Radio mates clash as Mick Molloy’s The Front Bar takes on Eddie McGuire’s The Footy Show

NO-ONE is more surprised than Mick Molloy that the humble Front Bar has become a prime-time hit. It is now a ratings juggernaut and has forced big changes at The Footy Show.

MICK Molloy is glowing. The Front Bar co-host and self-confessed Richmond Football Club tragic, is still basking in AFL Grand Final victory.

The 51-year-old father of two is also riding high from the ratings success of The Front Bar which has proven to be a real challenger for the once all-conquering The Footy Show.

“I’m in uncharted waters — still coming to terms with it (Richmond premiership),” Molloy says.

“That night on Swan Street — it was like we won the war. Whatever happens this year, I’ll never be disappointed.”

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Talk about David and Goliath. When The Front Bar launched as a 12-minute online-only show in 2015, no-one have predicted it would end up in a ratings battle against The Footy Show.

Molloy, especially, was gobsmacked by the amazing turn of events which ultimately saw him facing off against radio buddy Eddie McGuire last August.

Every morning Molloy and McGuire worked together alongside Luke Darcy on Triple M’s Hot Breakfast radio show — but on Thursday nights they were rivals.

Molloy was on Seven with Andy Maher and Sam Pang and McGuire on Nine alongside Rebecca Maddern and Sam Newman.

Andy Maher, Mick Molloy and Sam Pang on the set of Channel 7 AFL football show The Front Bar.

“If you had told me two months earlier that it (Molloy on The Front Bar versus McGuire on The Footy Show) was a possibility I would have laughed at you,” Molloy says.

“I never intended for The Front Bar to end up at 8.30pm on Thursdays and Eddie wasn’t intending on coming back to The Footy Show and all of a sudden ‘shazam’.”

The Front Bar, which Molloy co-produces and which is filmed at the All Nations Hotel in Richmond, had very humble beginnings. Molloy shopped it around the commercial networks but got knock-back after knock-back.

“I had always wanted to do a footy show for fans by fans,” Molloy says.

“The bar seemed the perfect setting because that is where all the ludicrous conversations I’ve had about football take place.

“The networks had a pretty full card so at the time I could understand the reason for them not being overly excited.

“But I thought the idea had enough merit to warrant perseverance so in the end we went to the AFL and online. They agreed it would be a fun 12-minute, little, once-a-week episode. We half paid for it ourselves at that stage because we were so keen to do it.

“Off the back of that, Seven pulled us back in and said ‘we really like it — it looks great — would you be interested in doing it after our football telecasts?’”

Former radio co-hosts Eddie McGuire and Mick Molloy are going head-to-head in prime time TV with their football shows.

Seven began screening The Front Bar after its Friday night AFL match telecasts. The late-night timeslot suited Molloy, Maher and Pang because they could grow the show without too much scrutiny.

But the trio, as well as fans soon became frustrated by starts that sometimes ran as late as 11.45pm.

The show moved to Thursdays and after bouncing around in a few different slots, landed at 8.30pm against The Footy Show, then hosted by Craig Hutchison.

By month’s end, David had slain Goliath in the ratings. Weeks later Hutchison was dumped as host and replaced by McGuire.

“The two shows were never designed to go head to head,” Molloy says.

“He (McGuire) got this emergency call (from Nine bosses) and there was this bizarre scenario where for the last four or five weeks of the footy season we were sitting in the same (radio) studio together but appearing on competing footy shows.

“I have to say everyone behaved. The fact that we were both good friends overcame any underlying tension.”

The success of The Front Bar is built on the easy rapport between Molloy, Maher and Pang. It makes up in heart what it lacks in production values.

Mick Molloy loves having his mornings back, having switched to the Triple M drive slot with his old D-Generation mate Jane Kennedy. Picture: Jono Searle

“Andy’s role is a lot more difficult than people think,” Molloy says.

“He is the only proper journalist on deck. His love of the game and understanding of it is so deep. He wears a lot of hats — most of them daggy.

“Sam is flat chat funny. His energy is different to mine. He genuinely makes me laugh. It pains me to say it but people really do love the guy.”

This year Molloy has switched to the drive slot on Triple M alongside Jane Kennedy. That means no more uncomfortable stares from McGuire.

“The people at Triple M had been aware for some time that because of lifestyle and family reasons I’d been looking to go to drive,” Molloy says.

“I’ve got twin boys (Fred and Lenny) who are five years old and want to wake up sometimes and see dad in the morning.

“I never felt like I was abandoning ship. Ed’s pretty smart and getting Wil Anderson straight away (to replace Molloy) plugged the hole immediately.”

The Front Bar, Channel 7, Thursday 8.30pm