Can Neroli Meadows save The Footy Show?
Many believe Neroli Meadows has been handed a poisoned chalice in hosting AFL’s The Footy Show. But in an exclusive interview, she reveals why she thinks Australians might be ready for “a really good comeback story.”
Stellar
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For anyone wondering why Neroli Meadows fearlessly took a new job co-hosting AFL’s The Footy Show, they should consider how she spends her downtime.
When the sports broadcaster is off the clock, she’s often also off the grid, trekking through the wilderness in destinations like Peru and West Papua. No showers. No internet. And no hair and make-up team. Just 20kg of essentials, all strapped to her back.
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West Papua is exactly where Meadows was when news broke last month that she was joining former champion players Shane Crawford and Brendan Fevola, Paralympian Dylan Alcott and comedian Anthony “Lehmo” Lehmann on the Nine Network’s latest reboot of the long-running program.
Two boat trips, three flights and 20 hours later, her plane was landing in Melbourne. It was six in the morning. She was in the studio for rehearsals by 10am.
If tackling tough challenges is her forte, then Meadows, 33, has landed a doozy with The Footy Show, as the formerly dominant weekly AFL program now trails far behind its rival, Seven Network’s The Front Bar.
“I was never hesitant to do it,” she tells Stellar. “I just saw a really great challenge. And the people on it were people I had worked with before and trusted; I knew they believed in me. I’ve never not done something because I am scared.”
Fearless maybe, but Herald Sun TV writer Colin Vickery believes Meadows has been handed something of a poisoned chalice with the gig.
“The Footy Show’s ratings have been in decline for some years, for a multitude of reasons,” he says. “Even the return of [original host] Eddie McGuire couldn’t halt that. Any new team will always face criticism; people don’t like change. And it hasn’t helped that the new team was thrown together in a rush.”
And yet, Vickery points out, Meadows may be its greatest asset — and eventual saving grace. “Neroli has been rock-solid,” he says. “At the moment she’s the glue holding the team together as it waits to find its mojo.”
Meadows reveals that McGuire and the show’s other former hosts such as Garry Lyon, James Brayshaw and Rebecca Maddern have provided support behind the scenes.
But it is former NRL The Footy Show host and close friend Erin Molan who has been her biggest champion.
“I know exactly why she was chosen for this role and she thoroughly deserves it,” Molan tells Stellar. “She is also thoroughly decent, one of the first to reach out during some of the more challenging times in my career. The AFL is lucky to have her — as are the fans.”
News Corp sports columnist Jessica Halloran believes that Meadows is something of a pioneer in the world of sports commentary, adding that it has taken thick skin, talent, resilience and passion to get her there.
“The Footy Show used to be a cesspit of sexism, homophobia, transphobia and racism, with king AFL dinosaur Sam Newman leading the way,” argues Halloran.
“Finally, someone woke up to the fact it’s 2019, and they blew it up and started again,” she says, pointing out that Meadows is “a person with bona fide, legitimate passion for the sport”.
Despite her credentials, Meadows has endured ongoing criticism from hard-to-please viewers. One gripe that stings is that her trademark peals of laughter are faked for the cameras.
“My laugh has always been polarising,” she says. “I have a loud laugh! Some love it, some hate it — but that’s me and I can’t change it.”
Still, she is happy to note the majority of viewer feedback is positive, and is proud of the emails from parents who thank her for being a role model to their sports-mad daughters.
It isn’t lost on Meadows that she has changed the game. The youngest of three children, she left the family farm in Western Australia aged 17 to study journalism, at a time when very few women were in TV sports broadcasting.
She worked for the Seven Network in Perth before heading to Sydney and finally Melbourne to cover AFL, cricket and basketball for Fox Sports.
Meadows says the growth of women’s footy (via the AFLW competition) and the rise of women in sports broadcasting has a flow-on effect that shapes social change.
“We are in a much better space [for women in sport] than when I started,” she tells Stellar. “My seven-year-old niece and her three brothers don’t know a world where women don’t play footy.”
To that point, she has long believed in promoting the bonds of sisterhood.
In 2016, Meadows went in to bat for friend and fellow broadcaster Mel McLaughlin when cricketer Chris Gayle asked her out for a drink during a live interview with the infamous rejoinder: “Don’t blush, baby.”
She labelled Gayle a repeat offender and urged people to stop laughing at his outdated attempts at humour.
“I wanted to have her back,” Meadows says now. “Everyone has had their moments with Chris Gayle. I had one a couple of years earlier in a press conference.
“He is an incredibly entertaining cricketer and human being — he just doesn’t need to do the stuff he does and I don’t know why he does. He’s got a great personality.”
Meadows still believes in being able to crack a few jokes with colleagues. She just wants people to respect boundaries and changing social norms.
“That was the main thing I wanted to get across with my male colleagues,” she says. “When we say, ‘It’s gone too far,’ just trust us and say, ‘OK, I’m sorry.’ Don’t get defensive.”
Which is what she also refuses to do in the face of stories about AFL’s The Footy Show’s faltering ratings. Meadows is proud of her work. She says feedback from coaches and players has been positive, and she hopes viewers will stick around (and come back) as the panel find their feet.
“I think in Australia people do love a pile-on,” she says. “But you know what? The only thing they love more is a really good comeback story. And if we become one of those, that’s awesome. If not, at least I gave it a crack.”
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