The downfall of Fox Footy.

[hawkman]

And again, Fox Footy appears to have chosen to have commentators call off the TV for the Port Adelaide v Sydney game starting in a couple of minutes, judging by the use of the 'green screen' in the pre-match discussion.

Fox Footy continues to treat its subscribers with disdain.

There are no excuses to have commentators calling a game remotely now.

The worse ones are like the West Coast and Geelong game. Where they have one commentator at the ground (Papalia) and another commentator in the studio as well as the special comments men. It sounds so disjointed

Papalia and Pavlich would do a better job just by themselves

 

[Section226]

The worse ones are like the West Coast and Geelong. Where they have one commentators at the ground (Papalia) and another commentator in the studio as well as the special comments men. It sounds so disjointed

Can't agree more.

I recently left a career in radio after 20 years, so hearing the difference in audio quality and the obvious delay due to commentators in different locations, the poor mix between commentators and ground effects is particularly grating and it should be obvious to Fox Footy how bad it is.

They just don't care.

 

[1989]

Seriously, Garry Lyon, adding the words “footy club” every time you mention a team name adds absolutely nothing. So sick of hearing this about 5000 times every weekend.

 

[Cleavy]

Seriously, Garry Lyon, adding the words “footy club” every time you mention a team name adds absolutely nothing. So sick of hearing this about 5000 times every weekend.

To be fair, I’d rather someone say ‘footy club’ than refer to a team as ‘this mob’ like BT does.

 

[1989]

To be fair, I’d rather someone say ‘footy club’ than refer to a team as ‘this mob’ like BT does.

No issue with it in isolation, it's the repetition and predictability. Words that add absolutely nothing. I guess it's one of those things that once you become aware of it, it absolutely grinds on you.

 

[jefffff34]

I know most people on here wouldn't care about it, but anyone with Stan Sport.... just watch what they put together for Super Rugby games, and this coming weekend, the start of the Tests against England.

Just watch.

 

[yamborghinidream]

I know most people on here wouldn't care about it, but anyone with Stan Sport.... just watch what they put together for Super Rugby games, and this coming weekend, the start of the Tests against England.

Just watch.

As in you think it's good or bad?

I think the commentary has slowly gotten worse and fallen back into the old Fox complaint-fest style, too many cooks so they should streamline the amount of "talent" on deck significantly. I would just keep Maloney (who I don't really like) and Swain as the lead callers, Turinui/Ferguson/Horan on comments and McArdle as host. The rest are dead weight. Cheika is the best of the lot but he'll be quite busy soon.

The presentation is a bit sloppy or unpolished at times but I don't hate it in general, prefer that to how mechanical and boring SkyNZ is (seriously have not changed a thing in 15 years). Although I feel like they get confused with targeting new fans of the sport (if there are any lol...) and the diehards.

I wish they had SpiderCam at more grounds because they generally use it pretty well. Don't have too many complaints with how the game is shot except for when they don't have a camera behind the goalkicker which is just horrific.

Will be good to see the tests in 4K.

 

[Walter H White]

It's mostly awful, but the bit of that First Crack show I've seen has actually been quite good.

 

[Smithdogmaddog]

It's mostly awful, but the bit of that First Crack show I've seen has actually been quite good.

would be better without Kingy but I agree, like the format of the show

 

[1989]

First Crack is brilliant. Even if you don't always agree with everything, it has people on there who live and breathe footy and actually keep up with the game, and of course they are not interviewing players or coaches, which cuts out that boredom and allows the panelists to distance themselves from any matey conflicts of interest (e.g. '360 family'). They will actually give an opinion and engage in some robust discussion.

 

[Tugga27]

It's mostly awful, but the bit of that First Crack show I've seen has actually been quite good.

Best show on Fox IMO.

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

Agree with others that First Crack is the best show on Fox Footy.

I think the whole network has been slowly declining for several years, and it was amplified during Covid.

Nothing will beat the first edition of Fox Footy with the likes of Clinton Grybas.

 

[offtherails9]

Agree with others that First Crack is the best show on Fox Footy.

I think the whole network has been slowly declining for several years, and it was amplified during Covid.

Nothing will beat the first edition of Fox Footy with the likes of Clinton Grybas.

At least during covid, and to be fair I wasn't watching it all the time, but it felt like they were doing those weird 3 or 4 person shows in that little broom closet studio with a real variety of people that they had employed. Rather than now it feels like you see the same 5 blokes on every show.

 

[010203]

Type ''Fox Footy headliners'' into YouTube and you'll get some excellent documentaries presented by Jason Bennett that this incarnation of Fox Footy have little appetite to produce.

 

[Billy ray]

I watch the footy, switching on exactly at bouncedown, first crack and thats it. I tape 360 and will watch first segment before guests the next day.
Far cry from years prior where i would watch pre game, couch, and 360 live every night.

 

[fs88]

Thank god Tom Morris is gone from First Crack as he used to always introduce the other panelists by their achievements. "Welcome 2 time premiership player...." etc. Every man and their dog knows of their achievements, stop ramming it down our throats and sucking them off.

I just cant stand Leigh Montagna

Leigh Montagna

Age

40

Ht

178cm

Wt

76kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

23.9

5star

K

14.8

5star

HB

9.0

5star

M

4.7

4star

T

4.0

5star

MG

482.3

5star

No current season stats available

D

5.0

1star

K

3.8

2star

HB

1.2

2star

M

2.4

3star

T

1.4

4star

and his ridiculous takes. Makes 10 stupid big calls per week in the hope that 1 lands and he just rides off that.

Best on Ground is just the wheels falling off the cart of Fox Footy, horrifically cringeworthy.

 

[Kwality]

Type ''Fox Footy headliners'' into YouTube and you'll get some excellent documentaries presented by Jason Bennett that this incarnation of Fox Footy have little appetite to produce.

Its driven by commercial decision making.

 

[dmc333]

Problem is everything is now "content". Which is a really dirty word because it's often code for filling space in the cheapest and nastiest way.

That's not always the case, but it's almost like a combo of the pandemic and platforms like youtube have planted the seed of "what's the least we can we get away with?" in the minds of producers and executives. They're not looking at broadcasting as a high bar anymore.

If you can't be arsed sending a team to the game, beyond a boundary rider who lives in the state, you really should pack it in. You're not a twitch streamer.

 

[Kwality]

Problem is everything is now "content". Which is a really dirty word because it's often code for filling space in the cheapest and nastiest way.

That's not always the case, but it's almost like a combo of the pandemic and platforms like youtube have planted the seed of "what's the least we can we get away with?" in the minds of producers and executives. They're not looking at broadcasting as a high bar anymore.

If you can't be arsed sending a team to the game, beyond a boundary rider who lives in the state, you really should pack it in. You're not a twitch streamer.

'now' you are dreaming.

 

[burge13]

I honestly couldn't care less where they call the game from, just get rid of the bad commentators ffs. Im yet to meet anyone who likes dermie and dwayne!

Also couldn't care less about midweek talk shows, never really watched them other than the footy show in early high school some 20 years ago...

 

[hawkman]

Also what has happened to the Saturday show that was on before the footy with Huddo, Derm and King. It wasn't much different to radio but it was still a better intro into the days footy than we have now

 

[Belnakor]

Thank god Tom Morris is gone from First Crack as he used to always introduce the other panelists by their achievements. "Welcome 2 time premiership player...." etc. Every man and their dog knows of their achievements, stop ramming it down our throats and sucking them off.

I just cant stand Leigh Montagna and his ridiculous takes. Makes 10 stupid big calls per week in the hope that 1 lands and he just rides off that.

Best on Ground is just the wheels falling off the cart of Fox Footy, horrifically cringeworthy.

at least Montagna makes some big calls.

i watch on the couch (well used to) for good analysis and viewpoints i didn't expect.

Now its Lyon lobbing soft balls to Reiwoldt and Brown who agree on everything, never have any real takes, and obviously have not watched several games each week. its s**t now.

 

[Belnakor]

Fox Footy's mindset reminds me of Ch 9 in their closing years broadcasting the cricket

When they first got the rights, it was considered a revolution in the way the sports was covered. But they became increasingly complacent as the years passed with the commentary being increasingly self-absorbed and insufferable.

It was almost as if they felt entitled to the rights and felt covering the game was a bit of a chore.

Ch 9 did lose the rights and Fox prob deserve to lose the rights for their continual commentating from the studio alone. Doubt the AFL would take such leap though.

the AFL will pick whoever pays the most and i think Fox Footy think they "deserve" the rights.

It will be good if paramount or someone else gets it. yes there will be some teething issues but thats about it.

I would like a setup similiar to the test matches - two sets of commentators for fox sports / Chan 10? - all of them at the ground too.

 

[Cleavy]

Problem is everything is now "content". Which is a really dirty word because it's often code for filling space in the cheapest and nastiest way.

That's not always the case, but it's almost like a combo of the pandemic and platforms like youtube have planted the seed of "what's the least we can we get away with?" in the minds of producers and executives. They're not looking at broadcasting as a high bar anymore.

If you can't be arsed sending a team to the game, beyond a boundary rider who lives in the state, you really should pack it in. You're not a twitch streamer.

This line of thinking would be why see get studio analysis/"comedy" shows more often than ever. If they wanted to produce something of note with the archives, they would need to trawl through footage and that takes too much time and effort.

But it wouldn't take much effort to interview 5 players from each club (even if anonymously), ask them a series of questions (like who was their favourite player when they were growing up etc) and cobble together some shows out of that. As long as you could screen calls/questions (to a degree), it's not like they couldn't have a radio talkshow/Q&A format like White Line Fever used to be.

Could even have a basic tutorial show for kids showing how to kick a correct drop punt set shot snap/dribble kick at the goals. It just depends who the audience is that you're targeting.

 

[Father Jack]

I still find it bewildering how a footy channel, who should be wringing absolutely everything out of the actual live coverage of the actual footy, cut away to a kid's show after the last Sunday game pretty much as soon as the final siren has gone.