| Dennis Commeti |
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EARLY CAREER He commenced his media career as radio announcer in Perth, Western Australia 1968 as a top 40 disc jockey at radio station 6KY . In the following 5 years he worked as an announcer on 6PM , 3DB and 6PR . He called his first sporting event in 1972. In 1973 he joined the ABC and made his name nationally and internationally calling Cricket as a 24 year old alongside the legendary Alan McGilvray . Although groomed for McGilvray's position Cometti's devotion to Australian rules football took him in another direction. In 1986 he joined Channel 7 Perth to broadcast Australian rules. In the summer of 1986 he also began calling the first of 7 seasons of Test and One Day International cricket on Kerry Packer 's Sydney radio flagship 2UE (alongside Richie Benaud , Tony Greig , Henry Blofeld and others) but his move from the ABC made it clear he had committed himself to football. TELEVISION CAREER Seven Network 1986-2001 In 1986 his surprise move to the Seven Network 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. 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. Move to Nine Network (2002-2006) Cometti switched to the Nine Network in 2002 and alongside Eddie McGuire , Dermott Brereton and Garry Lyon has become 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. In 2006 he was awarded the Alf Potter Award as the games foremost media personality. In a Melbourne newspaper Herald Sun annual poll he recorded increasing record percentages for fan popularity over his 5 years with Channel Nine. In 2006 48% of the papers readers named Cometti as their favourite commentator. 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. Occasionally while at Nine, he returned to cricket commentary and in 2003/04 called an Australia A game. As at Seven, he reads the sports report on the weeknight National Nine News in Perth. His commentary had also been featured in Video Game s such as AFL Live 2004, 05 And 06 , AFL Trivia 2006 and AFL Premiership 2005 . Return to Seven (2007-) While at 9, Cometti was openly stated as one of the networks highest paid personalities, at a price Seven said they would not match. On December 8 2006 it was announced that Cometti has signed with the Seven Network to call AFL along side Bruce McAvaney . {Link without Title} Cometti currently resides in the Perth Suburb of Yokine . EXTERNAL LINKS
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