SEN AFL Fan Survey: Fox Footy versus Channel 7, best commentator, expert and journalist results

The vast majority of fans believe Fox Footy has the clear advantage in the Friday night footy broadcast battle in 2025.

The pay TV broadcaster now has the ability to put their own call team together for all games, rather than streaming the Channel Seven version.

They have already announced that Gerard Whateley and Anthony Hudson will call Friday night footy for them, while Channel Seven is yet to say anything official about incumbents Brian Taylor and James Brayshaw.

However, SEN’s Andrew Gaze had some mail on Wednesday afternoon that Seven may be heading in a new direction with their commentary team.

Assuming Ch7 sticks with Brayshaw and Taylor as their duo up against Whateley and Hudson, the numbers from SEN’s AFL Fan Survey aren't pretty.

When asked which commentary duo is better, 80.8 per cent of respondents voted in favour of the Fox Footy duo.

We also asked you who the best play-by-play commentator on television is, with Hudson leading the way at 38.7 per cent. Whateley was not an option given he will begin calling on TV in 2025.

Dwayne Russell (Fox Footy) and Matt Hill (Fox Footy) came in second and third, with 14.2 and 12.5 per cent respectively.

Hill, arguably the best race caller in Australia, began calling footy for SEN in 2023.

Brayshaw (7.2 per cent) and Taylor (5.2) per cent still ranked first and second amongst Channel Seven’s current crop of commentators.

SEN’s Nathan Buckley (Fox Footy) won the vote for best expert commentator on television at 17.5 per cent.

David King (Fox Footy), Jason Dunstall (Fox Footy), Luke Hodge (Channel Seven) and Garry Lyon (Fox Footy) round out the top five.

We also asked you who the best news breaker in the AFL is, with Channel Nine chief reporter Tom Morris winning the vote at 21.7 per cent, from Channel Seven chief reporter Mitch Cleary in second, AFL Media’s Cal Twomey in third and SEN’s Sam Edmund in fourth.