Channel 7 sport presenter Jacqui Felgate to leave newsroom

Channel 7 sport presenter and Brownlow co-host Jacqui Felgate has announced her shock exit from the network.

Seven News and sports presenter Jacqui Felgate is leaving her position to pursue new opportunities.

After joining the network nine and a half years ago, Felgate said it was time to give back to her young family.

“The last two years have been really hard on every family and while newsrooms are wonderful places and I’ve had a wonderful career in the newsroom, it’s time,’’ Felgate told the Herald Sun.

“And I’ve got a very young family and I haven’t been there enough for them and I want to be there for them over the next little while. And at the same time I’ve been presented with so many exciting and new opportunities that I’m really keen to explore and I’m looking forward to those too.”

Felgate says having the chance to MC events and build a community on social media off the back of updates through Covid, has given her the confidence to move on.

Jacqui Felgate co-hosts the Brownlow with Hamish McLachlan.

“I’ve worked every weekend for 19 years coming from papers into two newsrooms (Nine and Seven) and it’ll be really lovely to have some time way from that cut and thrust of news,’’ Felgate said.

“It’s an exciting job and there’s nothing left on my bucket list I feel I need to do in the newsroom. I look back at that time and I’ve worked with the most wonderful people in the most wonderful environment and I’ll miss them all, but at the same time there’s two people that miss me a lot (daughters Maddie, 9, and Georgia, 5) and my husband, Michael.”

A key part of the football coverage with news updates and as co-host of the Brownlow, Felgate is still in talks about continuing in that role. She presented the sports bulletin on the news Sunday night before bidding farewell.

“Seven sport has been the highlight, doing the football has been the highlight and I hope to be involved still in some way but we’re working through what that might look like,’’ she said.

“It’s not easy having a young family and juggling the work that’s required to be a journalist.

Felgate says she hopes to spend more time with her family.

If I can just take a step back and see what opportunities present themself it will be a great time for my family.

“Every single parent and family knows exactly what the juggle is like. The last few years have made that clearer, what are your priorities in life and what do you want to do next. I’ve been offered some great opportunities but with a lot less pressure.

“I love getting out there and meeting people. The organisations that I’ve been working for it’s just been wonderful. I’ve got so many of those (MC gigs) coming up as well and I’ve really enjoyed it. All of that type of work allows you to be there to pick up the kids for the first time in my life.”

Seven Melbourne’s director of news, Shaun Menegola, told staff on Sunday:

“As we all know, Jacqui has been a great champion of 7 News in Melbourne, including through the past two taxing years of Covid.

“She was not only front and centre on our pandemic coverage, but she extended that commitment across social media, working tirelessly to keep Victorians up to date.

“Jacqui has always had a strong presence on our 4.00pm and 6.00pm bulletins. She presents her final sport bulletin on 7 News tonight, saying goodbye at the close of the bulletin.

“We’ve been guided by Jacqui in terms of the timing of this announcement, and she goes with our full support.”