Eels Blogs

Who are some of our preferred commentators when watching a match? Now the option of fox league is available that is usually my go to in terms of watching footy. Only time i watch 9 is when it is exclusive, so basically for Origin and the GF.

One commentator on fox i will mention is Vossy, i consider him slightly overrated. I like him, but he is not the best fox has to offer and can go a little over board from time to time. However Vossy to me is a very good commentator. For me the best one atm, or the one i like the most, is Dan Ginnane. Even him on shows he offers a breath of fresh approach as when you listen to him he does not care what people think from time to time and i like that. Vossy is great with history like he is spot with how many games a player has played, stats etc. But Ginnane just is more exciting to listen to and does not get carried away as much as what Vossy can at times.

Ray Warren is an immortal and cannot be touched, but father time is starting to get to him but he is still one of the greats when watching Origin and GF's, even if some bias is there as he was the voice i grew up with. One name that was always touted to be #1, even courted by channel 7 when they went for the NRL rights was Warren Smith. For years he was fox's no.1 before Vossy came in, it is a shame as i really enjoy Smith also. He can be a little plain at times but it can be a pleasant change also, but he was sharing big games with Vossy, now i believe he is only given 1 game a week with Voss and Ginnane sharing majority of the commentary. Anthony Maroon is good on triple M, but Ginnane when there is a touch better. Dave Morrow on 2GB is pretty good, but do miss Andrew Moore. Hadley well going to be unpopular here but on radio i really like him, on TV not so much.

Matt Thompson on 9 is fine, he does the best he can but i do not feel he is the no.1 that 9 should go with. 9 only have Warren and Thompson so wonder who they will bring in once Rabs retires. Back to fox, Brenton Speed was off ofx league for roughly a year or two and is back this year, not a massive fan to be fair, he is better when he does A-League i feel. Matt Russell is usually given the less intruiging games, the 3:00pm saturday or if it was back in the day the 9:30 saturday game that was not live. Russell is great as a sideline commentator, but can annoy me from time to time, more so a commentator that pronounces a players name then proceeds to constantly reassure people watching that is how you pronounce it, mate we get it. One thing i do not miss is the NZ commentators, when it was a Warriors home game they had which i think were Sky commentators doing it, and they tried their best but they weren't suited to commentating league, Halligan as an assistant commentator was ok but yeah not great there.

Finally, one name that i am glad to hear on triple M now is Andy Raymond. Was pretty much what Matt Russell is at fox now, plus he was always a closet Eels fan when commentating which i did like. Raymond has energy though and Round 1 he commentated the NQ v Canterbury game as i listened on the way home from Eels v Titans, the game was a slog but Raymond made it entertaining where he could. One i do want to quickly mention and he is not a main commentator but Daryl Brohman, he is in my eyes extremely underrated as a footy commentator. He has a switched on football brain and when commentating he is spot on with majority of the things he says. He was the one also that brought up about Dylan Brown mid last year at halftime and mentioned his views of his stats and where he should be attributing.

Not going to get into the 2nd commentators like Brandy, Ennis, Roach as i think they are all hit or miss, particularly Roach who i feel is way too over the top. Anasta has now shifted more to NRL 360 now and i do like him.

So who does everyone like in today's commentary? I know some just turn it off completely.