Dennis John ComettiAM (born 26 March 1949) is an Australian retiredsports commentator, player and coach ofAustralian rules football. In a career spanning 51 years, his smooth voice, dry humour and quick wit became his trademark.[2][3][4] Until his retirement, he remained the only television broadcaster to have spanned the entire duration of theAFL national competition, serving theSeven Network,Nine Network and Broadcom. He was appointed a Member of theOrder of Australia (AM) in the 2019Australia Day Honours.[5]
Cometti retired as a sports commentator, with his last game being the2021 AFL Grand Final, which was called for Triple M inPerth on 25 September 2021.
Cometti was born inGeraldton, Western Australia, the son of Dulcie (née Scarlett) and James Cometti. His father was the son of Italian migrants; his paternal grandfather Giovanni Cometti was from the village ofBaruffini [it] inLombardy and moved to Australia to work on theWestern Australian Goldfields.[6] Cometti's father died suddenly when he was a teenager.[7]
Cometti played 40 matches forWest Perth. His best year in theWest Australian Football League was1968, when he kicked 63 goals playing for West Perth underGraham Farmer. Farmer wrote, ‘Dennis had just turned 19 and was well over 6 foot with the ability and agility of a co-ordinated rover. We thought we had a champion.’[8] In 1971, Cometti made the senior list atFootscray but, due to injuries and media commitments, was unable to make a mark and did not play aVictorian Football League senior match.[8][9]
On his return to Perth, he played with some success in theSunday Football League. He initially played forWanneroo before moving to Maddington ascaptain-coach, leading the club to four successive grand finals and winning successive premierships in 1974, 1975 and 1976. After retiring as a player, he later coachedOsborne Park andKelmscott, winning a premiership in 1979.[10]
In 1982, Cometti was appointed coach of West Perth. The club finished third in his first year, but his tenure at West Perth was otherwise uneventful, and the team finished sixth in both 1983 and 1984.[11] Other than a brief period as chairman of selectors for theWestern Australia Australian rules football team, that was Cometti's last active involvement in club football.
In 1968, Cometti commenced his media career as radio announcer inPerth as a Top-40 disc jockey at radio station6KY. Over the following five years, he worked as an announcer on6PM,3DB[12] inMelbourne and6PR, again in Perth.[citation needed]
He broadcast his first football match—a state game between Western Australia and Victoria atSubiaco Oval—in 1971. Melbourne station3KZ needed a caller, and, due to a quirk of fate, Cometti volunteered to sit alongsideIan Major.[citation needed]
He joined theAustralian Broadcasting Commission 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 broadcasttest cricket alongsideAlan McGilvray.[13][14] He also called WAFL football during his time at the national broadcaster either side of his stint as West Perth coach.
In 1986 his move to theSeven Network coincided with the formation of theWest Coast Eagles in theVFL. However, because of a bitter battle over television broadcast rights that excluded the Seven Network, Cometti broadcast the first season of the expanded VFL competition on independent broadcaster Broadcom in all states apart from Victoria.
In 1988, when Seven regained the VFL television rights, Cometti immediately became the highest profile commentator ofVFL/AFL matches (based in Western Australia where he presented the evening news sports segment). He stayed with Seven until 2001 as main sports anchor forSeven News in Perth, when they lost the rights to broadcast AFL matches. He was succeeded byBasil Zempilas.[14]
Along with his football and news commitments Cometti, with the blessing of Channel 7, broadcast a further 51 test matches for the Packer radio network alongsideHenry Blofeld,Richie Benaud,Ian andGreg Chappel andTony Greig.
In 1997 Cometti toured South Africa withDrew Morphett covering the three test series on the Seven Network.
He also commentated at theSummer Olympics swimming competitions inBarcelona 1992,Atlanta 1996 andSydney 2000. When he retired Cometti had broadcast more Australian Olympic Gold Medals than any other commentator of the television era.[15]
Cometti switched to theNine Network in 2002 and alongsideEddie McGuire,Dermott Brereton andGarry Lyon became the channel's leadingAustralian rules football caller. During those five years he was voted Australian Football Media Association (AFMA) television broadcaster of the year five times (career total 11). Cometti dominated Australia-wide newspaper polls for fan popularity.[citation needed]
With the Seven Network regaining the rights to broadcast AFL games starting from 2007, Cometti re-signed with Seven to call games alongsideBruce McAvaney.[16][17] Cometti also had a weekly segment onSeven News in Perth during the AFL season.
In August 2014, Cometti announced he would retire as an AFL television commentator at the end of the 2016 season. His career was commemorated on-air during Seven's coverage of the2016 AFL Grand Final, the last AFL match he called on television, accompanied by messages of congratulations from sponsorAAMI. He commentated 16 grand finals.[18]
Between 2008 and 2011 Cometti was the lead AFL caller on Saturday afternoons for3AW, initially alongsideRex Hunt and laterBrian Taylor. In 2009, he also wrote a fortnightly column and weekly blogs forThe West Australian newspaper.
Cometti called Saturday afternoon games for Triple M withJames Brayshaw,Danny Frawley andGarry Lyon. He was voted the nation's top AFL radio caller in a national News Ltd newspaper poll in 2012.
After retiring from TV commentary, Cometti continued to call matches for Triple M for games in Western Australia with Lachy Reid,Andrew Embley,Xavier Ellis, and his son, Mark, as the statistician. Cometti was also involved in the Seven Network's coverage of the WAFL.[20] In 2021, Cometti announced he would be retiring from broadcasting for good after thePerth-staged2021 AFL Grand Final.[21] In the aftermath of that game, Cometti was inducted into theWest Australian Football Hall of Fame.
Cometti is famous for his memorableone-liners, sometimes known asCometti-isms orComettiisms.[22][23][24] Cometti himself has said his humour is derived from his days trying to entertain listeners on theFM radio broadcasts of his early career as well as teenage afternoons firing off wisecracks from the hill at Perth'sLeederville Oval.[25]
The following is an incomplete compendium of Cometti-isms over his 51-year broadcasting career:
After Hawthorn playerBradley Hill kicked a goal onRichmond'sKamdyn McIntosh: "They say it's easy to run down Hill... tell that to McIntosh!"
"It was like a self-saucing pudding. Players just waiting for the whistle."
Talking aboutMatthew "Spider" Burton—once the tallest player in the AFL, at 210 cm—describing him as having been born on 19 and 20 May.
"Well, certainly Matthew [Richardson] thinks he's the best player on their list at the moment... Mind you, that's a bit like being the best centre half-forward inCzechoslovakia."
After a Geelong player was penalised forholding the ball by pulling the ball in under a tackle: "Holding the ball. The umpire saw what the Cat just dragged in."
AfterHawthorn's 11-game losing streak againstGeelong (dubbed the "Kennett curse") came to an end: "Get the hearse for the curse!"
RegardingBrent Guerra, who didhair-loss advertisements for The Hair Institute: "Brent hates losing, and that extends to his hair."
In reference to redheadCameron Ling coming off the ground due to an injury: "Ling's running off the ground a little bit gingerly."
"There is no footy god—only a footy accountant."
"Before this game, I would have bet the mortgage on theWestern Bulldogs, but I guess this shows that I may join the ranks of the homeless."
After the ball was passed to 202-centimetre ruckmanDavid Hille of Essendon, with Richmond'sDavid Rodan trying to spoil: "He gave it his best, but that is a big Hille to climb."
"Scotty Cummings alone in the square, jumping up and down and waving his arms like they're playing 'My Sharona'."
AfterWestern Bulldogs starTony Liberatore burrowed into a pack and got poked in the eye: "Liberatore went into that last pack optimistically and came out misty optically."
AfterEssendon'sNathan Lovett-Murray evaded a couple of tacklers: "Lovett went one way, Murray went the other, and they were left chasing the hyphen!"
AfterRhyce Shaw passed the ball to brotherHeath, who promptly turned it over after a moment of indecisiveness: "Rhyce Shaw, Heath Shaw,unsure."
"Just wonderful courage fromPaul Hasleby. He bounced off one guy and into the path of another. If you watch thatreplay backwards, I bet it says, 'Paul is dead'."
"Bassett's my man. He never takes a breather. If he was a postman, I reckon he'd finish his round in 20 minutes, stopping only to bite a few dogs."
"Plenty of cloud about. And for anyone who's ever called a plumber, that's a rare sight—the moon is completely covered."
On Heath and Rhyce Shaw's tackling efforts: "Mitch Hahn found himself girt by Shaws."
OnJude Bolton's endurance: "They've finally got Jude Bolton off the ground, and he's heaving like a crazedtuba player."
On Collingwood youngsterBen Reid, whom Cometti noted had played only four games and already had been to Arizona, Johannesburg and Dubai: "So at that rate, if he plays 200, he will rivalPhileas Fogg" (ofAround the World in Eighty Days fame).
In reference toBrendan Fevola's gambling addiction: "Fevola,Betts... That's the name, not the verb."
Referring to a scoreline of 9 goals, 2 behinds: "9.2, that's not bad. Unless it's your cholesterol."[26]
"There is something magnetic about his aura.Paul Roos should be covered in fridge magnets."
On the one-dimensional kicking skills ofEssendon forwardScott Lucas, known for his reluctance to kick on his right foot: "I think it's safe to say Lucas takes his right leg out there purely for balance."
Reflecting on his early career calling cricket: "1974,Australia vEngland at theWACA. The good old days. Literally. England all-rounderChris Old finished with 3 wickets and 50 runs."
"Matthew Clarke is a dinosaur thriving on climate change."
"Bell bringing the ball out of the backline ... looking for wide runners ... passes toWalker ... a contradiction in terms, really."
On his first meeting withEddie McGuire: "Ed had an aura. I remember he asked his personal assistant, "Have you seen theletter opener?" and she replied, "It's his day off." I was impressed."
"Four Blues had a chance to clear that ball. It's what the French callesprit de goof."
On theKangaroos' pint-sizedBrent Harvey: "He might be the only guy in the competition whose feet appear in his driver licence photo."
"Three Collingwood players on top of Harvey, pleading to the umpire. I'm not sure he had prior opportunity but he's been pinged anyway! That may have been the ultimatekangaroo court."
On Essendon'sCourtney Johns: "I remember, when he debuted, he had the haircut of a 400-game veteran. Unfortunately, his game didn't gel as well as his hair."
AfterLeigh Brown departedFremantle, who wore an anchor on their guernsey: "Looks like Leigh Brown's picked up a bit of pace since moving toNorth. Might have something to do with getting rid of that anchor."
In reference to a player giving away a50-metre penalty after a coast-to-coast flight: "I guess he thought:What's another fifty metres when we've come three and a half thousands K's!"
In response to co-commentatorDermott Brereton asking why a player went side-on to take the mark: "He probably was trying to impress the Russian judge."
"Like aMelbourne tram, a lot jumped on but nothing was paid."
Cometti was featured onSBS in an episode in the first Australian series ofWho Do You Think You Are?, where he traced his father'sItalian heritage back to Italy and his mother'sEnglish heritage back to three convicts and a freeman. The show also revealed his great-great-grandmother (although never charged) may have been involved in the deaths of two of her husbands.[52]
2006 – Winner of the Alf Potter Award for that season's most outstanding media personality.
2014 – Voted Television Caller of the Year by the Australian Football Media Association for an unprecedented tenth time. 2016 – Retired with a total of eleven.
2017 – Was named the WA Sports Star of the Year at the West Australian of the Year awards
2018 –Perth Stadium's Media Centre named as the 'Dennis Cometti Media Centre'
Poet Mick Colliss performed a poem entitled "Centimetre Perfect" that paid tribute to Cometti on a6NA, the radio station where Cometti got his start.[70][71]
Cometti was born inGeraldton, Western Australia, ofItalian,English andFrench descent.[72] He is married to Velia. They have two children: daughter Ricki (born 1979) and son Mark (born in 1983). Mark was a professional wrestler (The Outback Silverback) inOrlando, Florida, for six years.[73]
