Indigenous analysts show how it's done



This was published 10 years ago

Indigenous analysts show how it's done

By Martin Flanagan


The prevailing tone of the footy media that week was running at the same pitch it does when a natural disaster like a cyclone hits. A tidal wave of rumour and speculation about the Demons' inner politics swamped the footy world so that even someone like Garry Lyon, who was supposedly at the centre of events, admitted he didn't know which stories were true and which weren't. It was one of the high points of the season in terms of footy as a media game.




A lot of the show's appeal lies in its panel. Gilbert McAdam is an Aboriginal Lou Richards. He gets up from the bottom of every pack with a quip. His relationship with the English language is unusual and entirely his own. Listening to him speak can be like watching a frog leap backwards - his sentences start where they end and end where they start but the one sure thing is that Gilbert enjoys himself. He's like a man driving a tractor the wrong way up the Hume Highway waving to all the cars.

Then there's Rocking Ronnie Burns who looks and sounds like a slick, rough-voiced character in a Martin Scorsese film about America in the 1920s. Ronnie is a Tiwi Islander with a near permanent grin on one side of his face. The late Bob Davis immortally said of Ronnie's time at Geelong that he was "good until they taught him how to play". Ronnie was a smart player, as was Gilbert, who was among St Kilda's best in one of the best finals I've seen - St Kilda v Geelong, 1991.

Usually Chris Johnson is on. In my book, Johnson's a champion in that he made a complete product of his footballing talents. Back pocket in one of the best teams of all time (Brisbane Lions 2001-2003), he's a three-time premiership player who was twice All-Australian. Johnson has a natural authority and I hope he coaches at AFL level. He was also the last Fitzroy player in the AFL, which is fitting given that a lot of older Victorian Kooris like Archie Roach and Uncle Banjo Clarke barracked for Fitzroy because that, once upon a time, was where Kooris lived in Melbourne.

The final member of the panel, Alan Thorpe, played with four AFL clubs - Fitzroy, Footscray, Sydney and Carlton - and too many other clubs for him to remember. He is known on the panel as the Journeyman. However, Thorpe's roundabout path through life has made him a man of depth. He does a lot of work in the Koori community, organising events like men's groups.

What's clever about the show is that it's made with children in mind. Nothing is said or done which questions its family show status. It's good-natured, it's fun and guests are lining up to appear on it. Fremantle coach Mark Harvey took over the program the night he was on, as did that true original, Rex Hunt. A notion of respect underpins the show so that when people who really know the game speak - like Mark Maclure and Wayne Carey on Thursday night - people listen. The program also showcases live Australian music.



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