Channel Seven have held the rights to the AFL for years and as a whole we have become accustomed to what they offer, but should we be accepting the quality of match broadcasts they are dishing out each week?
The past weekend’s broadcasts have shown us from almost every aspect the coverage isn’t up to standard, whether that be the commentary team, camera editing or the artificial crowd noises.
For starters the commentary has been average at best, Brian Taylor’s humour stopped being funny two seasons ago and his overall calling of the game doesn’t add much to the broadcast. Bruce McAvaney hasn’t been up to his best recently, Cameron Ling and Mathew Richardson are average but in general they don’t bring much to the table.
Overall when you compare the commentators to Fox Footy and various radio stations they don’t come close.
Take this clip for example, BT shouts “Danger” about 11 times followed by him shouting “Butler” five times. Some may enjoy it but in my opinion it’s annoying, excessive and not something you’d expect from someone who’s had the job for many years.
Compare it to this clip which is a fairly similar goal called by Adam Papalia. The commentary isn’t repetitive, adds to the goal overall and most importantly it doesn’t make me want to reach for the mute button.
Channel Seven’s post-match interviews aren’t much better either as shown in the Richmond vs Melbourne game. In this clip boundary rider Abbey Holmes is talking to Dion Prestia, her second question in essence is asking Prestia what’s been missing in their previous games and why they haven’t been able to play the “Richmond brand”.
It’s a perfectly good question, however Holmes takes 21 seconds to ask it and attempts to steer Persia’s answer to involve the mental aspect of the unpredictable season. Eventually Holmes turns a broad question into what could’ve simply been a yes or no answer had Prestia chosen to respond in such a way.
Compare it to Fox Footy’s Sarah Jones’s post-match interview with Bomber Jacob Townsend, and you can clearly see the difference in quality. Jones’s questions are short and to the point allowing for the viewer to get more out of the interview and predominantly hear from the player.
Seven’s camera editing is also pretty average, take this clip for example, Dustin Martin takes a nice mark close to goal, 7 then decide to replay the mark as Martin is lining up for goal with a picture in picture format with the live image being shown in a small box in the corner. While the replay is showing, Martin plays on to kick the goal leading to a quick cut back to the live image meaning the replay of the mark wasn’t even shown.
With extended breaks between a goal being scored and the ball up this season, could 7 not wait until the play has finished to show us the replay? Or at least copy Fox Footy and have the replay in a small box and the live image as the main picture?
Channel Seven have also added the “fan zone” to its coverage, where to make up for the absence of a crowd they will cut occasionally after goals are kicked to fans on their couches decked out in merchandise celebrating a goal.
This doesn’t add much to the overall broadcast and if anything I’d rather see more replays of the goal. In reality if I wanted to see people watching TV I’d change the channel to Gogglebox or place a mirror next to my TV.
Channel Seven also needs to sort out their fake crowd noises, Fox Footy’s Tom Morris said it best when he tweeted: “Crowd noise needs to complement the game not dominate the game.”
Obviously we want the game to be as authentic as it can possibly be, and when used properly I am a big fan of the fake crowd noises. But it defeats the purpose when they crank up the volume way too high leading to the commentators having to shout.
It’s the equivalent of going to a restaurant that plays loud music, it’s annoying, unnecessary and ultimately everyone ends up yelling, making the whole experience less enjoyable.
Overall I’ve never been a fan of Chanel 7’s broadcast, I think the commentary team as a whole is pretty poor, the camera angles and editing are constantly chopping and changing unnecessarily and even something as simple as fake crowd noise they’ve managed to get wrong.
It’s time for 7 to up the ante and significantly improve the product they offer, especially considering we can’t attend the footy for the foreseeable future.
Hutchy
Guest
Carolee - What are you on about? You're trying to compare the "sacrifices" West Coast have made to that of the Victorian teams?! How many home games have the Eagles played at their home ground? Would you like to know how many Essendon for example have played at home... 1! That's right 1 game, not to mention the shocking scheduling. So please, do some research before commenting.
Milo
Roar Rookie
Its a good point. Most of the NFL coverage has two main commentators- one's more a special comments, the other play by play, and then one 'boundary rider' or at most two (one on each team's side). Even the MBL only has two or three total.
Milo
Roar Rookie
Hes not even just a very naughty boy (anymore).
Mr Right
Roar Rookie
In 2020 I am still surprised that they can not get a replay shown until 2 mins after it has occurred. As for the rest of the issues with channel 7 broadcasts I would classify them under "1st world problems". If they worry you that much then pay $20pw for fox or turn on the radio.
Cone of Silence
Roar Rookie
Yes, put BT on a radio station ... preferably one based in another country with no Australian coverage !!
AG
Guest
Put BT back on radio... he's more suited to that. He's just over the top. Lingy offers next to no insight.
Jamie
Guest
Generally I agree. I usually watch all the games through Kayo (Fox Sports) so I can have the absolute minimum in Channel 7 commentary, as before and after the fa.e is Fox commentary. But I absolutely cannot stand Mark Howard.
Cone of Silence
Roar Rookie
"In reality if I wanted to see people watching TV I’d change the channel to Gogglebox or place a mirror next to my TV." Classic comment, very funny :laughing: :laughing:
2dogs
Roar Rookie
How many games has Anthony Hudson played?
Carolee House
Guest
I watch the TV but listen on the radio 6pr have great commentators !!
Carolee House
Guest
Channel 7 commendation definitely only get excited by their preferred teams and players, every other game and player barely gets a mention. As a West Coast support, the commentators that we get are rubbish, only talk about the opposition and rarely have a good thing to say about our play (except how bad they were in the past 3 weeks). Nothing about the sacrifice that the hub teams have made, excepting it's all changed, now that Vic teams have to exit Melbourne.
Uosdwis R. Dewoh
Roar Rookie
Their coverage is laughably bad on so many levels, especially this year with the crowd noise and fake tarps. Their coverage has gone remarkably downhill in the last few years - their team is shocking. They really need to do a deep cleanout. Fox does have a much better commentary team. They just need to get rid of Dwayne Russell. He says some ridiculous things, like the other week during the Port v WC game he said "Everyone talking about the Kennedy family during the week, but what about the Ebert family?". What an incredibly dumb comment - the reason everyone was talking about the Kennedys during the week was because John Kennedy Sr died. Plain stupid. Get rid of David King too. I watch a lot of old games that Channel Ten broadcasted, and their coverage was top-notch. Very professional, unlike 7.
Maximus Insight
Guest
A massive part of the problem is the protection racket around the commentators. Many of the radio / TV show hosts are also commentators. I was listening to Dwayne Russell on SEN last week and he shut down discussion around BT's horrendous commentary at one stage saying "I'm sure many people think my commentary poor". A couple of years ago Sam McClure (then a colleague of BT's on talking footy) did something similar ceasing taking calls from people saying how bad BT is and instead asking for people to ring and tell him what they love about BT.
Maximus Insight
Guest
Brilliantly put, Knoxy
Maximus Insight
Guest
Not too mention his insistence (Bruce does this too) of trying to call whether it is a goal or not immediately off the boot.
Alchemist
Guest
Absolutely hit the nail on the head! All the best callers these days are on fox or Melbourne radio.
Qlder
Roar Rookie
It seems we mostly agree that there's some room for improvement. Just a couple of things to add. When a commentator refers to the fake crowd noise as if it is a real response from a real crowd, things are getting a bit weird. The commentators use of nicknames with each other is just too matey and blokey. It's certainly not professional. Finally: am I the only person uncomfortable with Wayne Carey constantly being lauded on Ch7? The man has a pretty decent record of DV and related charges against him over the years. In this day and age? really?
Knoxy
Guest
Each to their own I guess. Personally I prefer commentators who call the game in a professional manner and get the basics right like remembering players names. The football is the entertainment as far as I'm concerned. I certainly don't need commentators shouting at me in order to create excitement.
Cone of Silence
Roar Rookie
Agree, really good piece by Tom.
Cone of Silence
Roar Rookie
....either that, or BT has a photo of Kerry Stokes doing something nasty to a goat. There is no other explanation as to why BT's contract gets renewed.