Media Street: Seven replaces Jacqui Felgate with Abbey Gelmi, Brian Taylor mentors Matt Hill

Brian Taylor has taken Matt Hill under his wing as the country’s top race caller makes the transition into AFL calling. That, and much more in Media Street.

Channel 7 is using Brian Taylor to audition its next generation of commentators.

The network’s main man is guiding the rookies in the Sunday afternoon slot with Australia’s best race caller Matt Hill featuring last week.

Former ABC commentator Alister Nicholson was alongside BT the previous week while Jason Bennett is also part of the rotation.

Hill has always coveted commentating AFL and impressed many with his performance on debut at Marvel Stadium for the St Kilda-Richmond game.

Stream every match of every round of the 2022 Toyota AFL Premiership Season Live & Ad-Break Free In-Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-Days Free Now >

Seven commentator Brian Taylor is working with a new Sunday AFL roster.

“I loved every minute of it,” Hill told Racing.com. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, so it was a dream come true.”

The addition of regular Thursday games have forced Seven to add some new faces.

Host Hamish McLachlan is increasing his calling duties this season and on Thursday night will be paired with Bennett, who also commentates VFL and AFLW.

Taylor and James Brayshaw are the prime time Friday night pair with McLachlan joining former Western Bulldogs champion Luke Darcy on Saturday nights.

SEVEN RISING STAR TO REPLACE FELGATE

Olympics golden girl Abbey Gelmi is set to replace Jacqui Felgate on Channel 7’s AFL coverage.

Gelmi has been a star on the rise in the network over the past 18 months and will slot into the role of providing footy news updates over the weekend.

Her promotion comes after the shock resignation of Felgate who left the network on Sunday night after nine and a half years.

There was speculation Seven’s most recent recruit Rebecca Maddern would take on the footy role.

Hamish McLachlan and Abbey Gelmi were a big part of Seven’s Olympics coverage.

But Maddern, a former host of Channel 9’s Footy Show, will continue to focus on co-presenting the news on weekends alongside Mike Amor.

Gelmi has significant AFL links given she has been in a relationship with Richmond’s premiership star Kane Lambert since midway through last year.

The former Fox Sports presenter moved from Sydney to Melbourne last year when she switched networks.

She was involved in Seven’s summer of cricket and was a prominent host for the Tokyo Olympics and Beijing Winter Olympics.

Lions head coach Chris Fagan will be working with a new media manager in Brisbane.

ANOTHER MEDIA MANAGER DEPARTS

The AFL media manager ranks have suffered another significant blow with Andrew Hamilton departing the Brisbane Lions.

Hamilton, a former footy writer with the Courier Mail, has been a key part of Chris Fagan’s resurrection of the Lions in recent times.

He is leaving football and taking up a position at Bond University.

The loss of Hamilton continues a worrying trend of experienced and well-liked media managers getting out of the game.

Last week Collingwood parted ways with long-time media boss Stephen Rielly while Geelong’s Kevin Diggerson, regarded as one of the best operators in the game, also recently left Kardinia Park.

ALL-STAR SPORT CAST

Speaking of AFL media managers, the Gold Coast Suns former man Stephen Wilson is in charge of PR for the biggest show in town (before the Grand Prix starts).

SportNXT is a leadership summit involving global industry leaders who have converged on Melbourne Park for three days to discuss the shaping of sport in the future.

Not all of the big names have made the trek Down Under with NBA boss Adam Silver dialling in from New York while World Athletics supremo Lord Sebastian Coe will also be on Zoom.

The AFL is well represented with Chairman Richard Goyder and CEO Gillon McLachlan both panellists while Tennis Australia’s Craig Tiley is making his return to the spotlight after a controversial Australian Open.

Wilson spent nine years at the Suns after starting his AFL media career at Carlton.

He had his own time in the spotlight in 2015 as a part-owner of Melbourne Cup winner Prince Of Penzance.

Originally published as Media Street: Seven replaces Jacqui Felgate with Abbey Gelmi, Brian Taylor mentors Matt Hill