Ladies and gentlemen, this discussion is all well and good, but if you want the situation to change, then you need to get active...
I asked a producer at SKY why Andrew was commentating, listing the reasons I thought he was sub-standard, and the response was "we don't get much negative feedback about Dewey"... therefore, that suggests that lots of the complaints being made here are not being channeled through to SKY (phone, email, whatever means available)... SKY are most likely going to dismiss comments on a forum as a valid source of feedback, but complaints made straight to them are logged and passed on to the relevant people... if there are enough coming through, then people higher up the food chain begin asking questions...
The production team at SKY are very loyal to the people they use - hence why people like Andrew and Fred are still there, and people like Mark Elrick were on screen for so long in previous years... they are unlikely to make any changes unless there is a genuine reason/pressure to do so... therefore, you need to get active...
Personal insults or stylistic issues will generally be ignored... but things like bias, lack of subject knowledge, or obvious deficiencies in preparation and research are fundamentals in this line of work, and therefore likely to register if raised.
Something else to consider - Andrew, Fred and Heremaia are all Auckland-based, and therefore flown down to Wellington for every match... perhaps a local alternative (such as Jason Pine), or employing a single commentator from Australia (such as Cockerill) makes for a better economic argument for SKY's money men... just a thought...
Get active :)
this, worth noting indeed, if as we expect the commentary on sky for the nix games is that bad then complain about it......otherwise you always have the option of watching the game at the stadium and not watching the replay, or of course listening to piney's commentary on the radio while watching the telly.
Agree that style issues are irrelevant, except for the dreadful "thus so far" cliches and the returned question disease which is still terminal with most Sky analysts in rugby and football. " looks like the Phoenix are in a bit of trouble here, doesn't it". Drives us nuts - some do it every time they open their mouths. But all this is more a failure of the production crew/director to tell these guys they're doing it. Real problem is the rugby culture at Sky Sport, though that may change with a new guy at the top.
It needs to, as the coverage for the AW's game was embarrassing. Dennis is out of his depth - but would be good doing colour pieces. Suggestion to get Gourdie as an anchor is a good one. He just gets better and better on mainstream media.
De Jong adds no value to the Phoenix commentary - he has a severe conflict of interest - and on those grounds alone should not be doing it. I don't want to hear Dewhurst or de Jong use commentary to tell us 'what great shape NZ Football is in". We all know that NZF has major problems - no money - and likely to be caned away from home in the WC playoffs unless they get Herbert technical help. Also lucky most football media have left them alone after the Oceania tournament tragedy - where NZF did no prep - because it was just Oceania opposition.
Oz commentators are streets ahead of where we're at. They call TV football in their sleep, and the Phoenix need Cockerill badly. Piney does a great job promoting the Nix and calling their games on radio, but he would struggle in the art of TV Football.