Opinion Worst caller of the game currently?

[Docker82]

Dwayne Russell
Dwayne Russell
Dwayne Russell
Dwayne Russell
Dwayne Russell

Calling him the worst once didn’t seem enough tbh.

 

[Freo Big Fella]

Good sports commentary is so important to the enjoyment of the game, in any sport. It’s such an underrated talent.
The best in the world in my opinion is the British football commentator Peter Drury. He’s just a genius, and has called some of the biggest moments in soccer to absolute perfection. Here he is calling a brilliant Mo salah goal from a couple of years back

The thing about the best of these sort of calls is that the commentator is so across A - their brief and B - their craft is that these sort of injections of emotion and adrenaline are clearly spontaneous and genuine, and add to/help define the moment as a result. (I'd have Huddo's "Thirteen ... THIRTEEN" in similar territory.)

Compare and contrast to the mentally challenged gibberers Seven put up on Fridays and their clearly rehearsed/workshopped one liners and catchphrases that go down like a lead balloon, while the commentators involved routinely fail to get players' names right.

Dennis the exception that proves the rule here, as the reason his one liners were so good was that he made sure he was nailing his brief first.

 

[Shaymuhz]

Good sports commentary is so important to the enjoyment of the game, in any sport. It’s such an underrated talent.
The best in the world in my opinion is the British football commentator Peter Drury. He’s just a genius, and has called some of the biggest moments in soccer to absolute perfection. Here he is calling a brilliant Mo salah goal from a couple of years back

Imagine him or Martin Tyler doing our beautiful game...

 

[freo99]

Underwood is better than she was on 10, she is still annoying but not in the same class of
annoyance as BT + Brayshaw.

 

[Dockeroo]

The thing about the best of these sort of calls is that the commentator is so across A - their brief and B - their craft is that these sort of injections of emotion and adrenaline are clearly spontaneous and genuine, and add to/help define the moment as a result. (I'd have Huddo's "Thirteen ... THIRTEEN" in similar territory.)

Compare and contrast to the mentally challenged gibberers Seven put up on Fridays and their clearly rehearsed/workshopped one liners and catchphrases that go down like a lead balloon, while the commentators involved routinely fail to get players' names right.

Dennis the exception that proves the rule here, as the reason his one liners were so good was that he made sure he was nailing his brief first.

Agreed. Hudson is brilliant. On a different level to every single other AFL commentator at present. You just know if your team has a big moment, he will do it justice.
This piece by Huddo at the end of the Adelaide v Melbourne game last year is one of the high water marks in recent AFL match commentary. So good.

Contrast that to the drab tripe we had to listen to on Sunday

 

[stax on the mull]

BT and then Carey really stuffed up the call of Shai Bolton

29

Shai Bolton

Age

25

Ht

176cm

Wt

77kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.3

3star

K

6.9

3star

HB

5.4

4star

M

2.8

3star

T

2.9

4star

CL

1.4

4star

D

12.7

3star

K

9.2

4star

HB

3.5

2star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.7

4star

CL

1.8

4star

D

9.2

3star

K

4.6

2star

HB

4.6

4star

M

2.0

3star

T

2.6

4star

CL

0.0

1star

's mark of the year

 

[nurries]

She gets so much s**t wrong. You would think the producers would pull her up on it?

 

[Outshined]

It's a pretty sad indictment on the state of commentary that there's a crystal clear best caller (Huddo) but the worst could really be raffled between 5+ names.

Might be nostalgia from Saturday night footy on Channel 10 in the mid-late 00s but Tim Lane was excellent too.

 

[SupermanCapes]

Good sports commentary is so important to the enjoyment of the game, in any sport. It’s such an underrated talent.
The best in the world in my opinion is the British football commentator Peter Drury. He’s just a genius, and has called some of the biggest moments in soccer to absolute perfection. Here he is calling a brilliant Mo salah goal from a couple of years back

The best part of these calls is the time the commentator gives themselves to consider the right words. Great speakers use silence just as effectively as words and this is a phenomenal example. I think its a struggle in our game because the peanut gallery always chime in if the primary commentator stops talking for even a fraction of a second. You can guarantee that ReeShooto would have bobbed up with something inane (I know he's put in a lot of work this offseason on his kicking etc etc) if he was there for the Salah goal and completely ruined the moment.

 

[Cayman Docker]

Murray Walker - F1 … GO GO GO GO GO!!!!!
Phil Liggett - Tour de France
Love/d Sandy, Dennis, Bruce, Huddo.

I like Gerard Healy’s input, not always but a mile ahead of plenty. Agree with others that I think he’s quietly enjoying watching us grow, but he’s for the most part fair when critical

Underwood, sorry but that has to be a politics thing, her being there, it just grates the ears… had an English friend watch a game and even he questioned why, and that call on Freddie, just got it so frigg’n wrong… completely missed a golden opportunity to have that call nailed on re run after re run for GOY for the remainder of the season but was just lost

 

[Nodgey]

I like Brenton Speed's commentary. He does A-League, NRL and AFL - now there's an expert in their field who must do a LOT of research.

 

[Alfonz]

Ice hockey has/had same great callers. Mike "Doc" Emrick is an absolute legend.

I wonder how much our commentators get paid. Tony Romo was a revelation when he started. Calling plays before they happened and explaining everything. He is on a US$180 million dollar contract. More than he earnt while playing. Getting paid about $1 million per game for 10 years.

 

[Tbonefreo]

Underwood is far too good to be used for our measly Fremantle games. With quality like her, she should be exclusively used for games where two Victorian teams battle it out. Hope the AFL are listening and realise the gold they aren't getting maximum value out of.

And whilst on that topic it is a bit the same with Eleni umpiring. Why are the AFL wasting such a brilliant umpire on Fremantle games when she could be used in far more important Vic v Vic games?

Youre onto something here WTG

 

[Van_Dyke]

It's a pretty sad indictment on the state of commentary that there's a crystal clear best caller (Huddo) but the worst could really be raffled between 5+ names.

Might be nostalgia from Saturday night footy on Channel 10 in the mid-late 00s but Tim Lane was excellent too.

i can't understand why 7 doesn't have Tim Lane call the footy while employing him to do the cricket as well, he's a very good caller. is michael christian still the mro official? he was a fairly solid caller in the 10 days as well

 

[BStaff17]

Basil zempalis.

Not a fan of Garry Lyon either but he is more expert commentary

 

[Barra_Mundy]

Dwayne Russell, Kelli Underwood and BT would all be up there as my least favourite.

I think Adam Papalia is underrated, I'd have him as one of the best in my opinion.

 

[Gimme the Fyfe]

I swear someone is punishing us when we get Gerard Healy calling a game, not even he sounds like he wants to be there. Throw in Jonathan Brown's meathead voice followed by the jackasses on The Bounce laughing it up on a Sunday night.