Who Should be the Face of Footy at Channel 7?
Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 12:08 pm
Hmm, not sure about Glen Archer with no on-screen experience. What's so bad about bringing back Bruce? Failing that, I'm a fan of Dermott Brereton. Not sure if he's signed on with Channel 9 though. Well thoughts anyone? Who should be the face of footy at Channel 7?
Face of footy is playing in the backline
08 March 2006 Herald Sun
By STEVE PERKIN
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/ ... 42,00.html
IMAGINE you're working at Channel 7 and your boss calls you into his office one day and says: "You're in charge of our AFL coverage." Where would you start?
Ian Johnson is that man in charge and right at this moment he's trying to decide which pegs to push into which holes.
He wanted Garry Lyon, but Lyon has accepted an offer to remain at Nine as co-host of The Footy Show.
Bruce McAvaney is in the wings and though he will certainly be a caller, it's unlikely Seven will turn the clock back and give him a more influential position.
Then there's Tim Watson. The former Essendon champion has the footballing credentials and has gained on-camera experience reading weekend sport bulletins.
He has also sharpened his media skills through his morning stints on radio with SEN.
But there's still a school of thought around that Watson would represent a risk.
I'm a Watson fan and someone at Seven must rate him highly enough to let him be part of the news. There is no more important program in a network's roster.
After that it's Clinton Grybus, Sandy Roberts or somebody from left field, such as Wayne Schwass.
And though finding "Seven's face of football" is a big project, there are other pegs to be found, and one I mentioned recently is Kangaroo star Glenn Archer.
I would suspect that, if you asked players and supporters,
Archer is the most respected player in the game today.
If I were Ian Johnson, I'd be signing Archer now and spending the entire year getting him used to on-screen work so that next year, when he most probably retires as a player, he's ready to move into the next phase of his life.
Television networks aren't particularly good at this. They tend to toss newcomers in front of a camera and let them sink or swim.
Archer will swim because he's good enough.
With some serious help, he might actually swim really well.