Prominent broadcaster Craig Hutchison says it’s an honour to return to Seven where he will host a new Monday night agenda-setting AFL panel show next season.
In an off-season of AFL media upheaval, Hutchison quit Nine and Footy Classified to accept an offer to join Seven’s beefed-up football offering under the guidance of new director of sports Chris Jones.
Craig Hutchison will return to Seven in 2025.Credit: Nine
Hutchison, who will turn 50 next month, will host The Agenda Setters on Monday nights, where he will be joined by fellow Seven signings Nick Riewoldt and Kane Cornes.
“Seven is the home of free-to-air AFL, and has an unrivalled history, legacy and contribution to AFL football. These new shows will shape and set the agenda of the weekday discussion of football, which is at the heart of the game,” Hutchison said on Wednesday.
“The media and opinions around the game is the zeitgeist of what fuels Australian football, and we will bring the game’s biggest names to the table and call it as it is. And on a personal level, to return to Seven where I spent many years earlier in my career is an honour.”
Hutchison left Seven 18 years ago, having been a major AFL news breaker for the network.
Seven’s upgraded slate of shows will also feature a Tuesday night version of The Agenda Setters, which will include Cornes and, as yet unnamed fellow panellists.
Age columnist Caroline Wilson, who also quit Footy Classified, produced by Eddie McGuire’s Jam TV, may join this show when her restraint clause expires midway through next season.
Jones and Hutchison have a long history, and Hutchison’s tentacles extend further than just hosting, for as the chief executive of Sports Entertainment Group, the company’s Rainmaker television production arm will help to produce the programs. There will also be a Wednesday night AFL interview program on Seven, Unfiltered, to be hosted by Hamish McLachlan.
“The Agenda Setters on Mondays and Tuesdays will be appointment viewing, and together with Rainmaker, we’ve assembled an incredibly experienced production team for this show to complement our unrivalled on-air line-up,” Jones said.
“Unfiltered on Wednesdays is going to take us behind the curtain and give fans the opportunity to learn more about the person behind the athlete.
“From mid-week footy analysis headlined by new signings Kane Cornes, Craig Hutchison and Nick Riewoldt alongside our existing group of AFL experts, to light-hearted footy content midweek, all before the first bounce on Thursday night footy, there has never been a more exciting time to be an AFL fan.”
Seven’s upgrade will include a more robust game-day coverage, while the straight-shooting Cornes, a former Port Adelaide premiership player and leading analyst, has already been used on Seven’s news, which will have a new face of sport in Melbourne next year when Rebecca Maddern replaces long-time sports host Tim Watson.
Nine, the owner of this masthead, continues to work through its new line-ups for Footy Classified, which will air on Mondays and in the new timeslot of Tuesday next season. Nine has already announced the key signing of Essendon great James Hird.
Back in the media: James Hird will appear on Nine’s Footy Classified next season.Credit: AFL Photos
Foxtel’s Fox Footy, which will now have its own commentary team at all matches as part of the new $4.5 billion broadcast deal, has also made a splash, luring media veteran Leigh Matthews from Nine and Shaun Burgoyne from Seven, while now having Gerard Whateley as a game caller.
In other major moves, former Richmond star Jack Riewoldt will replace Garry Lyon as host of Fox Footy’s Monday night’s flagship program On the Couch next season, while Lyon and Whateley will front the nightly AFL 360.
