For many, we’ve all endured our first taste of Channel Nein for the rugby league season, and so our Channel Nein State of Origin 1 Ratings return for 2019 to decide whether it was bad or just plain ordinary.
Rabs, Gus and co were all there, and all the usual trimmings of their Origin coverage remained. In all its glory you could say.
We’d already forewarned of the doom of sitting through Channel Nein for the first time this season with our Survival Guide, but was it as bad as we were fearing? Read on for our Channel Nein State of Origin 1 Ratings.
Channel Nein State of Origin 1 Ratings – PRE MATCH COVERAGE – 4/10
Having the coverage starting at 7pm was a good idea. It allowed for more content, a lot more ads, and a lot less ACA. So at least that box was ticked. The dodgy builders, new wonder ring cream and Voice cross promotion has to wait another day.
But did they use the extra time wisely? Not really.
It looked a carbon copy of every other year to be honest. And that’s not a good thing.
The pre game pieces tended to be split into a Queensland bit, and then a NSW bit, as if to drive home the rivalry point like a segregated English football crowd.
James Tedesco’s piece was a decent piece, as was the recognition of Cody Walker’s effort to make it to an Origin games. Everything else was reasonably cliched and meh.
The musical interruption is probably not fully Channel Nein’s fault, but it is totally unnecessary. People are watching for rugby league, where rugby league is the entertainment. At least this year they didn’t import a musical act for people to ignore.
And then there’s the ads. FTA Sport has a job to do, and ads are a big piece of it. Our toe dipping in the Channel Nein pool makes us appreciate paying for sport more. The rugby league content to ad ratio was 55%, lower if you exclude the musical act.
Special mention for the Acadia infomercial segue-a-thon between Wally Lewis and Sam Thaiday was the worst piece of TV on Channel Nein since MAFS,
MATCH COVERAGE – 5/10
It’s funny, when you here Rabs’ voice for the first time you realise just how little you miss the voice of rugby league in Australia.
He is still as good as he was 15 years ago, which is possibly not a compliment or a criticism. And both at the same time.
Rabs is still good at the getting excited and raising the voice part, but aside from the calling of the play by play, everything is best left to others. I’m sure you’re now aware of Nick Cotric’s background, just as we were continually advised of Greg Inglis’ background every year.
As ever the best part of the Origin coverage is the first five or so minutes as the game intensity is high, and Gus contributes nothing as he gets into the game.
But it doesn’t take long for him to do so, and to be fair Gus isn’t that bad. He adds the most amount of insight of the commentators and usually makes the most sense.
The fact that he was adamant the Queensland no try ruling should be a try, like most of the commentary box, shows the Blues “leanings” could be kept under control.
Paul Vautin is a NSW apologist, making sure at every opportunity he tries to balance out the fact that he is a Queenslander in a Sydney heavy commentary box.
There’s just not enough Peter Sterling during the game for our liking. Perhaps it is a name that Fox Sports could poach down the track. Especially if it is at the expense of Braith Anasta as a commentator on Fox.
The sideline voices were good additions when used. Andrew Johns is good when he feels like it, and Billy Slater was as enthusiastic as one would expect.
Humans aside, the spider cam for kick off was very good, and about all you’ll ever need.
There was a distinct lack of stats throughout the game. Up popped a Telstra tracker from time to time, but in this new world of Supercoach savvy league fans, there should be way more.
Not Channel Nein’s fault, but the interview as player’s walk off at half time is the biggest waste of time in sports broadcasting. Offers nothing to anyone.
You get the feeling that it is still NSW heavy, and their modd slightly shifts depending on how the Blue team is going, but it is slightly less obvious as it used to be.
Overall, it was like a referee we guess, if you didn’t notice it, then it wasn’t too bad.
POST MATCH COVERAGE – 5/10
Much like the pre game coverage. Same old, and full of ads.
After the usual array of boring questions fired at the players right after the game, they went for the more substantial interviews with family, which was a nice touch.
Post game analysis was as expected, with the Queensland side almost successfully hiding their smug, and Gus Gould barely able to hold his bottom lip up.
Aside from all and sundry praising Ben Hunt somehow for an amazing game somehow, most of the analysis was fair enough, but probably not worth waiting around for.
Channel Nein State of Origin 1 Ratings – OVERALL EXPERIENCE – 5/10
Not as bad it could be is a fair assessment. As is the fact that there are just three more sessions to endure for the season.
