Gerard Whateley: The man behind the mic

HE is a man everybody hears but very few know, the suburban boy named Gerard Whateley who has steadily built a broadcasting career that is threatening to rewrite the history books in terms of diversity.

Sports presenter and author Gerard Whateley with his family - wife Claire and children Rebecca (left), Alyssa (right) and Benji. Picture: Michael Klein

HE is a man everybody hears but very few know, the suburban boy named Gerard Whateley who has steadily built a broadcasting career that is threatening to rewrite the history books in terms of diversity.

You hear and see him in all manner of outlets, from his nightly AFL 360 hour on Fox Footy, to his football, racing and cricket commentary on the ABC, or AFL hosting roles with Hall of Fame and All-Australian functions.

But who is Gerard Whateley?

The Glen Iris family man with a rare ability to express what is happening via clever prose, or ambitious schemer who has meticulously planned his route towards commentary dominance.

Speak to those who have worked closely with Whately and the truth would seem closer to the first assessment than the latter, although as is always the case in the sporting media world, you don’t win over everyone on your way to the top.

And that’s where the Whateley now stands, having spent a surprisingly brief time at base camp on the way up his sporting Everest.

Reality says that doesn’t happen without ability and even Whately detractors admit he is articulate, well-researched and passionate.

Passion that was honed as far back as 1985 when his father Barry remarked during an afternoon at the MCG “imagine if you were paid to work here?”.

The seed was sown in the 10-year-old Whateley who was just five years from meeting the woman he would marry in Claire at their local parish in Mulgrave.

The childhood sweethearts were married seven years later and have since added Rebecca, 12, Alyssa, 9, and three-year-old son Benji to the family home in Glen Iris.

In Whately’s teenage years his sporting passion shone through Gary Ablett snr with Geelong and the sport of kings, some Wednesday afternoons at Mazenod College being foregone when he trekked to Sandown racecourse.

A seasonal and responsible punter, his more recent love for unbeaten mare Black Caviar is well known, even the stuff of parody by impersonator Andrew Starton.

Gerard Whateley and Herald Sun Chief Football writer Mark Robinson Picture: Foxtel/John Tsiavis

But well before the mare known as “Nellie” burst on the scene, Whateley fell in love with a male. Four legged and a gelding named Better Loosen Up to be precise.

His love is undying, highlighted by his determination to reach Moonee Valley in the spring of 1990 when Better Loosen Up and Michael Clarke took on Stylish Century, Sydeston, Canny Lad, The Phantom and Horlicks in the Cox Plate.

His problem was the race clashed with his role as an opening batsman for Wheelers Hill, where he was more a corpse with pads than David Warner when it came to stroke-play.

“I could defend but couldn’t score except that day I actually got some runs, maybe around 60. I knew exactly what time I had to get out to reach the Valley to meet Dad and see Better Loosen Up. So I jumped down the wicket and hit it straight to mid-off, strode off, threw the bat in the bag, zipped it up and drove to the races. When he won it was an extremely thrilling memory and remains vivid,” said Whateley, 41, with a most compelling enthusiasm.

By then he was a clever enough student to have law as an option, although the sporting ties remained strong and when the ABC’s Clark Hansen, who he also met through his parish (the Whateley’s are not deeply religious today) helped him get work experience, he was almost hooked.

There were trips to the footy to watch Tim Lane and Peter “Smooth” Booth go about their craft, a day at the races with Greg Miles and a night at Festival Hall to see Mike “The Bounty” Hunter knock out the previously unbeaten Jimmy Thunder.

Any doubts were removed two years later when he was approved for a cadetship at the Herald Sun, starting in January, 1993: “It was the best grounding I could have had, working the cattle sales at the Weekly Times, police rounds, five point, then writing some Saturday footy for the Sunday Herald Sun,” recalled Whateley.

“Then I edited HIT magazine. I always wanted to end up in sport but wanted to learn journalism first, so you could say I wasn’t in a hurry to get there. It was an outstanding program. I ended up becoming the movie writer on HIT where I was lucky enough to go to the premier of Titanic in London, sitting two rows in front of Prince Charles and Camilla.

“But the absolute the best thing I did was interviewing Steven Spielberg for 45 minutes when he directed Saving Private Ryan. It remains one of the best things I’ve done. He made that movie to honour his father and his generation, making it a very emotional journey.

“Jack Nicholson I interviewed for 45 minutes for As Good As It Gets and he played Jack Nicholson the whole time for 45 minutes. He was captivating. There were also interviews with Morgan Freeman, Cindy Crawford, Kevin Spacey, Gwyneth Paltrow. The only time I had a poor experience was with Holly Hunter (Home For The Holidays). The interview became curt which may well have been my fault. I might have pitched the movie incorrectly when I described it as quirky. She didn’t go for that and that set the tone.”

But the sporting world still beckoned and became a reality when he joined Channel 10 in 1999, and following a short stint with Seven and a return to 10, he was appointed by Susie Robinson to the ABC staff in 2004.

Robinson and her husband Damien O’Malley have since become friends of the Whateleys, hosting them regularly at their Barwon Heads home.

Gerard Whateley in his younger days.

“Gerard is what I would call a thoughtful broadcaster, structuring his own arguments and backing them up. And they aren’t pub talk opinions. I think the fact he’s a good writer helps make him the broadcaster he is. He is also very independent and versatile,” Susie Robinson says.

“He has remodelled the cricket product for the ABC but he bided his time. He’s been wanting to do cricket on the ABC for a long time and did miss a couple of opportunities, but then made sure he was there when the time was right.

“He loves cricket, and obviously racing. Is Gerard ambitious? Yes, there is no doubt about that, but he’s not going to burn bridges along the way. He would have an end goal, a plan, for his career for sure. And he will know how to get there.”

Veteran broadcaster Drew Morphett, who worked with Whately for 10 years at the ABC, agrees with Robinson’s ambitious assessment, but differs in his assessment about how that ambition burns through.

“I’m in an awkward position here because I was made redundant by the ABC and Gerard took my spot calling cricket. Do you think Justin Leppitsch is going to absolutely love the bloke who takes over from him? I don’t think so,” said Morphett, 66.

“Having said that I think he’s a fantastic host on both AFL 360 and pre-match on the radio. He has an ability to put sentences together with clarity. He doesn’t require a lot of notes, relying on a sharp mind that has its own index. And he asks good questions.

“As a caller I personally don’t think he’s the greatest of all time. His style of calling a close game of football or horse race is to scream as loudly as he can with guttural tones. He loses clarity. You have to broadcast in gears.”

Morphett sat in the same office as Whateley for a decade and was intrigued by a personality he found “aloof and self-centred”: “Gerard is incredibly ambitious. Part of that is putting massive effort into winning awards and his entries are very good, even if he would have been shattered at not winning a Logie last year.

“He will end up the most decorated bloke in the history of Australian sporting broadcasting. Some of that comes though him being an incredibly hard worker and how he wrote that book on Black Caviar, which was very good, was amazing.”

When told that Morphett had been interviewed for this article, Whateley preferred not to respond as he couldn’t see “any upside”.

In fact when initially contacted by this writer for this article, the ABC wordsmith responded with “cripes, not sure I’m interesting enough for that”.

Herald Sun Chief football writer Mark Robinson has shared the AFL 360 desk with Whateley for five years.

The odd couple in many ways, they have a healthy respect for each other even if their paths rarely cross once the lights go out.

“Have I been to his home? No. Hang on, once, but not inside” laughs Robinson. “We had a bet on air and if I lost I had to take his kids to Gold Class cinemas, and if he lost he had to wash my dog Tiger. He hired a dog cleaning company to spruce up Tiger so I took him around but I didn’t actually get inside his house. We don’t ever sit and chinwag before, during or after the show, but I have a lot of respect for him and he knows that.”

Gerard Whateley and Christi Malthouse on the boundary line during the 2002 Grand Final.

Former Carlton triple Premiership player Mark Maclure works with Whateley at both AFL 360 and on the ABC: “I wouldn’t say I know him well outside of work. To me he is extremely professional, bordering on a workaholic. He likes to be perfect and he does that pretty well. But he can have a bit of fun here and there but the fun that we have, isn’t the same fun that he has.

“He doesn’t shirk from asking the hard questions and hits them hard and straight, yet remains well respected. Coaches like Chris Scott and Ken Hinkly he obviously has good relationships with. As for he and Robbo, they are further apart than Venus and Mars, the men and women thing. That’s probably why it works. Gerard hardly ever gets flustered but don’t worry, he can be sycophantic. Ask him about Patrick Dangerfield or Bob Murphy.”

Whateley and Scott converse regularly and not just about football.

Fellow commentator Anthony Hudson and his wife Elouise are close friends of the Whateleys, as is Herald Sun movie reviewer Leigh Paatsch.

While not close friends with the upper echelon, Whateley has good relationships with sectors of the AFL and was rarely critical of that body during the Essendon drugs saga.

He is their host of choice for All-Australian and Hall of Fame dinners.

And if he has a nasty side then it’s very well hidden, although don’t for one moment think he doesn’t stand his ground when the need arises.

There was a situation on AFL 360 over the past four years when a coach was non-communicative to the point of rudeness during his paid weekly appearance.

Whately’s view was the coach in question had let himself and his football club down, and he articulated those thoughts in strong terms to the said club.

It’s all part of the standards he demands of those around him. And, of course, himself.

GERARD WHATELEY ON...

Working for Channel 7: “They haven’t asked me. I would like to do it if the opportunity came at the right time. Television is the official archive of the game. Al Michaels from the United States is someone I really admire. He has called across many sporting disciplines. If there was a better call anywhere in the world than Bruce McAvaney’s of Bolt’s 100m, then I would be very surprised.”

Three favourite calls: “Kyle Chalmers I will always remember him coming from seventh to win the 100m freestyle at the Rio Olympics, Black Caviar at Royal Ascot for the whole event and I loved the Michael Phelps gold medal at London in the 200IM where he risked everything.”

Ambition: “If you are going to do it, then do it to a high level so I’m ambitious from that perspective. I’ve been fortunate with the opportunities I’ve received. My 13-year-old self would think this was the job I always hoped for, cricket in the summer, footy in the winter, racing, AFL 360 and Offsiders and all of them I love in their own way.”

His calling style: “I like to find the threads of a story within the event and fleshing those out rather than raw stats. I still tremble before calling a Melbourne Cup. I like to be alone to complete an exercise in concentration.”

His workload: “My workload is formidable but I don’t consider myself unique in that. Claire and I go to a restaurant named Coda twice a year, once before the footy season starts and on the Sunday night before the Brownlow. You could say it’s me asking for forgiveness at the start and saying thank you at the finish. And we are taking the kids to Disneyland this year.”