How The Footy Show can still save itself

YES, it’s getting thrashed by The Front Bar, but there is still hope for the Channel 9 stalwart. The show just needs a facelift, and the answers are already in the building, writes Megan Hustwaite.

YEP, another article about The Footy Show.

But you can’t hide away from the fact the once-dominant TV force is now, as Grandpa would say, in “more s**t than a Werribee duck.”

And there can be hope and new life for the long-running show beyond next week’s AFL Grand Final — it just needs a facelift.

The former Thursday night institution must go back to the future in 2019 and take a leaf out of the book of its Sunday sibling.

The Sunday Footy Show made a quiet debut in Round 3, 1993 and its runaway success that season broke new football ground the following year, with Eddie McGuire spearheading the breakthrough format; the rest is history. Maiden producer Harvey Silver documented the tale last month on popular podcast The Greatest Season That Was: 93.

The ratings decline The Footy Show has faced in the past three years has been well documented as Garry Lyon, James Brayshaw, Craig Hutchison and Bec Madden have departed the co-hosting position. Some walked, others were pushed.

McGuire’s return to the program mid-season last year failed to light the wick, and the program is now consistently thrashed by the little show that could, Channel 7’s The Front Bar.

Rebecca Maddern is reportedly leaving The Footy Show at the end of this year’s season. (Picture: Supplied)

The Sunday Footy Show was launched by footy doyens Lou Richards and EJ Whitten, plus Max Walker and Newman, and is today led by veteran Channel 9 sports presenter Tony Jones, who’d be well equipped and a great fit to front a revitalised Thursday offering in 2019.

Jones filled in for McGuire for one night in July but was up against it, with the show airing on a Wednesday night after the third State of Origin NRL fixture.

The respected Jones had his Sunday colleagues, viewers and the internet in stitches earlier this month with his spectacular fail in a “Battle of the Journos” handball segment with newsreader Damian Barrett.

He can laugh at himself, works incredibly well with his on-air partners (just check out his rapport weeknights with Peter Hitchener), but mostly importantly is a rock-solid host who seamlessly moves between light and shade.

An impressive fill-in host for Neil Mitchell on 3AW radio in Melbourne, Jones is under-utilised at Nine. He’d even be the perfect replacement for Karl Stefanovic on The Today Show.

The Sunday Footy Show isn’t an elaborate production but often the simple yet effective approach works.

Tony Jones (left) has a charming chemistry with his Melbourne Nine colleagues Peter Hitchener and Livinia Nixon. (Picture: Supplied/Channel 9)

It has a smaller budget, airs for an hour but has the crucial mix of serious footy talk with a good laugh — and that blend isn’t as easy to conjure as it sounds. And unlike Thursday night, Sunday’s ratings have been strong in 2018.

Panellists have premierships and All-Australian team honours, but most importantly they have obvious on-air chemistry.

Rising media performer, Port Adelaide premiership player, and club games record holder Kane Cornes plays a key role. As does Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd while Nathan Brown, Billy Brownless and Barrett all add unique qualities to the panel.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul might not be the solution for The Footy Show, but Cornes and Lloyd could make a seamless transition to Thursdays with their analysis, strong opinion and ability to have a laugh.

Sam Newman was the star of The Footy Show for years and has hung on despite some disgraceful stunts, and controversy after controversy but footy, the media landscape and life in general has moved on from his schtick.

Those days of stupidity and stunts are long gone, audiences want their footy with some good old-fashioned fun, the simple recipe which took The Front Bar from website offering to ratings winner.

The Footy Show may not return for a 25th year, but in a footy media landscape where we have 24-hour television and radio channels, traditional media and a new generation of podcasts and digital platforms, there is still an appetite for it in Melbourne.

Channel 9 have a lot of thinking to do as to whether they’ll hang up the boots or rebuild, but if an overhaul is on the cards some of their answers are already in the building.

Megan Hustwaite is an award-winning freelance sports journalist.

@meganhustwaite