Emotional Eddie on home stretch: ‘You don’t want to leave’

As he prepares to wrap up his Triple M breakfast radio show, Eddie McGuire has paid tribute to co-host Luke Darcy and admitted “we’ll miss everything about it”.

Eddie McGuire has paid tribute to his breakfast radio co-host Luke Darcy as the Triple M duo prepare for their last week on air.

“We’ll miss everything about it,” McGuire told Confidential. “Even as I was reading out (their decision to pull the pin on the Hot Breakfast show after 11 years), I was wondering if I should hit the dump button because you don’t want to leave, and you never leave, but sometimes it comes to a serendipitous position, which it has.”

In radio, a dump button stops a broadcast going to air.

McGuire and Darcy will broadcast their final show on November 27.

As they gear up for the home stretch, McGuire said Darcy, a former AFL footballer, had filled the big shoes expected of him.

“The thing I liked about Luke from the get-go, even as a young bloke appearing on The Footy Show, was he actually wanted to be a broadcaster,” McGuire said.

“He didn’t want to be a footballer making money out of media. He didn’t want to be a footballer who thought, ‘There’s some quick cash to be made here, I’m a celebrity, I’ll just turn up and talk.’

“Darce came in as a professional broadcaster from day one with aspirations to be a great broadcaster. That’s a big difference.

“Media is a contact sport, and after 11 years, we’ve had enough. It is a grind. If you’re not prepared to dig in and have a go, you won’t survive.

“But it’s been wonderful to watch a bloke come out of football and become a businessman, and a successful broadcaster. It’s a pretty good portfolio.”

Luke Darcy, Eddie McGuire and the Triple M Hot Breakfast voice of reason, Rosie Walton (centre). Picture: Tim Carrafa

McGuire added: “He’s also one of the best blokes you’ll ever meet. He’s got your back, he’s there for you, he’ll pull your nose if that’s required as well. It was important for me; I needed somebody who was robust, and who could bounce back with you, but also pull you up.”

He said their fiery debates on the show this year came from a sense of understanding.

“Sometimes, we’d look at each other and know we’re on a tangent here, let’s go, and see where this goes,” McGuire said. “We both learned to read each other, and trust each other.”

Darcy agreed. “You can’t manufacture it,” he said. “It’s a robust environment … and you wade into areas you never have before.

“But Ed is a huge, huge figure in media. I get asked more questions about Ed than I do about my own life.”

Both men say the last week will be difficult.

“I’ve said goodbye here once before, and came back, so you never know,” McGuire, citing his work on the Richard Stubbs breakfast show, said. “But it will be very emotional. If I ever get the chance to work with Luke Darcy again, I’ll grab it with both hands.”

Darcy said: “I didn’t realise, in doing this show, how much you share of yourself. I thought coming on to talk footy was the mandate, but it’s much more than that. You connect with people and share so much more of your life.

“There will be plenty of emotion, but we’ve had great times. I’m very grateful for what this show has been, and what it’s given me.”

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