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I’ve always found it odd that the general quality of sports talk shows in Australia is so poor. This very website is proof enough that many of us are thinking about sports and articulating our thoughts in a public forum.
Yet for the vast majority all we get on TV is boofheads telling us what a great bloke such and such is and how players today should ‘harden up’. Or any other of a thousand brands of nonsense.
However, the addition this year of NRL Tactics to the Fox Sports stable of programs has been wonderful one for rugby league fans. This is a show that does not get bogged down with stories about salary caps, video referees and hotel hallways.
Rather, it tries to analyze the strategies and tactics that are being used on the field to win actual games of rugby league.
The show is hosted by Andy Raymond, who has, despite his propensity to attach borderline silly nicknames to players – ‘Old School’ Josh Miller being a great example – become an excellent play by play commentator over the last few years.
He is joined every week by one of two once and future NRL coaches in the form of Stuart Raper, Michael Hagan and Brett Kimmorley, an articulate and engaging rugby league analyst.
Perhaps the only concerning thing about NRL Tactics (and this goes for the entire array of Fox Sports shows at the moment) is the change of sets from classy timber desks and finishings to bright white sets with what looks like the inside of a spaceship from a bad 1970s science fiction show.
Aside from my reservations about the interior decorating, I encourage anyone with access to check out NRL Tactics on Tuesday evenings, and perhaps we can start to weed out the boofhead elements of sports coverage.
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