He was renowned for calling out from the player's rooms "Can you hear me Harry"? ....referring to Harry Beitzel. A doyen.
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I must say I'm enjoying the renaissance of Peter Donegan.
His calling on SEN is top shelf old school. Fully in command of the game, sees it well, calls it well, a little humour here and there, but not at the expense of the actual narrative of the game. Knows his players, knows his footy history, and is good at working with the rest of the team.
I agree with a lot of comments. Anthony Hudson is good. Gerard Whateley is good.
My most hated are Dwayne Russell. And Bruce Mcavaney. I'm just waiting waiting waiting for Bruce to retire. Aren't I?
I remember hearing (I think) Smoky Dawson talking about why Richie Benaud was the best commentator he ever heard, using the Gatting ball as an example; Richie just said "he's done it" and let the pictures do the talking. Commentary for television is really about knowing when to shut up and calling what's in front of you without more. It's no coincidence that AFL commentators typically take the opposite approach.
As always, Dwayne is a creep and the worst going.
The early '80s and Greg Chappel (until Steve Smith the best batsman I have seen wear the baggy green) was really struggling mounting up duck after duck against the Windies pace attack and Richard Hadlee was getting him out for fun. Greg walks to the wicket against the Windies at the MCG (I think) test match and manages to nick the first ball he faces straight to Viv Richards at first slip.
All Richie said was "First ball..." but you could hear all three of the ellipsis points as he said it. It was the most devastating two ball summary of all time.
Doug Heywood always used the full name of the player - Nicholas Winmar, Douglas Barwick, Terence Daniher, etc..
I remember watching Fitzroy v Footscray on The Winners in the early 80's one night and Doug Heywood gave this little nugget of commentary gold..."Mark Komp, kicks it like he normally does, very poorly"
He was a brilliant and understated commentator. Basically the bipolar opposite of most of the heathens today.
Does anyone know where Tommy Lahiff got his nickname of "Tommy the Turk"? He was a much loved man.
"The Professor", Kevin "Skeeter" Coghlan was a erudite and perceptive panelist on W of S.
Bruce Andrew may have been the last man in Australia to persist with a middle parting. A real gentleman.
I also loved Roy Simmonds. He had a great laugh.
There was a jazz musician called Tommy Turk. I always thought that the nickname was something to do with him. Tommy and Harry had some good years calling Footscray matches on 3WRB in n the 1990s with Steve McPherson doing special comments.
I must add. I can totally not stomach Luke Darcy as a commentator at all...........he is unbearable.
Loved him as a player and I believe he's a good person.................but just totally polluted by FM blokiness........just awful
Roos drove me mad today calling JJ "Johanson." He's a Norm Smith medallist ffs, how hard is it to get his name right.
Bet Roos would have been pissed off if commentators had referred to him as "Roof."
I hardly watch football on TV and if I do it’s on mainly on mute.
Friday was an exception and re-confirmed my huge dislike of Cameron Lings commentary but 100% reinforced how good Dasiy Pearce is. Channel 7 should have her in the commentary box not as a boundary rider.
Couldn’t agree more az
Ling is a pain in the arse
Captain obvious
Ling is terrible. Daisy is ALSO terrible. If she is going to break into the game to state the bleeding obvious, well, she would be better off saying nothing at all.
We already have one boundary rider who is determined to EXPLAIN the game to us (David King). We KNOW. We are not morons. We are watching. Stop telling us what we can see with our own eyes. Apologies to those riding the Daisy train, but addition by subtraction would be the best approach for her to follow.