AFL commentator’s ‘nightmare’ Grant Denyer stitch-up

Popular footy commentator Mark Howard has shed light on a classic stitch-up from Grant Denyer when he was starting out in TV.

Gather Round is quickly becoming a landmark occasion on the AFL calendar and it represents a full circle moment for commentator Mark Howard.

The man affectionately known as ‘Howie’ got his start in TV many years ago as a host on the Supercars TV coverage at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide and this week he returns to the City of Churches years after an unfortunate incident involving Grant Denyer.

Before he became a Gold Logie winner, Denyer drove in the V8 Supercars before taking on a hosting role in the sport’s TV coverage, while a fresh faced Howard was cutting his teeth in the broadcast world.

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“Grant had left Channel 10 to go to Channel 7 and I’d gone from Channel 7 to Channel 10 as the bloke who’d do stories like UFO sighting, a sheep that thought it was a dog, on the news,” Howard recalled to news.com.au.

“Then I was doing V8s. The first V8 event I covered was the Clipsal in Adelaide. Grant hosted a show called Trackside that I took over hosting, and that covered all the different categories.

“I arrived in Adelaide and I had a small pit lane role reporting on the V8s but I had to present this show and interview drivers on this show Trackside, which covered all sorts of stuff. There were seven different categories so I was running around like a mad man all weekend.

“We had to do the live bit on the V8 coverage, they said you need to wear racesuit, a fire retardant suit. I was like, OK. I don’t think anyone had really thought through it.

Grant Denyer on the Supercars coverage. Photo: YouTube.

Mark Howard in his very early days in TV.

“They’re like, ‘We haven’t got you a race suit, don’t worry you can wear Grant’s’. Now I love Grant, but he’s about 4-foot-1, I’m a little over six foot.

“So they pulled it out of the shipping container and it still had his name on the suit where it ties up around the middle. I put this suit on and fair dinkum if there’d been a fire, I would have been completely burnt from mid-calf down.

“My ankles, calves, achilles, ankles would have been burnt because this was thing was that high and tight around my midriff because it was so small.”

Howard said it was a baptism of fire and certainly a memorable way to kick off his career in live television.

Mark Howard during his time working on Supercars.

“The very first live cross I did on V8 Supercars coverage on Channel 10 was in Grant’s racesuit, it was so small and tight,” he chuckled.

“I was terrified because it was the first time I’d really done live TV. My voice is high pitched at the best of times but it’s even more so because of the way this race suit is riding around my midriff. That was my introduction to live TV.

“All these hardcore race drivers are looking at me going, ‘Has your race suit shrunk in the wash, what’s going on? It was a bloody nightmare.

“From memory Grant just laughed and laughed. He thought it was quite entertaining, the little man.”

Howie’s love for beloved co-commentator

Howard is looking forward to returning to Adelaide for the third edition of Gather Round, where all nine games are played across the city at the Adelaide Oval, Norwood and in the Barossa Valley.

“Apart from the finals, it’s my favourite AFL round of the year because it’s something different and you just see everyone from the AFL community, from footballers to journalists to commentators out and about.

“It’s the gathering of the AFL tribe. I really look forward to it. It’s a great weekend.”

Howard has been calling AFL games on Triple M for a decade and on TV for Fox Footy since 2020, and he has formed a new partnership with beloved commentator Matt Hill on Thursday night games this season.

“It’s been fantastic working with Matt,” Howard said.

Matt Hill and Mark Howard in the Fox Footy commentary box. Photo: Instagram.

Mark Howard is a key member of Fox Sports’ coverage. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

“I’d only met him a couple of weeks before our first game at the Fox Footy launch.

“He’s brilliant, whenever he walks into the commentary box he’s always got good energy and something funny to say in a low key way. 

“I’ve worked with a lot of people, and more than anyone, apart from maybe Ravi Shastri, I get stopped on the street by people telling me how much they love Matt Hill.”

You can listen to Howard and Hill call the action in Thursday’s night game between Geelong and Adelaide to kick off Gather Round on Fox Footy.

Fox Footy is the only place to watch AFL games on Saturday across Australia in Victoria and Tasmania for the whole home and away season, and nationally for at least the first eight rounds.

Originally published as AFL commentator’s ‘nightmare’ Grant Denyer stitch-up