Brian Taylor scolded: ‘He should be banned from calling Essendon games’

CHANNEL Seven commentator Brian Taylor has come under fire from fans calling for him to be “banned” after a Friday night gaffe.

Brian Taylor copped a scolding from fans.

WE all know the excruciating feeling sitting in a room with someone who is repeatedly mispronouncing someone’s name.

And when it’s a commentator on national television, it can get a little irritating.

Channel Seven footy caller Brian Taylor is an AFL legend by right, but he came under serious fire for his horribly botched pronouciation of Essendon star Orazio Fantasia while calling the Bombers’ clash against Sydney on Friday.

Taylor repeatedly pronounced the 21-year-old’s name wrong, ignoring the silent “z” and turning his Italian name into a long Aussie drawl.

Taylor was brought up by fellow commentators asking how to pronounce “Orazio”, to which the 55-year-old replied: “Oraaaa-zee-oh” in jest.

It’s not the first time the veteran commentator has been called out for his butchering of Fantasia’s name. A fan-made video surfaced on Youtube in May this year of the Seven commentator’s most hilarious Fantasia bungles.

Fans looked to have had enough of Taylor’s mispronunciations and fired off at him on Twitter.

Seriously, BT should be banned from calling Essendon games. This Orazio stuff is just ridiculous now. #AFLSwansDons

— Alex Fair (@AJFair85) June 23, 2017

It's interesting watching a commentator become a human meme. #AFLSwansDons

— Max Laughton (@maxlaughton) June 23, 2017

Wittily mused BT. A masterclass in ironic commentaric observation.#GoodCallBT

— Richard Hinds (@rdhinds) June 23, 2017

BT commentating Orazio is Bruce's Cyril.

— Andrew Bogut (@andrewbogut) June 23, 2017

"What a sound" - my mum's reaction to BT's overly enthusiastic call on that Orazio Fantasia mark & goal #aflswansdons

— Melanie Dinjaski (@MelanieDinjaski) June 23, 2017

Another video of Taylor saying Eagles utility Elliot Yeo’s name repeatedly has also been uploaded, much to fans’ delight.

AFL legend Brian Taylor has serious trouble with Orazio Fantasia’s name.

Amid the Brian Taylor kerfuffle, there was an AFL game played. And what a game it was.

Sydney completed astonishing one-point victory over Essendon at the SCG, sneaking home via a Gary Rohan conversion from the goal square after the final siren.

The Bombers looked set to complete an epic come-from-behind win on Friday night, piling on seven consecutive goals to hit the front with 10 minutes remaining. The visitors pushed it out to a 19-point lead but the Swans rallied in remarkable fashion. Lance Franklin missed two shots in the ensuing chaos, but his side still managed to kick two goals in the final 80 seconds. The margin was cut to five points when Franklin marked outside the 50m arc, wheeled around and kicked his sixth behind of the night.

The SCG went up in elation as Gary Rohan kicked a final-second goal.

Soon after, the Sherrin landed in the lap of Rohan, who had cost Sydney two goals during the Bombers’ preceding blitz, and the flame-haired speedster did not disappoint.

The Swans won 11.20 (86) to 12.13 (85), surging into the AFL’s top eight for the first time this season.

Both sides were guilty of crippling turnovers and inaccurate goalkicking, especially in the opening half.

Swans skipper Josh Kennedy, as has been the case throughout his side’s revival, was inspirational in the engine room and likely to earn the three Brownlow votes.

The Bombers landed in NSW with two worrying records hanging over their heads. The Swans had won the past six meetings between the clubs, while Franklin had averaged a bag of five goals in his 13 clashes with Essendon. They successfully shot down one of the hoodoos. Franklin was held goalless by the Bombers for the first time in his 260-game career.

It wasn’t entirely the visitors’ doing. Franklin had the yips, as did fellow key forward Sam Reid, in what was far from Sydney’s most-polished performance of the year.

The Swans, however, move to a position where finals are somehow on the cards. It is some achievement, given they opened 2017 with six straight losses. No club has rallied from a 0-5 start and reached finals, let alone 0-6.

Losing in the final second? That’s a paddlin’.

WATSON NAMES AFL ‘GOAT’

The AFL has been treated to dozens of freak midfielders over the years.

Players like Chris Judd, Robert Harvey, Nathan Buckley and Gary Ablett Senior and Junior wowed fans for years with their incredible ability on the ball and ridiculous habits of racking up 30-plus disposal games.

Starting a conversation over who is the best on-baller in history and you’ll likely get half-a-dozen different opinions, but footy great Tim Watson has zero doubts in his mind about who takes the top spot.

“I’ve said that Gary Ablett is the best midfielder that I have seen in the time that I have been watching football full stop,” he said on SEN radio Friday.

“I have watched a lot of football and I’m talking about someone who is the complete midfielder.”

Tim Watson says Gary Ablett is the best midfielder he’s ever seen.

Watson picked the Gold Coast star over Judd and AFL legend Greg Williams, putting Ablett’s incredible marking skills ahead of the former Carlton star.

“I rate him higher than the unbelievable Chris Judd, and Greg “Diesel” Williams.

“Diesel was a great distributor of the ball, he was tough and inside and all that sort of stuff, but he couldn’t run like Ablett, he was a good mark for his size, but he couldn’t mark like Gary Ablett.”

“If you look at all of Ablett’s components, and I’ve done this before, break him down into pieces, and say what he can do?

“He’s creative, he can bring other players into the game with his creativity and his vision, he can kick the ball as well as any midfielder that has ever played the game, he can win the ball inside, he can win it on the outside, he can mark (and) he can kick goals.

“There is not a thing he couldn’t do as a midfielder.”

— with AAP