There has been some things about rugby league commentating that has bothered me for the longest time.
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One of them is the ongoing habit of trying to turn ex-players into commentators.
Obviously, the reasoning goes that someone who has played the sport should be able to provide an insight into the game that the general public lacks.
It's a good idea in theory but so often it falls down in practice. That's because the focus should be on finding players who can give that insightful commentary, rather than just signing up those who seem to be able to string a few inane words together
Simply because someone played footy is in no way a guarantee they can commentate on a game - they're two different skill sets.
And so we end up with ex-players who give us basic observations, most of which the viewers have already worked out for themselves - such as a try being scored because someone missed a tackle.
Well derr, we can see that for ourselves. Give us, from your years of experience, some reason why they missed the tackle.
The other thing that always bothers me is commentators' habit of encroaching on the players before the game is over.
It is most often seen in those largely pointless half-time interviews where the sideline commentator sticks a microphone in the face of a player leaving the field and asks some inane question about how the game is going.
The player, sometimes still short of breath, usually gives some inane response - which is not their fault. They've just been focused on the 40 minutes of footy and, before they've even crossed the sideline, are asked to provide some sort of analysis.
We hit a new low point during last week's State of Origin commentary, where the team interviewed Blues coach Brad Fittler during the game.
The result was not surprising; Fittler was vague and distracted - because he was trying to do his job and pay attention to the damn game.
What was the network thinking? Trying to interview a coach during Origin when his team is in trouble is a stupid idea.
Commentators need to stop intruding on the game and leave the participants alone until the full-time siren.