As I am writing this, Australia have just defeated England 28-20 in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup opener.
After trailing 10-0 early in the match, the Aussies came back to lead at halftime and withheld a spirited English fightback at the end.
The match has been tight and the contest absorbing, and England ought to lose no admirers with their performance.
The shining light of this opening match, however, has been Channel 7’s commentary.
After years of Channel 9, with the agenda-driven negativity of Phil Gould and the boys’ club mentality exemplified by Brad Fittler, the Channel 7 crew led by Andrew Voss were a breath of fresh air.
What we have heard and experienced was a celebration of rugby league.
The commentators have been professional, international, and even their national biases have been, if it is possible to say, somewhat neutral.
If the production crew of Channel 9 are secretly watching this coverage and wondering how they can improve their control over rugby league in Australia, they could do a lot worse than take their cue from this match.
Keep your commentary enjoyable, professional and neutral, and you’ll go a long way to earning the right to be appreciated by the legion of fans that follow the game.
Well done Channel 7. Bring on the remaining matches.
Luke M
Guest
Channel 9 actually started this during the finals this year.
Luke M
Guest
His bias is also ridiculous. The Warriors score a simple draw and pass try, and its MAGNIFICENT! UNBELIEVABLE!
russell johnson
Guest
Yes but no one is suggesting ru is stuck round the M25 ! He could have just as easily said if RL wants to develop or progress! And dismissing what I said as a rant won't make it any less true! The reason they are and have been so successful at this is it's almost never over stated and contains an element of truth. Then it gains the support of people like yourself. Let me give you just one example when people want to put down The RLWC they say things like it's only been won by so many teams which is a result of the fact that it was only played for by 4 teams for most of it's history and the latest period of Aussie dominance. Now, if you believe journos don't have agendas, never favour one sport over another and always tell the truth- like in the film I want some of what you're having!
TKS
Guest
I'm with you there 100%. Halligan is forever getting names wrong and making the wrong calls on decisions by the refs - it's so irritating!!
NickF
Guest
Hadley called Vossy a "Grub, G.R.U.B". Vossy took him to court. Hadley settled out of court, but used his influence with channel and other friends to terminate Vossy's job and connections at nine. Hadley is th G.R.U.B. if you ask me. Great call Vossy.
Dave
Guest
Refreshing to have live games on free to air. The commentry doesn't have to be much to be better than Ray Hadley on nine. What a retrograde step that is. Channel nine show one game of NRL a week on free to air full of adds. The WC television coverage is a God send, decent commentators, limited adds, and live. I do like Stevo, the Pommy commentator, he has a union Jack in both eyes, he is so biased, but he wears his heart on his sleeve. If he were the ref the Poms would have won by a hundred.
Dave
Guest
Great point Russell, why is someone interested in a Rugby League site but doesn't much for the game at the highest level. That would make that person many things, that I can't post on this site, but it isn't very bright is it?
Dave
Guest
Great poinr Russell, why is someone interested in a Rugby League site but doesn't much for the game at the highest level. That would make that person many things, that I can't post on this site, but it isn't very bright is it?
Rustbucket
Guest
So do I. Maybe with the ABC Radio commentary in the background. There's a slight delay but its tolerable.
tycannah
Guest
+1 Andrew Voss is an exceptional caller compared to Warren and Gould. Welcome back to league. Listening to W&G is like listening to those two old farts in he muppets. Half the time they lose interest in the game and go off at a tangent.
Dsat24
Guest
Agreed, as a commentator Halligan was a great kicker and Vossy cuts his own sandwich in commentary as opposed to the Rabs and co groupthink on the back of Captain Hindsight Gus Gould.
Muzz
Guest
Gus love's to predict the obvious and then say i told you so. My father in law watches Chan 9 with no volume and constantly asks who's that player son? It was great to hear Vossy again.
Hez
Roar Rookie
The no HD is a farce, further proof that the NRL bent over and took it from 9.
Djcooper
Guest
Couldn't agree more with the majority of comments praising the commentary of ch7 compared to the dribble we are subjected to by ch9. I would suggest the biggest problem ch9 has is that it's commentary team have lost site with the fact of what their roles actually are. Rabbits warren and Ray Hadley arent there for their analysis of the game or for their thoughts on what teams are doing wrong. They are there to solely call the action and should leave the 'expert' comments for the others.
NWR
Guest
Ok so ch 7 didn't do coverage, and Vossy doesn't work for 7 ,not sure of the point you're making. Commented on call and lack of rubbish from commentators, just called the game nice change. Oh thanks for other info.
Reality
Guest
"Did you read what I said about the article or did it not suit? " If I'm honest I didn't ,it takes too long to decipher your argument through the ranting. RL in England (never mind the rest of the UK) does struggle, its a fact, pretending it isn't ain't going to help the expansion of RL. RL is played in Bristol and Gloucester, but RU is also played in Huddersfield and Wigan but they will never, in a million years, replace league from the hearts of the locals.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
Is that so? Fair enough then. Sill, whether it was Channel 7 or a live feed, the point was that the commentary itself was still light years ahead of Channel 9. It's important, I think, for viewers not leave feeling like everything about the sport is dirty. Gould and co excel at that.
Glenn Iness
Guest
Yes I concede they have bigger budgets and more cameras but you can have all the cameras you like won't help you if they are held onto by bums and the production team are second rate.
Glenn Iness
Guest
One final on the the camera work Iwatch sky coverage of superleague from time to time and it is still not in the same class as nine (but still better than the BBC - the Challenge Cup final was so dreadfully filmed you would swear they were trying to hide the games appeal if you were a conspiracy theorist) - nine obviously do not tolerate bums and pay good money to skilled people because whatever sport they cover the camera work is always first class.
Glenn Iness
Guest
It was the Kiwi entrepenuer Albert Henry Baskerville who got the game up and running in Australasia - sadly he died young, if he had stuck around League may well have ended up a much bigger sport in New Zealand than it eventually did.