Media Street: Joel Selwood, Trent Cotchin to star in new Channel 7 AFL show
James Brayshaw will anchor Channel 7’s new panel show alongside two premiership captains as the network gets back into the AFL analysis and opinion market.
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Premiership captains Joel Selwood and Trent Cotchin will be the stars of Channel 7’s new football show.
In what has been a closely guarded secret inside Seven’s Docklands bunker, Media Street can reveal the show will be called Talking Finals.
Former Channel 9 Footy Show host James Brayshaw will anchor the new program, which is likely to have a mid-week timeslot.
It has been pencilled in to be launched during the bye before the start of the AFL finals series.
The network has spent months behind closed doors trying to work out the right formula for its return into the panel show space.
Going with fresh new talent like Selwood and Cotchin, who is expected to announce his retirement in the next week, is a clever move by Seven, which has been under pressure to produce more AFL content.
Selwood, who retired last year after holding up the premiership cup with Geelong, has previously been used in the commentary box by Seven. Barring any late changes regarding Cotchin’s playing future, this will be his first foray into the TV world.
There is also likely to be a news element to the program with either outgoing chief reporter Tom Browne or his likely replacement, Mitch Cleary, being involved.
The new show will follow a similar format to Talking Footy which was the network’s flagship football program for years, originally starting back in 1994.
Its first stint lasted 10 years before it was put on ice and then revived again for the 2013 finals series, when it was hosted by Bruce McAvaney and included Luke Darcy and Wayne Carey.
The following year Darcy took over as the main host alongside Carey and other Seven commentators Brian Taylor and Tim Watson.
Unfortunately, Talking Footy and Seven’s Sunday review show Game Day were axed in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.
Seven has come under increasing pressure as the free-to-air AFL broadcaster to offer more content outside match days.
The network has relied on the hugely popular Thursday night entertainment program The Front Bar to carry the load in recent years.
That has allowed rival Channel 9 and Fox Footy to dominate the analysis and opinion market.
The new show is the first step in Seven bolstering its AFL coverage, with St Kilda champion and former Fox commentator Nick Riewoldt expected to join the network for the 2024 season.
Riewoldt, who had become one of the highest profile football analysts in the country, shocked Fox when he put his media career on hold last year and relocated to America with his family.
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Originally published as Media Street: Joel Selwood, Trent Cotchin to star in new Channel 7 AFL show
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