When Craig Hutchison set up a six-a-side park cricket competition in the early 2000s, it was more than just sport.

Hutchison was in his late 20s and working as a sports reporter on Channel 7 in Melbourne.

AFL stars including Liam Pickering, who played for Hutchison’s beloved Cats, were among the Wednesday night cricketers at Fawkner Park, in Melbourne’s South Yarra.

Former Sydney coach and then North Melbourne full forward John Longmire, 2000 Brownlow medallist Shane Woewodin and AFL journeyman Jade Rawlings, also came down for a hit.

The late Shane Warne was once a spectator, watching the “Network Cricket” league that Hutchison had created.

The rules were specific. A tennis ball was taped yellow on the seam with red tape across one half of the ball.

“It was 12 overs each side, then we would all go to the pub and have a beer,” a former participant said.

“The ball was only taped on one side so it would swing. Hutchy called it Network Cricket, he just wanted to bring together good people. There were lots of teams, there was a CUB (Carlton & United Breweries) team, it’s going that far back.”

All-up, there were 14 sides – more than 80 players – who Hutchison brought together for a laugh and a beer.

Hutchison probably saw there was more than one pun in the name.

Yes, there were players from TV networks, including Gerard Whateley, but this was Hutchison’s network.

It’s the blueprint of how Hutchison, 50, spent the past 30 years building up his contacts, earning himself a seat at the table in the AFL media.

Now there’s annual Super Bowl trips, where he takes a tour group of Australians to the US sporting event.

This year it’s in San Francisco, with Hutchison charging up to $35,000 to attend, including a ticket to the game, as well as dinner and drinks with him and an NFL expert.

He also has a marquee on AFL grand final day in the September Club – the VIP space in the grounds outside the MCG – with DJ Nikki Pratt providing the soundtrack for the past decade.

AFL players drop in, with West Coast star Nic Naitanui helping out on the decks last year.

A video posted online of the September Club marquee shows Naitanui with his arm around Hutchison, who looks like he’s having the time of his life.

He’s one of the boys, and now he’s inside the Boys’ Club at the top of the AFL.

Hutchy, as he signs off emails, has become an influential player in Melbourne media circles and across the country with his sticky-taped network of radio stations under the Sports Entertainment Network banner and his sporting teams.

It was not always the case.

The Warragul-raised Hutchison was polarising and ruthless.

That’s not only what his critics said about him – it’s how he described himself.

He wanted to be respected, to be part of the AFL industry he had watched as a boy from down the Princes Highway.

Sometimes he went too far in the hunt for a story.

Channel 7 was forced to pay out a St Kilda player who Hutchison had incorrectly accused of rape. He had jumped the gun on the story in the desperate rush to be first in television’s nightly ‘war’ on exclusives.

He survived but left Seven three years later, spending some time in New York before ending up at Channel 9 on Footy Classified while starting his own media business.

Those who knew him back when he was a reporter say he was always trying to work an angle.

A slab of beer or a free ticket for a contact was a useful way of getting a tip. His work was his life.

Sometimes he would forget where he parked his car and come back and find it days later.

He kept in touch with some of his friends from Warragul, but Hutchison was always plotting for acceptance by the AFL elite.

“He can work a room. Most of his mates are the AFL guys, like Gillon McLachlan and those types, and the people he employs,” an AFL industry insider says.

Another insider says Hutchy was a “laughing stock” at the AFL until he pulled off a $10 million takeover of the league’s radio broadcast rights in 2016. At that point, he didn’t own a radio station.

The deal doubled the value of the AFL’s radio rights.

“Then Gill started going out to lunch with him a couple of times a year,” the insider said.

In a peculiar arrangement, Hutchison’s Crocmedia took on the overall rights and then on-sold them to other radio stations, including his former employers Triple M and 3AW.

He even managed to do a deal with 3AW to take over their popular Sports Today program, buying the airtime and then selling his own advertising.

That parlayed into his takeover of SEN radio in early 2018, where he became the surprise owner of a much-loved talk sports broadcaster based in Melbourne.

McLachlan had taken the punt that Hutchison could pay the $10 million broadcast bill, and he knew how.

“Hutchy is the only man I know who called me once for a private chat and then we had to stop for an ad break in the middle of it,” McLachlan said in 2023 during one of his many ‘farewell’ parties before leaving the AFL.

McLachlan and Hutchison have become close. They both love the Mount Erica Hotel in Prahran, in Melbourne’s inner eastern suburbs.

McLachlan became chief executive at Tabcorp after leaving the AFL after more than a decade in the top job.

His decision to pull $3 million of Tabcorp advertising from racing radio station RSN prompted a lucrative windfall for Hutchison this month.

Sports Entertainment Group agreed to pay $3.25 million over three years for RSN, which was at risk of closing after 100 years of broadcasting because the Tabcorp funding was withdrawn.

Racing insiders say the station has never made money, but Hutchison had told them he was confident he could turn a dollar.

The purchase price was less than half of what Racing Victoria paid for the station four years ago.

Hutchison declined to comment when approached for this story.

Sources close to SEN say that McLachlan was not involved in the radio deal and the RSN sponsorship decision was not linked to Hutchison’s company, which also produces an interview-style TV show hosted by Gillon’s brother, Hamish.

The RSN deal was lauded as a victory for Hutchison and a sign of his deal-making prowess.

But industry insiders say the jury is still out.

“You can make as many deals as you like but if you are just adding costs it’s not a great business,” an insider said.

“If it was a good business it would have been picked up by now. It does have some serious investors – Viburnum, Craig Coleman, Ron Hall is still in there and Chris Giannopoulos.

“But it has only paid out a dividend once.”

FOOTY SHOW SACKING

Hutchison’s move into becoming a radio station owner came just months after one of the biggest rollercoaster years of his life.

He had been parachuted into the hosting role at the Footy Show in 2017.

James Brayshaw was departing after a fight with Channel 9, which he has denied was over money.

The show, which was pioneered by Eddie McGuire, was a key part of Nine’s schedule.

Hutchison had been the host of the Sunday Footy Show and Footy Classified when Nine was looking for a replacement on the Thursday night program.

He was one of the most high-profile choices available in Nine’s stable.

But the ratings bombed.

His final episode was when Sam Newman refused to speak because Nine bosses had tried to stop him talking about controversial topics.

Newman’s silent protest led to Hutchison getting sacked and McGuire’s return.

“I’ve always been one of those polarising guys,” Hutchison said on SEN radio the day after his Footy Show sacking in July 2017.

Losing the job to McGuire would have been a blow.

“To me Eddie McGuire was where he wanted to be, he modelled himself on Eddie,” Hutchison’s former colleague at the Herald Sun, Jon Anderson, said.

Anderson was sitting in the sports newsroom when Hutchison started at the Herald Sun as a cadet in 1993.

“I knew Craig when he was a young newshound reporter from Warragul. I enjoyed his company back then but could see that nothing was going to stand in his way,” Anderson said.

“We bonded over a mutual love of Geelong. That’s how he became close friends with Liam Pickering because of that.

Hutchison does have loyal backers. Steve Carey, former news director at Seven Melbourne, poached Hutchison to work for him.

“One of the first things I did when I took over as news director was to get Hutchy over,” Carey said.

“He had the runs on the board and he had the grunt that I wanted to bring into the newsroom.

“He had a forensic knowledge of football and of sport.

“He was fiercely competitive. Some people may not have liked his style, but that’s what was needed.

“Hutchy has taken that attitude into business and he’s created a media empire at SEN.”

Western Australian rich-lister Rhonda Wyllie, who is worth $400 million, was a key backer of Hutchison’s takeover of SEN through Viburnum.

Ms Wyllie, who was previously the partner of ex-Collingwood president Jeff Browne, was behind the investment fund that gave Hutchison $10 million to seal the merger with Pacific Star Network, the previous owner of SEN.

One of his other major investors, Mark Rothfield, is a leading property investor in Melbourne. Rothfield is managing director at Chase Properties, with just one of its developments coming with a $100 million price tag.

Rothfield has been a long-time investor in SEN, alongside his brother John, who is better known as Dr Turf or Turfie.

Mark Rothfield says he never doubted Hutchison.

“I think he’s (Hutchy’s) outstanding,” Rothfield said.

“I always had faith in him, he’s the hardest-working person I know and the smartest person I know. I’m happy, my brother is happy, we’re happy with the way the business is going.”

Dr Turf’s affection for Hutchison was tested when he booted him off air after taking over SEN in 2018.

He also forced out Richmond legend Kevin Bartlett to replace him with ABC broadcaster Gerard Whateley at a significantly higher salary.

At one point, both Dr Turf and Bartlett had been Hutchison’s boss when they gave him a chance as their producer when they were doing the breakfast show on RSN in 1996.

That’s the overlap in Melbourne’s small media world, and potentially why Hutchison has described himself previously as ruthless.

However, Hutchison has given some people second chances.

He picked up Tom Morris after he was sacked from Fox Footy when audio leaked of him making disgusting comments about his co-host and revealing her sexuality.

Hutchison said when he hired Morris that he was a “fine person who made a mistake” when defending the decision.

What he didn’t make public was that Morris was being paid $500 a show each Sunday for which he spent the week preparing as he tried to rebuild his career.

Hutchison has previously been in trouble for underpaying staff.

The Fair Work Ombudsman found in 2014 that his former company Crocmedia had exploited interns who were paid less than the minimum wage.

Hutchison paid back the money when alerted to the error, a judgment said.

THE FINANCIAL CLIFF

Hutchison’s win on the RSN deal has capped off a period of good fortune.

However it was not always so rosy.

Sports Entertainment Group had lost $9.2 million in a year and was racing against a deadline to pay a $28 million Commonwealth Bank loan in late 2023.

That loan had breached its covenants, meaning the bank could have called it in at any time.

Hutchison sent out a company-wide email, denying reports at the time that the company was on its knees, calling it a “rehash” with “no new information”.

There were real concerns that the radio network, which employs high profile hosts including Matty Johns in Sydney, Ian Healy in Brisbane, Adam Gilchrist in Perth and Garry Lyon and Tim Watson in Melbourne, would fall over.

Auditor BDO raised concerns about its “ability to continue as a going concern”, which is accountant speak for stuffed.

Hutchison had been in preliminary meetings about selling the company to a major media player, but his asking price was well above market expectations.

Then an email dropped in his inbox.

Mark Arena, a Perth Wildcats fan, had made a fortune from his cyber security company Intel 471.

The former Australian Federal Police technical specialist was moving back to Perth just at the time Hutchison’s financial woes were hitting the headlines.

Arena, flush with cash from the sale of his company, wanted to buy the Wildcats, an NBL powerhouse that SEG had picked up for $8.5 million from shopping centre owner Jack Bendat in 2021.

The deal valued the Wildcats at $40m, with $21 million paid in August 2024, another $15m in to be paid in June 2026 and a final $4 million in June 2028.

“Approached Hutchy via email in early December 2023. That’s all I’ve got for you,” Arena said in a LinkedIn message.

“There was a lot of discussions and meetings that drove out of that including Hutchy, SEN chair Craig Coleman, an investment banker representing me (Rhys Lenarduzzi from Prime Financial) and myself.”

The deal wiped out Sports Entertainment Group’s debt.

Hutchison could get back to hosting Super Bowl parties and continue paying the wages of some of Australia’s premier retired sporting stars.

Sports Entertainment Group stated it made a $29.2 million profit in financial figures released in March, mainly funded by the Wildcats sale.

But page 12 of that same report listed an operating loss of $456,000 for the six months to December.

Hutchison acquired 2,363,668 shares in SEG in May, according to documents filed with the Australian Securities Exchange.

Those shares were valued at $567,280, the documents state, and they also revealed that his partner Clare Hazell, had 187,585 shares in the company.

Hutchison has been with Hazell for almost a decade. They regularly step out together at the Brownlow Medal and gala openings.

The pair was spotted in the Birdcage at Flemington on Cup Day in Crown casino’s marquee rubbing shoulders with politicians including Premier Jacinta Allan and Deputy opposition leader Sam Groth, the former tennis star.

They were also at the launch of the Sporting Globe in Richmond last year, alongside Nova radio host Lauren Phillips, and Collingwood’s Mason Cox and Brayden Maynard.

Hazell has also been courtside with Hutchison celebrating with him when he owned the Perth Wildcats.

Hutchison has become involved in the lives of Hazell’s two teenage children and they share a house.

He takes his stepson to NBL games and often talks about how he streams video games on Twitch.

Hazell is an entrepreneur in her own right, running a natural cosmetics company, Ello Botanicals, which uses ingredients from her family’s farm near Mt Wellington in Tasmania.

THE BIG MOVE

Hutchison has always maintained an on-air presence, despite running a radio station, sports teams including the Melbourne Mavericks netball side and the Bendigo Spirit in the WNBL and a television production company.

He also hosts his own podcast where he talks about the media alongside his colleague Damian Barrett, who declined to comment when approached for this story.

And he caused a stir this summer when he defected from Nine to Seven, taking his close friend and colleague Caroline Wilson with him.

Wilson, who is one of the few people to call him Craig, often drove Hutchison home after filming Footy Classified each week for 17 years.

They moved across as part of Seven’s push to up its football programming outside broadcasts, something that had been a bug bear of McLachlan’s who wanted to see more football talk shows.

The new show, called Agenda Setters, went up against Footy Classified.

The deal raised eyebrows inside Seven because Hutchison’s production company would produce the new TV show using some of Seven’s staff.

The push came as Seven overhauled its entire football staff, replacing long serving executive Lewis Martin with Chris Jones.

The new Director of Network Sport at Channel 7 was Hutchison’s old housemate.

They shared a home in Cutter Street Richmond when Jones moved to Melbourne to work as a cadet at Seven in 2002.

They remain close friends.

“He began his work experience with me and earned the nickname the rookie,” Hutchison said on a podcast.

“It was a big brother, little brother relationship. He might have been there for four or five years I think, it was a fair run.”

Jones has shaken up Seven’s football coverage. His big play was poaching Kane Cornes from Channel 9 as a commentator.

Cornes, who is managed by Hutchinson’s Sports Entertainment Group’s executive Chris Giannopoulos, had been a co-host with Hutchison on Footy Classified.

The 300-game Port Adelaide star also appears on SEN radio.

Hutchison has been one of Cornes’ biggest backers, with insiders saying that he took him out of a fire station in Adelaide to become a front-page headline grabbing commentator.

His move was seen as a win for Seven, with his “click bait” comments creating headlines, but there was also a risk.

Cornes has had a public feud with North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs this year, both clubs banned him from their rooms.

And his tense exchange with Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge on the ground at Geelong’s home ground in May was viewed by some as antagonistic.

Kayo revealed in May its audience was up 25 per cent compared with last year, with the biggest increase on Thursday and Friday nights.

However, sources familiar with the thinking at Seven said that change was needed this year.

There was a belief that Seven had to be more opinionated and confident in its coverage to attract attention.

The Kerry Stokes owned channel has departed from its family focused, conservative agenda to American-style aggressive reporting, with Cornes as the provocateur in chief.

Hutchison himself had played that role before. He was in a famous spat with NBA star Andrew Bogut when he claimed that he was over paid by the Sydney Kings when speaking on SEN.

Bogut responded with a spray at Hutchison on social media, which included a reference to Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Mysteriously, days later, 10 boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts were delivered to the SEN offices.

LIVING THE DREAM

Hutchison always dreamt of being in the media, pretending to commentate games into a radio when he was in primary school.

His dad, who had a column in the local paper, the Warragul and Drouin Gazette, helped him get his first job in journalism, aged 12 as a commentator and a sports reporter.

“He was a great child, he was a wonder child. We were very, very proud of him. We thought he would have a future in journalism,” his dad Ken said in a YouTube video.

“I approached the broadcaster and said I’ve got a son who is interested in journalism and could he do a call every now and again. I had no doubts it would work.”

Ken Hutchison’s confidence in his son’s success has been well placed.

Mark Howard, commentator and podcaster, has been a good mate of Hutchison for decades.

“Hutchy is the most loyal, caring hard working bloke I know,” Howard said.

“He always makes time for his friends that he grew up with and I feel fortunate to call him a friend.

“I’m tremendously proud of the success he has had. He has been a valuable sounding board for me over the years and his advice has always been spot on.

Some people have had less than warm relationships with Hutchison, who put Channel 7’s chief news reporter Mitch Cleary in the freezer after he left SEN to work for the AFL website.

Hutchison failed to turn up to Cleary’s leaving drinks despite him pulling long hours for SEN over his five years with the company working on Sportsday with Dwayne Russell and Gerard Healy, helping out on Footy Classified and Trade Radio.

They rarely spoke for seven years until Hutchison returned to Channel 7 and they had to share a screen on Agenda Setters this year.

Some of the bad blood was washed away when Cleary gave Hutchison a lift while he was waiting for an Uber, which Hutchison spruiked on his podcast.

Other people have also mentioned how Hutchison, rarely, if ever drives, although he does have a driver’s licence.

Barrett also gave an insight on Hutchison’s friendships on the podcast this week when discussing the farewell for the AFL’s Mr Fix It Brian Walsh, who gathered the good and the great of football media recently.

“You have fake relationships with a lot of people Hutchy, I’m happy to say that about you, and I think it's a credit that you do because you need to with your business,” he said.

It’s been a long time since Hutchison was organising those Network Cricket games.

So long, that one of the pubs they used to drink at, the Fawkner Park Hotel has closed down, replaced by Bistro Gitan, a French and Spanish inspired restaurant.

Some who played with him remember Hutchison was more of a batsman than a bowler, and more fond of fours than quick singles.

He shared many run chases with Pickering, his football crush from the Cats.

They are still in partnership decades later, pairing with each on their Off The Bench radio show that runs on Saturday mornings on SEN.

The show includes the “Third Person Self Congratulator of the Year” where each week Hutchison and Pickering pick out people talking themselves up.

Hutchison is too smart to get caught by that segment, often trying to defer praise from his colleagues who call him a media mogul.

Just like the tennis ball used in those park cricket games, Hutchison has taped together a sports network and kept himself at the centre of the action.