The Sunday Footy Show (AFL)

The Sunday Footy Show
Genre	Sport
Presented by	Craig Hutchison Damian Barrett Nathan Brown Billy Brownless Matthew Lloyd Luke Ball
Country of origin	Australia
Original language	English
No. of seasons	22
No. of episodes	600+
Production
Production locations	GTV-9 Docklands, Victoria, Australia
Running time	60 minutes (including commercials)
Original release
Network	Nine Network
Release	28 March 1993 – present

The Sunday Footy Show is an Australian rules football program aired on the Nine Network on Sunday mornings at 11am, hosted by Craig Hutchison as of 2015 with a panel consisting of Damian Barrett, Nathan Brown, Matthew Lloyd, Luke Ball and Billy Brownless.

History and Synopsis

Melbourne sports presenter Tony Jones formerly hosted the Sunday version from 2002 until the end of the 2008 season when he was replaced by James Brayshaw. Mark Bickley and Danny Frawley also left the show at the end of the 2008 season to take up roles in the AFL, being replaced by the recently retired Crawford and Nathan Thompson. In 2010, Brian Taylor and Peter Larkins left the show to make room for Barrett and Brown. In November 2011, Nine announced that Brayshaw would be stepping down as host due to having many commitments commentating footy games, Olympic coverage and Triple M Melbourne's Rush Hour, Simon O'Donnell was announced as his replacement. However, On 28 November 2012, Nine announced that O'Donnell left the network, Craig Hutchison was announced as his replacement for 2013.

The show discusses the weekend's matches so far, showing scores and highlights and interviews players from the sides that have played that round. Before the Nine Network obtained the TV rights to AFL matches, it was a lighter look at the AFL with a panel featuring the likes of Max Walker, Sam Newman, Ted Whitten and Lou Richards.

Lou Richards was part of the Sunday Footy Show until the end of 2008, when he left due to illness. However, they continue to pay tribute with "Lou's Handball", a segment where players from opposing teams are pitted against each other in a handball target practice, and "Lou's Showcase", which is a showcase of prizes given to special guests.

The Sunday Footy Show was the original Footy Show and, following its success in 1993, it was decided to present a special Grand Final edition from the Rod Laver Arena. The success of this special meant that the Thursday night show was to be instilled as a permanent fixture in the Nine schedule. The Sunday Footy Show has had numerous formats over the years, but is currently back to a traditional panel feel.

There was controversy on the Sunday edition of the Footy Show on 12 August 2007, when AFL legend and former North Melbourne Football Club captain and premiership player Wayne Carey responded to criticisms from Nathan Thompson by mocking Thompson's well-publicised bout with depression. In addition, on returning from a commercial break, he was heard to make references to "necking himself", to the apparent delight of other members of the Footy Show panel. Carey and the Nine Network were quick to issue an apology over the incident, although no mention was officially made of the "necking himself" comment.

In 2009, Brian Taylor made rare appearances, due to his commentary work on Fox Sports, with a guest AFL panelist taking his spot when Taylor was not present.

See also

• List of Australian television series
• List of longest-running Australian television series
• The Sunday Footy Show (rugby league)

External links

• The Footy Show website