Why The Footy Show deserves another chance in 2019
FOR most of 2018 The Front Bar has been far more entertaining than Eddie McGuire, Sam Newman and rest of the crew. But there are signs The Footy Show shouldn’t be axed just yet, writes Colin Vickery.
Opinion
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DOES The Footy Show deserve one more year?
That is the question I’m contemplating after what could be the final edition on the Channel 9 program last night.
It is no secret that The Footy Show has been on the ropes with a series of significant ratings losses to rival The Front Bar.
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It is pretty easy to see why that has happened. Bottom line is that for most of 2018 The Front Bar has been far more entertaining than Eddie McGuire, Sam Newman and co.
Too often, The Footy Show has been focused on trying to break news stories, endless discussions on serious issues and hyperventilating rants about aspects of the modern game.
Programs such as Talking Footy, Footy Classified and AFL 360 already have that ground covered.
It is like everyone associated with The Footy Show has forgotten what made it a success in the first place — it was a rollicking football version of the In Melbourne Tonight format.
So the big question is: Can The Footy Show be saved, or should it be dumped?
If you had asked me a month ago I would have said it was time for the chop but I’ve seen signs in the past fortnight that it can be saved.
But what it needs to do that is for McGuire and everyone else to take a leaf out of the turnaround at the Collingwood Football Club and start to get, as McGuire has said “loose as a goose”.
The Collingwood hierarchy initiated a wholesale root and branch review last season. No-one was safe, not even coach Nathan Buckley.
To hear McGuire tell it, one of the things the club has done this year is concentrate on the positives — focus on the 95 per cent that is working and fret less about the 5 per cent that isn’t.
But another was for everyone, particularly Buckley, to lighten up. Buckley was renowned as one of the most intense and perfectionist players and coaches in AFL history.
In 2018 he is a changed man. He has a smile on his face and is always up for sharing a laugh with the players.
We know what has happened as a result — the club that was 13th in 2017 is now in the Grand Final.
So here is what I think one of the positives is for The Footy Show at the moment — the on-air chemistry between McGuire, Newman and Brendan Fevola.
The former Brisbane Lions and Carlton champion has brought a much-needed sense of fun and irreverence to the show as his contribution has grown.
I think the McGuire-Newman-Fevola combo is the best the show has had since the early days of Garry Lyon and James Brayshaw. There is an ease that was missing with Rebecca Maddern.
Chris Judd hasn’t worked and is best kept as a panellist. Dane Swan has pretty much been missing in action and isn’t needed. Shane Crawford and Billy Brownless are assets.
Here is another potential plus. Viewers have seen a different side of Newman in the past fortnight — more humble, more vulnerable — and it has been a breath of fresh air.
Anyone who knows Newman will vouch for his softer side and his generosity but he likes to keep it hidden from the public and that is a shame.
Viewers have been given a sneak peak of that other side to Newman in the past two weeks — even tearing up on the Grand Final show when remembering Shane Crawford’s charity ride — and we need more of that.
McGuire needs to re-tune too. He should take a leaf out of the Collingwood 2018 playbook and lighten up on-air. Bring the warmth.
It was that more easygoing attitude that made last night’s edition of The Grand Final Footy Show such a joy to watch. Bottom line — it was way better than the Grand Final edition of The Front Bar.
Right now it feels to me like The Footy Show at Nine is like an underperforming player at an AFL club.
Do you delist them and cut them loose or do you give them a good talking to, put them on a one-year performance-based contract and give them another go-around to reach their potential?
Nine is in the midst of that conundrum at the moment and the signs are that they might swing the axe.
A month ago I probably would have agreed with an end but I have seen enough positive signs in the past fortnight for me to wonder if going the chop now might be premature.
Let’s not forget that The Footy Show has gone through massive personnel change in the past few years. That is always unsettling.
We’ve seen the same thing with football clubs — it is the ones that have stability instead of upheaval that prosper — think Collingwood.
I see a glimmer of hope for The Footy Show. Things might be finally starting to click into place.
Maybe a turnaround can happen. I think The Footy Show deserves another chance.
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