Dennis Cometti
Encyclopedia
Dennis Cometti is a former Australian rules football
player and coach for West Perth
in the West Australian Football League
and Footscray in the Victorian Football League but is best known as a commentator
. In a career spanning almost 40 years, his dry humour and smooth voice have become his trademark. He remains the only television broadcaster to have spanned the entire duration of the VFL/AFL national competition (Seven Network
, Nine Network
and Broadcom).
. His best year in the WAFL
was 1968 when he kicked over 60 goals playing for West Perth under Graham Farmer
. In 1971 Cometti made the senior list at Footscray but due to injuries and media commitments was unable to make a mark and did not play a VFL
senior match.
On his return to Perth he played with some success in the Sunday Football League. He initially played for Wanneroo before moving to Maddington as captain-coach leading the club to four successive grand finals, winning premierships in 1974, 1975 and 1976. After hanging up his boots he later coached Osborne Park and Kelmscott, winning a premiership in 1979.
In 1982 Cometti was appointed coach of West Perth. After finishing third in his first year, his tenure at West Perth was otherwise uneventful, finishing sixth in both 1983 and 1984. Other than a brief period as Chairman of Selectors at the West Coast Eagles
, this was Cometti's last active involvement in club football.
He commenced his media career as radio announcer in Perth
, Western Australia
, in 1968 as a Top 40 disc jockey at radio station 6KY. Over the following five years he worked as an announcer on 6PM, 3DB in Melbourne and 6PR. He broadcast his first football match - a state game between WA and Victoria at Subiaco Oval in 1971. Melbourne station 3KZ needed a caller and Cometti volunteered. He joined the ABC in 1972 where he concentrated exclusively on sport. He broadcast his first Test match in 1973 (at 23 the youngest in ABC history) and for the next 13 years broadcast Test Cricket alongside Alan McGilvray
.
coincided with the formation of the West Coast Eagles
in the VFL
but because of a bitter battle over television broadcast rights (that excluded the 7 Network) Cometti broadcast the first season of the expanded VFL competition on independent broadcaster Broadcom. In 1988 when the 7 Network regained the VFL television rights Cometti immediately became the highest profile commentator of VFL/AFL matches (based in Western Australia where he presented the evening news sports segment). He stayed with Seven until 2001, as main sports anchor for Seven News
in Perth, when they lost the rights to broadcast AFL matches. He has since been succeeded by Basil Zempilas
, who still reads the sport news on Seven News to this day.
In the late 1990s, he was among those to have been sent up by impersonator Andrew Startin
on Live And Kicking. Actor Eric Bana
was another to 'do' Cometti.
During his career with the station, he called eight AFL Grand Final
s. He also commentated at the Summer Olympics swimming competitions in Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. Cometti has broadcast more Australian Olympic Gold Medals than any other commentator of the television era.
While at Nine, Cometti was openly stated as one of the network's highest paid personalities, at a price Seven said they would not match. However, with Seven regaining the rights to broadcast AFL games starting from 2007, on 8 December 2006 it was announced that Cometti re-signed with the Seven Network to "call" games radio-like on AFL alongside Bruce McAvaney
, another specialist caller rather than commentator.
In addition, Cometti presents a special weekly segment during the sport report during the evening news. By season's end he had been voted Television Caller of the Year by the Australian Football Media Association for the sixth consecutive time. He followed up for his eighth award in 2008. He was also voted FHM Magazine's Commentator of the Year for 2008.
In 2008 Cometti joined Melbourne radio station 3AW to broadcast one AFL match per round (almost always Saturday afternoon) and host a 2 hour talkback preview prior to that game.
In 2009, he re-joined The West Australian newspaper to write a fortnightly column and weekly blogs.
Cometti currently resides in the Perth suburb of Yokine in the same house he spent his childhood. Except for his time in Melbourne, he has lived in the same house all of his life.
Commetti will continue to call games for Channel 7
during the 2012 AFL season.
in 2002 and alongside Eddie McGuire
, Dermott Brereton
and Garry Lyon
became one of the channel's leading Australian rules football
callers. During those 5 years he was voted AFMA (Australian Football Media Association) television broadcaster of the year 5 times for his disposition not to criticise the game's umpire's decisions, rather to call it after their decisions and "call-on" from their decisions, never fielding a view. In 2006 he was awarded the Alf Brown Award as the games foremost media personality for awareness of the game. In a Melbourne newspaper Herald Sun
annual poll he recorded increasing record percentages for fan popularity over his 5 years with Channel Nine against non-specialist opponents. In 2006 48% of the papers readers named Cometti as their favourite caller. A similar poll in South Australia by the Adelaide Advertiser put the number at 62%. In both cases his nearest rival was in single figures and did not take into account several commentators on the ABC. Occasionally while at Nine, he returned to cricket commentary and in 2003/04 called an Australia A
game. As at Seven, he read the sports report on the weeknight National Nine News
in Perth.
alongside Brian Taylor, until he revealed he would be joining Triple M
in 2012 to replace Rex Hunt
on a Saturday afternoon. He was immediately removed from 3AW's lineup to call the 2011 AFL finals series
and was replaced by Dwayne Russell
(Host of 3AW's Sports Today program and Fox Sports commentator).
From 2012 onwards, he will be replaced by Tim Lane.
, where he traced his father's Italian heritage back to Italy and discovered that an ancestor on his mother's side had been involved in a mass murder.
since 2002.
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
player and coach for West Perth
West Perth Football Club
The West Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Falcons, is an Australian rules football club located in Joondalup, Western Australia, competing in the West Australian Football League . It is the oldest existing Australian rules football club in Western Australia. It competes in the West Australian...
in the West Australian Football League
West Australian Football League
The West Australian Football League is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The WAFL is the second-most popular in the state, behind the nation-wide Australian Football League...
and Footscray in the Victorian Football League but is best known as a commentator
Sportscaster
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
. In a career spanning almost 40 years, his dry humour and smooth voice have become his trademark. He remains the only television broadcaster to have spanned the entire duration of the VFL/AFL national competition (Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
, Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
and Broadcom).
WAFL/VFL career
Cometti played 40 matches for West PerthWest Perth Football Club
The West Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Falcons, is an Australian rules football club located in Joondalup, Western Australia, competing in the West Australian Football League . It is the oldest existing Australian rules football club in Western Australia. It competes in the West Australian...
. His best year in the WAFL
West Australian Football League
The West Australian Football League is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The WAFL is the second-most popular in the state, behind the nation-wide Australian Football League...
was 1968 when he kicked over 60 goals playing for West Perth under Graham Farmer
Graham Farmer
Graham Vivian "Polly" Farmer, MBE is a retired Australian rules football player and coach. Born in Western Australia, he joined the East Perth Football Club as a ruckman in 1953, where he won several awards and contributed to the team winning three premierships...
. In 1971 Cometti made the senior list at Footscray but due to injuries and media commitments was unable to make a mark and did not play a VFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
senior match.
On his return to Perth he played with some success in the Sunday Football League. He initially played for Wanneroo before moving to Maddington as captain-coach leading the club to four successive grand finals, winning premierships in 1974, 1975 and 1976. After hanging up his boots he later coached Osborne Park and Kelmscott, winning a premiership in 1979.
In 1982 Cometti was appointed coach of West Perth. After finishing third in his first year, his tenure at West Perth was otherwise uneventful, finishing sixth in both 1983 and 1984. Other than a brief period as Chairman of Selectors at the West Coast Eagles
West Coast Eagles
The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League. The club is based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and played its first games in the 1987 season. Its current home ground is Subiaco Oval...
, this was Cometti's last active involvement in club football.
He commenced his media career as radio announcer in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
, in 1968 as a Top 40 disc jockey at radio station 6KY. Over the following five years he worked as an announcer on 6PM, 3DB in Melbourne and 6PR. He broadcast his first football match - a state game between WA and Victoria at Subiaco Oval in 1971. Melbourne station 3KZ needed a caller and Cometti volunteered. He joined the ABC in 1972 where he concentrated exclusively on sport. He broadcast his first Test match in 1973 (at 23 the youngest in ABC history) and for the next 13 years broadcast Test Cricket alongside Alan McGilvray
Alan McGilvray
Alan David McGilvray AM MBE was an Australian cricketer who played several first-class seasons for New South Wales in the mid-1930s before becoming the doyen of Australian cricket commentators...
.
Seven Network
In 1986 his surprise move to the Seven NetworkSeven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
coincided with the formation of the West Coast Eagles
West Coast Eagles
The West Coast Eagles are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League. The club is based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and played its first games in the 1987 season. Its current home ground is Subiaco Oval...
in the VFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
but because of a bitter battle over television broadcast rights (that excluded the 7 Network) Cometti broadcast the first season of the expanded VFL competition on independent broadcaster Broadcom. In 1988 when the 7 Network regained the VFL television rights Cometti immediately became the highest profile commentator of VFL/AFL matches (based in Western Australia where he presented the evening news sports segment). He stayed with Seven until 2001, as main sports anchor for Seven News
Seven News
Seven News is the television news service of the Seven Network in Australia.National bulletins are presented from Seven's high-definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while flagship 6pm bulletins are produced in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. The network also produces Seven...
in Perth, when they lost the rights to broadcast AFL matches. He has since been succeeded by Basil Zempilas
Basil Zempilas
Basil Zempilas is a sports presenter and commentator on radio and television in Perth, Western Australia. He currently appears on Seven News, and radio stations 1116 SEN and 92.9. Zempilas has commentated on the Olympics and several other major sporting events.-Early life:As a child Zempilas...
, who still reads the sport news on Seven News to this day.
In the late 1990s, he was among those to have been sent up by impersonator Andrew Startin
Andrew Startin
Andrew Startin is an Australian performer, impersonator and television personality.Startin first came to prominence in 1997 as a result of a video tape of him impersonating Sam Newman being sent into The AFL Footy Show in an attempt to win a trip to London...
on Live And Kicking. Actor Eric Bana
Eric Bana
Eric Bana is an Australian film and television actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining critical recognition in the biopic Chopper...
was another to 'do' Cometti.
During his career with the station, he called eight AFL Grand Final
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
s. He also commentated at the Summer Olympics swimming competitions in Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. Cometti has broadcast more Australian Olympic Gold Medals than any other commentator of the television era.
While at Nine, Cometti was openly stated as one of the network's highest paid personalities, at a price Seven said they would not match. However, with Seven regaining the rights to broadcast AFL games starting from 2007, on 8 December 2006 it was announced that Cometti re-signed with the Seven Network to "call" games radio-like on AFL alongside Bruce McAvaney
Bruce McAvaney
Bruce William McAvaney OAM is an Australian sports broadcaster with the Seven Network, well-known for his commentary of Australian rules football matches as well as covering every Summer Olympic Games from Moscow 1980 until Beijing 2008.- Early years :The son of an Adelaide accountant, McAvaney...
, another specialist caller rather than commentator.
In addition, Cometti presents a special weekly segment during the sport report during the evening news. By season's end he had been voted Television Caller of the Year by the Australian Football Media Association for the sixth consecutive time. He followed up for his eighth award in 2008. He was also voted FHM Magazine's Commentator of the Year for 2008.
In 2008 Cometti joined Melbourne radio station 3AW to broadcast one AFL match per round (almost always Saturday afternoon) and host a 2 hour talkback preview prior to that game.
In 2009, he re-joined The West Australian newspaper to write a fortnightly column and weekly blogs.
Cometti currently resides in the Perth suburb of Yokine in the same house he spent his childhood. Except for his time in Melbourne, he has lived in the same house all of his life.
Commetti will continue to call games for Channel 7
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
during the 2012 AFL season.
Nine Network
Cometti switched to the Nine NetworkNine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
in 2002 and alongside Eddie McGuire
Eddie McGuire
Edward Joseph "Eddie" McGuire AM is an Australian television presenter and businessman known for his long association with Australian rules football and the Channel 9 television network....
, Dermott Brereton
Dermott Brereton
Dermott Hugh Brereton is a former Australian rules football player in the Australian Football League, regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation. Of Irish descent , he is known for his aggressive style of play. Brereton kicked 464 goals and played in five Premierships for during...
and Garry Lyon
Garry Lyon
Garry Peter Lyon is a former professional Australian rules football player and was captain of the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League. Since his retirement from football, he has been mainly an Australian rules football media personality, featuring on television, radio and in...
became one of the channel's leading Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
callers. During those 5 years he was voted AFMA (Australian Football Media Association) television broadcaster of the year 5 times for his disposition not to criticise the game's umpire's decisions, rather to call it after their decisions and "call-on" from their decisions, never fielding a view. In 2006 he was awarded the Alf Brown Award as the games foremost media personality for awareness of the game. In a Melbourne newspaper Herald Sun
Herald Sun
The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...
annual poll he recorded increasing record percentages for fan popularity over his 5 years with Channel Nine against non-specialist opponents. In 2006 48% of the papers readers named Cometti as their favourite caller. A similar poll in South Australia by the Adelaide Advertiser put the number at 62%. In both cases his nearest rival was in single figures and did not take into account several commentators on the ABC. Occasionally while at Nine, he returned to cricket commentary and in 2003/04 called an Australia A
Australia A cricket team
The Australia A cricket team is a cricket team representing Australia and is the second team of the Australian cricket team. They have also played far more one-day than first-class matches; indeed they have played only three first-class games against equivalent A sides, against South Africa A in...
game. As at Seven, he read the sports report on the weeknight National Nine News
National Nine News
Nine News is the news service of the Australian Nine Network.Nine News's flagship bulletin is the nightly 6:00pm localised bulletin, produced by networked owned-and-operated stations in Sydney , Melbourne , Brisbane and Darwin alongside localised bulletins produced by the WIN-owned Nine Network...
in Perth.
Radio
Since 2009, Cometti had been the lead AFL caller on Saturday afternoons for 3AW3AW
3AW is a talkback radio station in Melbourne, Australia on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station.-History:...
alongside Brian Taylor, until he revealed he would be joining Triple M
3MMM
3MMM is a radio station broadcasting in Melbourne, Australia. Its target demographic is the 30 - 54 age group...
in 2012 to replace Rex Hunt
Rex Hunt
Rex James Hunt is an Australian television and radio personality, and a former Australian rules football player. He is an Australian rules football commentator, currently on the 1116 SEN radio station with son in law Lee Raynor conducting a program called Off The Hook. He is better known around...
on a Saturday afternoon. He was immediately removed from 3AW's lineup to call the 2011 AFL finals series
2011 AFL finals series
The 2011 Australian Football League finals series will determine the winner of the 2011 AFL season. The series is scheduled to occur over four weekends in September 2011, culminating with the 115th AFL/VFL Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 1 October 2011...
and was replaced by Dwayne Russell
Dwayne Russell
Dwayne John Russell is a former Australian rules footballer and currently a commentator of the sport. He played for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the SANFL, before crossing over to VFL club Geelong in 1987...
(Host of 3AW's Sports Today program and Fox Sports commentator).
From 2012 onwards, he will be replaced by Tim Lane.
Other work
Cometti was featured in an episode in the first Australian series of Who Do You Think You Are?Who Do You Think You Are? (Australian TV series)
Who Do You Think You Are? is an Australian television documentary series, based on the BBC series of the same name, airing on SBS One. SBS first aired six episodes of the BBC series in late 2007, followed by six Australian episodes beginning 13 January 2008, and then six more from the original BBC...
, where he traced his father's Italian heritage back to Italy and discovered that an ancestor on his mother's side had been involved in a mass murder.
Video games
Cometti is the voice-over commentator for the AFL video game seriesAFL (video game series)
The AFL video game series is a series of Australian rules football video games based on the AFL. Released originally by Beam Software, it has since been developed by several other game developers....
since 2002.