Time On: Tom Morris left out in cold at AFL’s Gather Round dinner
Tom Morris arrived at the AFL’s welcome dinner at Gather Round ready to rub shoulders with the who’s who of the footy world. There was only one problem — he wasn’t invited.
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Channel 9’s recruit Tom Morris had an inglorious start to his Gather Round sojourn.
As the who’s who of the footy world gathered in Glenelg on Wednesday night for the official welcome dinner, Morris was eager to mingle and enjoy the function after work duties were complete.
But there was a catch — the newshound wasn’t on the list and hadn’t been invited.
Morris was sure he’d been invited by the AFL but when he exited the makeshift marquee he was informed that sport newsreader Tony Jones was the invited representative for the network.
Morris took it on the chin and headed off to the boxing.
“I’m going to bring him home a doggy bag,” Jones joked.
Ouch!
Cleary back on Hutchy’s radar
Channel 7’s chief football reporter Mitch Cleary looked very happy after breaking bread with his former mentor Craig Hutchison during the week.
SEN boss Hutchison gave his protege Cleary the cold shoulder when he left his empire after six years having started there in 2012.
Cleary was driving to the MCG on Easter Monday when he noticed Hutchy standing on the street waiting for an Uber.
He stopped and offered him a lift to the ground.
“I’m still saving him money,” Cleary quipped.
“It was good to see him after a little while. Usually I was the one driving his car back in the day so it was good to have the roles reversed.”
Adelaide and FOMO? AFL says it’s real
It might be the first time the words Adelaide and FOMO have been used in the same sentence, but AFL Commission Chairman Richard Goyder reckons that’s what Gather Round generates.
“The inaugural Gather Round last year was by any measure an outstanding success,” he said.
“It was literally the FOMO (fear of missing out) event of the year. If you weren’t here in Adelaide in 2023 then you had to be at Gather Round in 2024. If you were, you were back for more.
“The place to be for tens of thousands of footy supporters, friends, families, friendship groups and the hundreds of business executives who have suddenly discovered important business in Adelaide that can’t be done at any other time of the year.”
Tina holds court
Tina Arena was the surprise act at the AFL’s Gather Round welcome dinner and she certainly did surprise, touching on everything from menopause and life lessons to her lack of interest in footy in between songs.
Arena was only meant to perform three songs but said “f... it” and did a fourth.
The room of guests including dignitaries, footy bosses and VIP guests, fell silent as she spoke to the crowd in between songs.
“Yes I’m drinking tea — life and menopause it’s a fun time,’’ she said.
“I’m having the time of my life and if there are any of you in the medical/pharma profession … get cracking.”
Arena also admitted she was a novice when it came to footy.
“I have learnt a little bit about what this event is because I haven’t really been following the AFL if truth be told, and let’s face it I like the truth,’’ she said.
Bruce in the hood
It was special seeing Bruce McAvaney at the Gather Round function in his home town.
The legendary commentator and his wife Annie stepped out for the night on the eve of their 30th wedding anniversary.
McAvaney, who no longer calls footy and focuses his time on calling horse racing, was the most popular guest in the room.
“I do miss footy,” he said.
Carey slams attacks on AFL legends
Wayne Carey has slammed criticism of commentators as “horrendous”, saying footy legends deserve more respect.
Carey, a former commentator with Channel 7 and Triple M, said he thought it was a disgrace seeing people like Trent Cotchin and Joel Selwood cop backlash from the likes of Kane Cornes and social media trolls.
“The negative feedback that people like Joel Selwood and legends like Luke Hodge (get), these guys are absolute legends,” he said on his The Truth Hurts podcast with Tony Sheahan.
“Heat for me, when you’ve been on the front page and in the media as often as I have, a dingbat on social media, it is literally water off a duck’s back.
“But when you’re talking about guys like Trent Cotchin and Joel Selwood, who are pillars and absolute legends of the game – premiership captains, premiership players, unbelievable human beings, the comments about their media performing is horrendous. It’s an absolute disgrace.”
Carey said it was also awful seeing Seven’s Brian Taylor cop it at times.
“BT, he gets a lot of negative feedback too. I love BT. People don’t understand what a following he has so I hate the negativity around him and the job that he does,” Carey said.
Riewoldt hard lesson on ranch life
Nick Riewoldt says he’s never “shit myself that hard” after an encounter with a rattle snake on his ranch in Texas.
Over the Easter weekend the footy great said he stepped on the snake with his bare foot while trying to put a log on the fire.
“Learnt a pretty valuable lesson about ranch life, and that is it’s not like the beach, you’ve always got to have a pair of boots on,’’ Riewoldt told the Footy Talk podcast with Leigh Montagna.
“I went out to get a piece of wood to chuck it on the fire, it was dark outside. Being the ranch type I am, I felt pretty confident in my surrounds. I walked out and I was looking for the light switch and I was walking along this wall and I looked down and I’d trodden on something, couldn’t quite figure out what it was til it started going tsk tsk tsk … it was a bloody rattle snake.
”I had trodden on it with my barefoot. Somehow it didn’t strike and slithered off. I absolutely lost it. I don’t think I’ve ever shit myself that hard in my life. I was absolutely terrified. It was a bit of a close call for me.”
Riewoldt and wife Catherine moved to her native Texas at the end of the 2022 season.
The former Saints captain put his burgeoning media career with Fox Footy on hold to live in the US with their three boys.
Whateley locks in future with SEN
Top broadcaster Gerard Whateley has committed to SEN for a further three years.
The host of a daily radio program and also the station’s chief sports caller, Whateley signed until 2028.
The contract extension may thwart Channel 9’s bid to have the SEN and Fox Footy host call athletics at the Paris Olympics.
As revealed by the Herald Sun’s Media Street column in February, Whateley was keen to have a one-off release for three weeks to join the Nine team so he could fulfil a dream to call the men’s 100m final.
“I’m thrilled to make another long-term commitment with SEN. I’ve never been more confident in the direction and ambition of the business and treasure my place in that,” Whateley said.
“The vision to take our audiences to the great sporting events both here and around the world remains as fierce as the day I started here. And the daily conversation surrounding sport has never been more vibrant and vital given the evolution and issues contained within the games we play.”
SEN boss Craig Hutchison said Whateley, who he signed in 2018, remained a “one of a kind” in sports broadcasting.
‘Smoother than butter’: Fans want more Hill
Calls are growing on social media for Fox Footy’s Matt Hill to commentate more games, after once again wowing fans with his dulcet tones.
Hill, widely regarded as Australia’s top horse racing caller, drew praise for his commentary of the Richmond v Sydney clash on Easter Sunday — alongside Dwayne Russell, Garry Lyon and Jack Riewoldt.
It was Hill’s second game for the 2024 season and prompted footy fans to swoon on social media.
Podcast host Ralph Horowitz said on X: “Wouldn’t think there’s a long list of footy callers who are better than Matt Hill.
“Would confidently think the list is zero when filtered to those who are even better at calling another sport.”
ABC sport’s Ben Cameron added: “The AFL and their broadcasters should really just get serious & employ Matt Hill to commentate every game that doesn’t interfere with the races on a Saturday.
“He really has panels on the field now that Bruce and Dennis are retired. The consummate professional.”
Another fan said: “Matt Hill smoother than butter. Calls the ebbs and flows like no other modern commentator.”
Hill’s ability to call multiple AFL games is limited by his racing commitments, which has him calling every Saturday.
But with the AFL TV rights landscape set to change in 2025, allowing Fox Footy’s commentary team to call every game of every round, his services could be at a premium.
‘No-go zone’: Brayshaw’s Vegas warning
James Brayshaw isn’t a fan of Las Vegas footy trips.
According to the Triple M and Seven commentator and former North Melbourne chairman, nothing good can ever come of it.
“I have a view that AFL footballers are adults and therefore are able to conduct themselves, especially post season, in any way they see fit because their life is their own — unless it’s Las Vegas,’’ he said on the Saturday Rub.
“If you’re a footy club you can say to your 44 players you can go to Italy, you can go to France, you can go to Bali … but if I hear that any of you are wandering near Vegas then you’ll have an issue.
“Because every time anyone goes there something like this happens. It’s just a no-go zone.”
Brahshaw’s comments come as Brisbane Lions players have reportedly been dealing with the fallout of a US trip which caused relationship troubles for a few big names.
Kane’s ‘really important’ debate
Kane Cornes stopped short of apologising, in fact he didn’t apologise at all, over last week’s controversial segment on the Sunday Footy Show.
Cornes was called out for taking the piss out of Trent Cotchin and a TikTok segment promoting Seven’s Talking Footy.
Tigers great Matthew Richardson said the bar was getting lower and lower.
Cornes doubled down on Sunday, sarcastically putting the debate to bed and saying it was “really important stuff that we needed to address”.
“I thought it was important that we address the events of last week,’’ he began on Sunday’s show.
“And look I wanted to do it properly so I came in early.”
A video then came up on the screen mocking the same segment.
“ … as you can see here behind me, Trent did a video, then I did a video and then Richo got all upset about the video. I always strive to be at the cutting edge but the ‘Volkano’ is always bubbling and sometimes people get burned. So join me next week as we continue to set the agenda with important topics like this.”
Cornes concluded by saying: “Does that clear it all up how I was truly feeling about the fallout from it? Really important stuff that we needed to address.”
A true heavyweight bout
Could there be a new boxing match up in the wings?
Brian ‘BT’ Taylor and Jason ‘Chief’ Dunstall would be a must see. Tensions were high on Friday as the pair were jostling about seating arrangements in the Triple M commentary box.
They hadn’t worked together for around five years but neither wanted to budge about where stats man Ash Chua was to sit.
Taylor likes him in the back row while Dunstall is of the view there’s more space in the front.
“I said not today my friend, that’s where he always sits,’’ Dunstall said.
“This is our team, we’re loyal to your people. Let’s do it from a logical perspective, the front desk is longer than the back area that Nathan (Brown) and I share so why would you sandwich three people here in 3/4 of the space you can have down the front.”
Taylor insisted that “I like room to operate” and even threatened to depart the box if he didn’t get his wish, but as Triple M posted in evidence, Chua sat in the front row and Dunstall won this battle.
Third time’s a charm
Rubbing salt into the wounds of the Saints loss was the Marvel Stadium scoreboard on Saturday.
Not once, but twice was the wrong club logo was shown in their match up with the Bombers.
At first the scoreboard displayed the Kangaroos’ logo, then it was updated to the Cats. Finally it was third time lucky after a quarter had been played.
“This is just a slap in the face to the Saints,’’ said Fox Footy commentator Jason Dunstall.
Viney’s touching tribute
Melbourne star Jack Viney paid tribute to his wife Charlotte after his 200th game and the side’s triumph over Port Adelaide.
“Since having kids I’ve tried to really continue to work on my craft and spend hours and time and energy on my craft and at times that puts a lot of stress on the family,’’ he told Fox Footy.
“For her to do what she does, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without her. I love her very much and she’s an amazing wife and we make a good team. It’s special to have her in the rooms tonight and be part of it, come out on the ground and give her a little cuddle and kiss before I run through the banner. It’s special to have her here.”
C’mon Dermie
The great Dermott Brereton needs to brush up on his Hemsworths.
Fox Footy’s camera panned to the boxes on Sunday where Chris Hemsworth was cheering on his beloved Dogs.
“Liam Hemsworth,’’ Brereton said with a hint of hesitation.
“Go Doggies,’’ he laughed as Hemsworth pumped his fist after realising he was on the screen.
Kelli Underwood then chipped in to correct the Hemsworth record.
Hemsworth was famously in the rooms after the game when the Bulldogs won the 2016 flag — with his brother Liam.
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