Wish Eddie all the best. Between him, Stevo and Ray French they were the voices of the game that I grew up with and its definatly the end of an era that i'm quite sad to see the end of. Its odd that his last game is Good Friday and I hope their isn't a health concern.
Next appointment will be an indication of how Sky views the game I think. If they go with Arthur or Proe who aren't any good and don't get a ready made replacement then I worry going forward.
Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
Eddie was a great commentator of the game but should have stuck to calling the game rather than offering personal opinions constantly. Big shoes to fill though especially as there is currently no-one on Sky’s payroll anywhere near capable enough.
Forwards win games. The backs decide by how much.
To add, when I described him as blabbering like an idiot, I wasn't referring to him getting names wrong. Nobody got more player names wrong than Ray French, and I enjoyed his commentary right up to his retirement, as he had great insight into the game, didn't say things just to court controversy, and never tried to spin an obvious lie in support of a Ref's decision when he'd got the decision woefully wrong.
Hemmings has turned the latter two into the norm in his commentary, which is infuriating
Pity Ron Hoof is no longer with us!
Any chance Angela Powers can go with Eddie?
No idea who they'll replace him with, though they may well go down the route Sky do with football where they have two main commentators. Maybe Arthur keeps one game and someone else takes the other.
On Hemmings himself, I've always been quite neutral towards him as an actual commentator. He has his good points and bad points like them all, and good luck to him. Where I got annoyed was his talking down of the Challenge Cup which I really thought was un-necessary and came across as parochial simply because Sky didn't have the rights. RL needs its big personalities and big media figures to talk up the entire game, not just the bits their company covers.
Remember Dave Woods getting well & truly told by John Kear during the Australia v NZ game at Coventry in the Four Nations when Australia were playing the percentage stuff. 'Is it not their job to entertain?' Woods wailed like a spoiled kid. 'This is international rugby league, not fairy fairy la la land' was the reply from Kear.
Woods is a clown, knows jack all about the sport & should not be anywhere the commentary box for RL. He's a total embarrassment. Read his articles on the BBC RL section. Soundbites, comments made without any substance or research. He's a joke. Cannot stand the guy
This is the difficulty with commentary. No matter who takes the job a proportion of the fan base will absolutely hate them.
FWIW I don’t mind Woods. I don’t always agree with him (and I remember breaking out into applause when Kear came out with that line) but he’s streets ahead of the Sky reserve team IMO.
I always liked Keith Macklin (RIP)
He should have taken over from Eddie Waring, back in the day.
+1 for Vossy from me.
Phil Vievers...Balls...Joan Collins...Try...Orgasmic... RH the living legend.
Would it not be Brian Carney to come in to take over from Hemmings ?
Vassos Alexander
Carney, Wilkin and a guest in the studio and Dave Woods (or similar) and Wells on the commentary for me. Don’t need anyone else bar someone to do the interviews - Barrie and/or Terry as at least they can relate to the players and it comes across well on the NRL coverage with their ex players
Last edited by Sean Day; 2nd March 2019 at 11:22.