind me, but the old 'reverse angle' on Channel 9 back in the day was elite. Was a much better way of telling if a set shot had gone through.

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The idea with Best on Ground is that it's trying to be the Matty Johns Show. Which regardless of your thoughts on NRL, is a great, hilarious TV show. NRL players are naturally more laid back and have a laugh with the hosts, Matty Johns is an absolute professional and has a great sense of humor, and the combo of Fletch and Hindy is iconic and absolutely hilarious. I guess they're trying to find our version of that. But looking to Buckley, Riewoldt and Brown isn't really what we want.

The thing is Jonathan Brown is actually pretty funny and interesting, I listen to him on his podcast he does called 'Browny's Podcast' with Campbell Brown, and he's green to listen to, genuinely interesting stories and anecdotes. However on Fox Footy, he's quite cookie cutter and boring, I wouldn't describe him or Riewoldt as an extravert on TV at all. Riewoldt isn't really what anyone is looking for, no offense to the bloke. But they need some guys with some genuine character and looseness without taking it completely too far. There are definitely people out there that Fox could be looking at employing and giving a crack to, but they just don't want to be creative and good, and think chucking the same blokes they are already paying a shitload too will get the job done.
 
May 20, 2011
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When Ch 9 showed footy for the first time back in 2002, I remember how they would switch to the opposite wing when set shots could be better viewed from there; it was a genuine innovation and improvement for TV viewers.

Have Fox or 7 improved the watching of footy in the past decade in any notable way? None that I can think of.

TV coverage has stagnated badly in recent years and I think it's hurting people's enjoyment of the game. It still feels like they're in 2007 mode with their coverage.
In 2007 they had the crowd only noise setting, so the coverage was more advanced back then vs today.
 
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