Channel 7 puts commentators on trial to replace Bruce McAvaney

Channel 7 is set to trial three of its commentators on Friday night footy before determining a full-time replacement for Bruce McAvaney. Who should get the gig?

James Brayshaw will be on trial when he replaces Bruce McAvaney on Channel 7’s prime time football calling spot.

The network is set to use the first part of the AFL season as an audition for who will sit next to Brian Taylor permanently in the coveted Friday night seat.

Brayshaw is likely to be given six weeks in the main chair with the other candidates, Hamish McLachlan and Luke Darcy, then given a chance to show their wares on the biggest stage.

McAvaney, 67, shocked the AFL world on Sunday when he announced he had called his last football game and was now focusing on the Olympics and horse racing.

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The late decision rules out Seven making a play for a big name replacement but head honcho Lewis Martin is more than comfortable with the talent which they’ve been nurturing for this scenario in recent years.

Fox Footy regularly mixes their call teams and Taylor said this week no-one would be named the commentary team’s top dog which McAvaney was given his extraordinary broadcasting career.

Brayshaw and Taylor have called together on Triple M previously while Darcy has also worked with the pair on the same radio station.

Whichever call team shows the best chemistry will determine how the Seven commentary box looks in the second half of the season leading up to the ultimate gig, the grand final.

Taylor, the former Richmond and Collingwood full-forward, replaced Denis Cometti in 2017 as McAvaney’s fellow caller in the marquee timeslots of Friday night and Sunday afternoon.

McLachlan will once again host the Friday night broadcast before handing it over to the Taylor-Brayshaw call team at game time.

James Brayshaw will get first crack at partnering Brian Taylor on Friday nights.

He will begin the season calling Saturday night games with Darcy.

AFLW star Daisy Pearce is expected to be a permanent Friday night fixture alongside former North Melbourne great Wayne Carery in the special comments seats.

Hawthorn premiership captain Luke Hodge will also play a prominent role as a big-game analyst while regulars Matthew Richardson, Cameron Ling, Jobe Watson and Jimmy Bartel are expected to be rotated throughout the 2021 season.

Seven is holding its annual pre-season meeting on Thursday where the finer details of the post-McAvaney era will be worked out.

COMETTI: NO ONE CAN REPLACE ICON MCAVANEY

Rebecca Williams

Bruce McAvaney’s long-time commentary partner Dennis Cometti says the broadcasting “icon” has made the right decision to go out on top.

Describing McAvaney as an “iconic part of sporting history in Australia”, Cometti said his good friend left an enormous legacy as an AFL caller with an “impossible” void to fill.

McAvaney, 67, has stepped down from calling AFL, but will remain with the Seven network to lead its horse racing and Olympic coverage.

McAvaney phoned Cometti on Sunday morning to tell him of his decision to stand down from the AFL commentary box.

“That’s a good way to go, I think,” Cometti said.

“Sure, he could go on another couple of years, but I would say it is best to go slightly ahead of time and that way you have a soft landing and feel comfortable about what you did with no regrets.

“We all have certain regrets when we’re in our prime but as you get older I think people are more quick to judge because they think that is part of any problem you may have in a given sentence. I think people overreact when you get to a certain age.”

Cometti said the legendary caller’s shoes would be impossible to fill.

“Far be it for me to say who should fill the void, it’s an impossible void to fill in some respects,” Cometti said.

“Whoever comes along has just got to do what they do and see how the public reacts to that. Bruce was very much an individual and, as I say, iconic.

“He’ll be a hard man to replace though and I’m sure Seven are looking around. They have probably made a move already, I would think, in their own minds as to who is going to be the man who would replace him because the situation – I think it was obvious a couple of years ago – that he couldn’t go on forever.”

Dennis Cometti and Bruce McAvaney were partners at Channel 7 for years.

Cometti reflected on McAvaney’s intricate preparation for games and said they were “opposites” in the commentary box.

“He was a bit like Albus Dumbledore, he would come in with lots of books,” Cometti said.

“He never met a computer he really trusted and he used to sit behind this pile of books and he was great company and he was always a stats man as well, he would talk stats and they were very informative.

“The stat that I take from our relationship over all those years, the best stat is that we never had a harsh word. We were good mates and we worked with a wonderful crew and it’s a time in my life I will never forget, and I’m sure he’s the same way.

“We were opposites. When we broadcast, I sat down and watched monitors … Bruce would stand up.

“Bruce used binoculars and I watched the screens in front of me. He was facts and I didn’t go so much for the figures.

“He got more insular as the game approached – just did work and running things through his head – and I spent more time with the crew. I just liked chatting small talk and doing that sort of stuff before the game, so we approached the game differently.”

Channel 7’s commentary team in 2008: Rick Olarenshaw, Bruce McAvaney, Tim Watson, Dennis Cometti, David Schwarz and Nathan Buckley.

Cometti said his fondest memory of his time in the commentary box with McAvaney was after the 2016 Grand Final won by the Western Bulldogs – the final game he called for Seven.

“I had announced that I was going after that game,” Cometti said. “It was just a wonderful feeling the two of us sitting there talking on air and off-air about the fact that it was over for us, but he marched on and did a terrific job.

“We were fortunate to see some wonderful football, some wonderful footballers and to work with some really great ex-footballers.”