Whateley
The Evolution of AFL Special Comments | Know Your History with Shannon Gill (18.06.26)
25 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the evolution of AFL special comments?
This is Waitly. I hope in 30 years' time someone's still doing something like Know Your History and they could do the Baz Ball regime. We could almost put something away now for the custodians of the time in a time capsule, Shannon Gill, because it's transfixing and it's appalling. And just from the outside, it's so easy to unravel, but they're all so caught up in it.
They can't see the wood for the trees.
I feel there's a Netflix series one day out of this. A long way down the track. At the very least. No, I'm talking about a drama. I'm not talking about a documentary. I'm talking about a drama. Into the Bodyline miniseries. A step more.
I love that idea. All right. Know Your History, 11 o'clock every Thursday. Today's Know Your History is the evolution of the special comments in AFL.
Channel 7 is proud to present this exclusive live telecast of the 1978 Grand Final. Your commentators are Peter Dandy, Lou Richards, with special comments from triple Brownlow medalist Bob Skilton.
Was this, in fact, the first time the title special comments had been used?
I believe it was the first time someone was billed as special comments on a television broadcast of a grand final. So that was the 1978 grand final. Bob Skilton. And always, he wasn't just Bob Skilton when he was doing special comments. He was a triple Brownlow medalist, Bob Skilton. So we've been talking about this over the last few weeks. We've played a lot of Don Scott. Yes.
And you've asked me the question, or we've mused, What did people actually think of Don Scott in real time? So we've sort of, there's a bit of that. And then I've written a story in the record this week that talks to Adam Simpson and Malcolm Blight. Become suddenly notorious. Yes. Sorry. About, you got me there, Jared.
About the transition from media to the coach's box and back and forth and how that all compares, what it's like. So I thought the evolution of special comments. Now, this is going to be skewed towards the 90s because that's where I think there's a crescendo for special comments. It's also going to skew towards television, but we'll have a little bit of radio there. And if you've got...
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Chapter 2: How did Bob Skilton change the role of special comments in the 1978 Grand Final?
So he is the coach... who then becomes the commentator. And he has charisma and showmanship, but he becomes the commentary box coach talking through plays in the NFL. And there's no, American football is the best way to have an analyst because you've got time and space to explain. So he moved to the commentary box in 1979. And during the 1980s, he became as big a name in the game as anyone.
So he hosts Saturday Night Live. Anyone who plays video games, the NFL console game is titled Madden Football and still today. So that's how big he was. So if I then relate it back to our footy world, there were experts in the chair from the time TV starts, but they weren't really used to specifically analyze the game. They were color, but also dabbled in play-by-play. Now,
A great example is Ted Witten in the 1960s Grand Finals. I think we've played this audio before, but we will do it again. So this is what I would call colour commentary. Some might call it barracking.
But it's at centre-half forward for St Kilda. Why not? He'll be played the mark. Slow it down. Slow it down. Yes, he's taking your advice. All right, Ted. Can the Saints hang on and win their first ever? They've got it. And a mark to Bob Murray. A mark to Murray. 28 and a half minutes gone. Hit the boundary line. 28 and a half gone. There's Murray's kick to the wing position on the other side.
There's a solo. It's in 20 minutes.
They've done it. Look at this. So that is what special comments were in the 1960s, but more it's colour and Ted would then do a bit of play-by-play. So this was not what we know of special comments.
Yeah.
So then we get through to the 70s and 80s, and generally Channel 7 would cover three games during the regular season on a Saturday. Each game would have two play-by-play commentators, and often they were ex-players, so they could put an expert word in there, but not in name. So if there was colour analysis, it was just up to the play-by-play duo.
So there was no special comments as well as the play-by-play.
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Chapter 3: What was the role of color commentary versus special comments in AFL?
Geoff Southby at fullback, of course. That was where he was named. One of the best in the business, so no sense in taking him away from there. Oh, beautiful kick from Southby under the wet conditions. Look at that, almost into the centre.
So that was Bob Skilton. After six minutes of a frenetic grand final, you would think he would be brought in to tell us what was going on, and he gets all of about three seconds airtime. So... They weren't quite sure how to use the special comments man at first, but he was a legend of the game, and he was qualified for the role, and he was the only one on TV.
And obviously, through the years, he gets better, and he's given more of a role as special comments. And it becomes quite iconic that Bob Skilton is the special comments man. But it's really more of a colour role, bit of opinion, and so forth. Things change in 1987. So... I won't go into the full detail, but the television rights changes and the ABC ends up televising VFL football in Victoria.
They hire some regulars to do special comments, which is not just the finals. So they get special comments on every game they broadcast, which is fantastic. Very different to what had happened before. So John Nichols, Kevin Bartlett, Bernie Quinlan, they're part of the first crop and they get some pretty good reviews. So Trevor Grant talks about how the special comments men who provide just that.
This is a highlight. Bernie Quinlan, Kevin Bartlett, John Nichols. give us interpretation without unnecessary scene stealing flamboyance. Now you can, you can sort of, you can sort of see where that might've been beforehand that there was flamboyance involved. So there is this sort of view that, hang on, we're starting to get better at this. What I would say is it, it didn't all work well.
There was, sorry, keep going. There was the hiring of Gary Dempsey and,
who is uh... who is actually uh...
So was that Gary Dempsey or the Godfather? He didn't last long because of that. But what it all comes back to is that there is more evolution here and Malcolm Blight plays so much of a role in the evolution. So in 1988, Channel 7 gets the TV rights back and they make a definitive step. Analysis and special comments are needed. So they hire a whole bunch of new play-by-play callers
and they decide to have a special comments caller at all games. Here is the first night of having our new special comments men.
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Chapter 4: How did Malcolm Blight influence special comments in the late 1980s?
He's the national manager at his day job, so he's moving back to Melbourne. At the same time, Seven is putting this commentary team together and they will have a special comments person at every game. So Blight gets the call and he says, yes, he's in.
And it's, it's almost interesting in, um, he, he, there's commentary where people sort of say to him, now you haven't seen much VFL lately, Blighty. He goes, yeah, I'm just, just learning some of the players again. Now, and it randomly, it fits with his job because he has to travel around Australia for work. So he says, oh, well, I'll, I'll go to Perth on Monday and I'll do the game on Sunday.
And, um, I chatted to Blighty for this story and he sort of said that 60% of the time he spent on air, he wanted to talk about skills, positioning and all of that sort of thing. He's also writing a column in The Age about tactics. And he's an absolute hit because no one's really doing this. No one's really done it before. Even Don Scott gets great reviews. So, yeah.
Peter McFarlane, who's sort of covering this during this year, if early season performance is any guide, and it is so really in football, then Scott will prove the best investment.
The former Hawthorne captain who enjoyed a reputation for handing out and absorbing punishment with equal enthusiasm as well as for extreme honesty in extolling his point of view has obviously carried these traits into his TV career. And that's right. As we see with Don Scott the whole way through, I... Gerard, I know you have a soft spot for 1980s wrestling. Yes.
I've always seen Don Scott as the Jesse the Body Venturer of football commentators. He is the heel commentator that you kind of dislike. And look, he was a hot take merchant way before it was a thing and people didn't like him. It provoked issues. Now, I'll let Sandy Roberts explain how his problem with West Coast started or how his problem with West Coast played out.
and the Eagles gave us a rather interesting banner. It seems as though commentator Don Scott isn't exactly the flavour of the month. West Coast whingers, we are not. Do the world a favour, get rid of Don Scott. Hey!
So that was happening back in 1988 when special comments just started. Has anyone put Cain on the banner yet? Well, I always say that. You haven't done much to Cain until you've done that. So Don made the banner. Now, Malcolm Blight is the breakout star of all this.
So before the grand final, our man Peter McFarlane is writing about this, and he is making the case that Blighty should commentate the grand final. In my opinion, Blight should be the man because of his ability to explain his thoughts logically and his refusal to become involved in the hysteria that somehow is part and parcel of football coverage in Victoria. So...
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Chapter 5: What changes occurred in AFL commentary during the 1990s?
He was very keen on Blight. And one of the reasons is because we loved what he was doing on TV. So Blight steps up from special comments to coach with great success. And like Kevin Bartlett had stepped from expert to coach the year prior, but that was more based on Richmond legend and he was always going to coach Richmond.
But the Blight, the fact that Blight gets it from this role marks a shift in how we analyze and how we value that and its connection to coaching. Yeah. And the companion piece from radio is Stan Elves. Stan Elves is another great example. So he is hired in 1989 to do special comments on ABC radio. And there's the play-by-play commentators.
There's Crackers Keenan doing color commentary and Stan doing analysis. And he gets rave reviews. And pretty much from the moment he's doing it, he becomes sought after as he is the next coach. And- And this is, he ends up getting the job at St Kilda and it is seen as the reason why he got the job because he was able to explain clearly on radio what was going on in a football match.
And when St Kilda made the ill-fated decision to part ways with him, he came back and for many years. Did it again. Did it alongside Mark McClure. All right, so that's when coaches were chosen from the early positions of special comments. The history of this position in our game with Shannon Gill. For City Power, Melbourne's weather partly cloudy at top of 14.
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Tonight, just some of the names, some of the topics on Talking Footy.
Good evening and welcome once again to Talking Footy right around Australia on the Seven Network.
Talking footy is fast becoming compulsory viewing. McIverney once again prompts sparkling debate between Malcolm Blight and Mike Sheehan. Blight is rated by many as the best coach never to win a premiership and is probably the most lateral thinker in the game.
At a time when there is so much to talk about on and off field, it's a treat to have a football program that goes against all the time-honoured traditions. I mean, a footy show without saloon bar asides, hoonish or juvenile gags, silly bets and rah-rah footage. taking it all a bit serious, isn't it?
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Chapter 6: How did special comments evolve into a career path for coaches?
So this was the rehab. The one I love, though, is Wolsey because he had no intention of coaching when he finished coaching for good. And so he just becomes the most hardline coach in the commentary box of all time. And I would argue the most iconic special comments person of the 2000s, Robert Wolsey.
Yep.
Yep. All right. So give us the flow of the great names who mixed and matched coaching media, coaching media, back and forth.
As we say with Blight, Channel 7 in 88, went to Geelong, back to Channel 7 in 95, 96. Then... Back to the Crows and then ends up at Channel 10 after the evil fated St. Kilda stint, which we won't go into. Wolsey, similar story. Fitzroy Carlton writes for the Herald for two years, goes to the Brisbane Bears, coaches Richmond, and then...
Goes for his long career with 7, 10 and Fox doing special comments. Even Ron Barassi had a year out where he was doing play-by-play commentary on Channel 7 back in 1972. Ross Lyon has done it in recent years with radio and Channel 9. So it has happened. Mick Malthouse has done it at times too. So it's happened a long way back.
All right, so we are in the phase where perhaps Nathan Buckley will do it. And we don't know about Ken Hinckley or John Longmire or Adam Simpson yet. Who knows? We'll wait and see. You might have to read the record. Very good. All right, so... Special comments as rehab for coaches and then go and have more success. We'll pick this up with Shannon Gill. Know your history here next.
FIFA World Cup meal at Macca's. Let's join Nathan in the newsroom. A few of your memories of special comments. Steve has given us love, Bobby's guilt, and always chimed in beautifully with Landy and Lewis. The colour circle replay are... Oh, very nice. That is a great memory. Didn't mind him as an in-play commentator either.
I'll never forget when Dougie Hawkins was the special comments for the Essendon North Melbourne 2001 comeback game. He just laughed the entire game. On radio when Jack Dyer gave his player ratings after a game, he was spot on. Fantastic. From the SANFL days, Channel 9 used former Essendon Premiership player of the early 50s and later Sturt player Wally May, who became iconic in Adelaide.
Jimmy Hill started special comments in English football in the 1970s and during the 1970 World Cup. Special comments were utilised. That's from Charles, as well as our US examples. I liked when Peter Russo... Commentated, an ex-umpire who actually knew the rules. We will get to that. Robert Walls and Gerard Healy are the two greatest special comments, and we're going to pick up with Gerard Healy.
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Chapter 7: What impact did media roles have on coaching opportunities for former players?
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Business owners, pay.com.au it and start earning rewards today. And manage your fleet with Radius GPS trackers. Visit Radius.com and enjoy great deals at Hyundai E-Office. On now at participating Hyundai dealers. Want to have your say? Ring Gerard on 1300 736 736. Now, back to Waitley. So I moseyed on down in the Moorabbin room, Sandy. And naturally enough...
I was knock, knock, knocking on heaven's door.
Gerard Healy prone to a little sing-along early. So know your history, the evolution of the special comments position, the coach using it as rehab and then returning. And this is where we get to where it becomes a career path of its own. And the best way to analyze this, Shannon, is Mike Sheehan wrote a piece about the coaching landscape.
which included Jared Healy, has emerged as Malcolm Blight Mark II, a Brownlow medal winner, a man with plenty of confidence, and one who has watched the game from the media quarter. There is no doubt that he will coach at some stage.
Now, Mike got that wrong, but that's because there became a career path. And this is the 90s, so in order. And funnily enough, they're all SEN people. Through the 90s, these four players retire in chronological order. Jared Healy, Tim Watson, Dermot Brereton, Gary Lyon, all on this station. All were doing media work before, when they retired, first of all. They went straight into it.
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Chapter 8: What are some notable moments and controversies in AFL special comments history?
And that is all based on doing special comments. Let me, in Mike Sheehan's sweep of 1991, I don't want to let this pass because it's great reading. It includes two others. Yes, I thought you'd like this. John Newman is the wild card. Geelong twice has given him serious consideration for the coaching job.
One or two idiosyncrasies from his playing days went against him, but his role in the media indicates a broader, more tolerant attitude in recent years. Mark McClure is underestimated by people outside the inner sanctum at his three AFL clubs, Carlton, Sydney and Brisbane.
He is big on the work ethic as he was in his playing days at Carlton and has the strength to impose tough levels of discipline.
What could have been? Imagine what coaching would have been in the 90s with Sam and Salas. Now, it didn't go well for Tim at St Kilda, as we probably all know, but this has an effect on the other three guys we're talking about. The story of how Watson came to St Kilda, this is reported by Caroline Wilson at the time. He's still at St Kilda, but on his last legs.
The story of how Watson came to St Kilda and was virtually allowed to ride his own ticket is being touted now as a cautionary tale. It certainly hasn't helped the likes of Dermot Barrett and Gary Lyon and Gerard Healy, should they ever attempt to move directly from the media into a senior coaching role.
So Wisp ruined it for everyone. He did. Well, and they got lifelong jobs in the media. Yes, yes. And which brings us to the now. And who was it saying the other day? One of the great problems in coaching is that it should be Jordan Lewis and it should be Luke Hodge. And it's hopeful that it'll be Scott Pendlebury. But the media side of it is so lucrative.
Yeah.
And that some of those minds are now being lost. I think it was John Longmire.
Yeah, it was John Longmire. Of course he was saying that, yeah. And that's, so, you know, Luke Hodge probably, probably looks as the one that could do it, but you would think that they would have to go and do a couple of years after it.
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