Seven aids AFL's Sydney push
Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:36 am
So looking forward to this season. 4 games a week all live in Sydney. Good to see Kirk joining the commentary team too. Yay. =D>
Seven aids AFL's Sydney push
Neil Cordy
The Daily Telegraph
February 10, 201212:00AM
THE AFL's bid to win the hearts and minds of Sydney has been given a massive boost with Channel Seven committing to show at least four games of live AFL in the harbour city on 7mate each weekend.
This will bring an unprecedented amount of live free-to-air AFL to the Sydney market - ensuring Swans and Giants fans will be able to see live every match their teams play.
In a bid to make Seven's AFL coverage more appealing to the Sydney market, former Swans captain and crowd favourite Brett Kirk will join their commentary team.
Kirk will patrol the boundary line on Seven's coverage.
"This role won't have as many highs and lows as winning and losing but it will be fun," Kirk told The Daily Telegraph.
Dual Geelong premiership captain Tom Harley, who has lived in Sydney for more than two years since retiring from the game and is boss of AFL NSW, will also join Kirk in the Seven commentary team.
The grand final remains on the anti-siphoning list and will be shown exclusively on Seven.
However, the question remains, will Sydneysiders watch more AFL when given the opportunity?
Harley believes the television coverage is essential in developing appeal to 12- to 16 year-olds.
While it's fine to have the games on television in Sydney, Harley is aware the Giants will struggle to win matches and is keen to sell the game in other ways than on-field success for the Swans and Giants .
"It has to be more than winning games, it's about facility development, community engagement, quality clubs and quality volunteers," Harley said.
Seven's coverage will include the Friday night match, Saturday afternoon and night matches and the Sunday match of the day.
The network is keen to bring a number of technological changes to the match coverage.
The super-slow motion replays and the spider camera which flew above the players at the recent Australian Tennis Open are likely to get a run on Seven's coverage.
Executive producer Nick Barrow is also keen to see more interaction between fans and commentators through social media.
"Having the likes of Brett Kirk, Cameron Ling, Tom Harley, who are straight out of the game, they're on Twitter every five minutes anyway. So to be able to engage the audience, not just through the TV screen, is going to be a new addition to the coverage," Barrow said.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 6267218661