| On the Couch | |
|---|---|
| Presented by | Garry Lyon (2018-present) Jonathan Brown (2015-present) Nathan Buckley (2023–present) Gerard Healy (2002- 2021) Mike Sheahan (2002-2014) Robert Walls (2002-2008) James Hird (2009-2010) Paul Roos (2011-2013, 2018-2019) Jason Dunstall (2014-2017) David King (2015-2017) Nick Riewoldt (2020-2022) |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 21 |
| No. of episodes | 500+ |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Fox Footy Channel (2002-2006) Fox Sports (2007-2011) Fox Footy (2012-present) |
| Release | 2002 – present |
| Related | |
| Talking Footy | |
On the Couch is an Australian television program focusing on current issues in the Australian Football League. From its debut in 2002 until 2006, it was shown on the Fox Footy Channel, until the channel's demise. From 2007 to 2011 it was broadcast on Fox Sports, before moving to the relaunched Fox Footy from 2012 onwards. The show airs on Monday nights at 7:30pm, immediately following AFL 360 .
The shows format follows an "informal chat" style in a set that resembles a lounge room. It focuses more on in-depth coverage, analysis and discussions of topics from the weekend as well as occasionally holding an interview with a player or coach during the 2nd half of the episode.
The concept and style is similar to the Seven Network program Talking Footy , which also featured Mike Sheahan as chief journalist during its original run from 1994 to 2004.
Former players Gerard Healy and Robert Walls and journalist Mike Sheahan were the original presenters of the show. In 2009, James Hird replaced Walls on the couch. [1] When Hird left to pursue a coaching career with Essendon, Paul Roos replaced him. [2] [3] In 2014, Roos left to coach the Melbourne Football Club and was replaced by long-time Fox Footy broadcaster and former player Jason Dunstall.
In 2015, Mike Sheahan announced that he was retiring from the show after 13 years. His replacement was recently retired Brisbane Lions triple-premiership player Jonathan Brown. [4] David King, who appeared occasionally in 2015, joined the series full-time in 2016. In July 2016, the original line-up of Healy, Sheahan and Walls returned for a special one-off episode before Fox Footy's 'Retro Round'.
In late 2021, Healy stepped down as host with Garry Lyon replacing him, the show also commenced airing before AFL 360.
| Seat | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host | Gerard Healy | Garry Lyon | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Seat 1 | Mike Sheahan | Jonathan Brown | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Seat 2 | Robert Walls | James Hird | Paul Roos | Jason Dunstall | Garry Lyon | Nick Riewoldt | Nathan Buckley | |||||||||||||||
| Seat 3 | David King | Paul Roos | Garry Lyon | |||||||||||||||||||
Various Fox Sports commentators have filled in along the way including Jason Dunstall, Brian Taylor and Alastair Lynch.
James Albert Hird is a former professional Australian rules football player and past senior coach of the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
The Fox Footy Channel was a channel exclusively dedicated to Australian rules football. It was owned by Foxtel and operated out of their Melbourne-based studios. From 2002 to 2006 it was available on Foxtel, Austar, Optus Television, TransTV and Neighbourhood Cable until transmission ceased on 1 October 2006. The channel was revived as Fox Footy for the 2012 AFL season after a new broadcast agreement was reached between Fox Sports and the AFL.
Nathan Charles Buckley is a former professional Australian rules football coach, player and commentator.
Anthony William Brownless is a former Australian rules footballer and radio and television media personality who represented Geelong in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the 1980s and 1990s.
Robert Walls is a former Australian rules footballer who represented Carlton and Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s and 1970s. In a playing career that spanned three decades Robert played a combined 259 games and kicked a total of 444 goals. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s he continued to coach in the VFL/AFL for a total of 347 games across four different clubs. As a coach, his greatest achievement came in 1987 when he coached Carlton to the 1987 VFL premiership, the same club he won premierships with as player in 1968, 1970 and 1972. After his coaching career ended, Walls became involved in the AFL media as a commentator and columnist. Walls was also a grade 6 teacher at Park Orchards Primary School at the time that he was head coach at Fitzroy.
Garry Peter Lyon is a former professional Australian rules football player and was captain of the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Since his retirement from football, he has been mainly an Australian rules football media personality, featuring on television, radio and in newspapers. He has also coached during the International Rules Series. He is the most recent VFL/AFL player to kick ten goals in a finals match, having done so in the 1994 Second Semi-Final against Footscray, and the first since Geelong's George Goninon in 1951, 43 years prior.
John Noel William "Sam" Newman is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Paul Roos is a former Australian rules football coach who coached the Sydney Swans and Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). As a player, he represented Fitzroy and Sydney during the 1980s and 1990s.
Jason Hadfield Dunstall is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Gerard Healy is a former Australian rules footballer and commentator. Healy attended St Bede's College in Mentone, where he was the senior football captain. Gerard is a trained physiotherapist.
The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coaches and administrators. It was initially established with 136 inductees. As of 2024, this figure has grown to more than 300, including 32 "Legends". Jason Dunstall became the most recent inductee to achieve Legend status in 2024. There had previously been 32 official Legends prior to Dunstall's elevation, but disgraced player Barry Cable had his football honours rescinded after being found guilty of historical child sex abuse.
Talking Footy is an Australian rules football television program on the Seven Network broadcast from 1994 to 2004, from 2013 to 2020 and again since 2023. The show was hosted mainly by Bruce McAvaney and Luke Darcy in both runs of the show, now to be hosted by James Brayshaw.
Daniel Patrick "Spud" Frawley was an Australian rules football player, coach, administrator, commentator and media personality. He played 240 games for the St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL)/Australian Football League (AFL) from 1984 to 1995, captaining the club for nine seasons, and won All-Australian selection and the St Kilda best and fairest award in 1988. Frawley coached the Richmond Football Club from 2000 to 2004, with his most successful season coming in 2001, when he coached Richmond to a preliminary final. He later served as chief executive officer of the AFL Coaches Association from 2008 to 2014, and had part-time roles with the Hawthorn Football Club and St Kilda.
Michael Sheahan is an Australian journalist who specialises in Australian rules football. He was chief football writer and associate sports editor for the Herald Sun for 18 years. Although he left these positions at the end of 2011, he still writes special columns for the newspaper, including his yearly "Top 50" player list. He was also a panelist on the Fox Footy program On the Couch and former media director for the Australian Football League. He also joins Brian Taylor, Matthew Richardson, Matthew Lloyd and Leigh Matthews in the 3AW radio station's pre-match football discussion on Saturday afternoons. In addition he conducted a weekly interview program on Fox Footy, Open Mike until September 2020 when he would be retiring after an 19 year stint at Fox Footy. In February 2018 he joined a podcast with former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas and former co-host of The Footy Show, Sam Newman, entitled "Sam, Mike and Thomo", it aired once weekly and talks about all trending topics, with a sprinkling of commentary on AFL. However, upon that being cancelled in March 2019, in August that year he joined another podcast, entitled "Sam Mike and Don, 'You Can Not Be Serious'", with Newman and former VFL footballer Don Scott. The podcast airs in a similar format and covers similar topics to the previous one. He was a part of this until June 2020, when he quit the podcast for a second time due to the fallout of a comment made by Scott about former AFL footballer Nicky Winmar.
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The King's Birthday match is an annual Australian rules football match between the Melbourne Football Club and Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on the King's Birthday public holiday in Victoria.
AFL 360 is an Australian television talk show that covers current issues in the Australian Football League (AFL). It airs on Fox Footy at 7:30 pm Mondays to Wednesdays during the AFL season. It is hosted by Gerard Whateley and Mark Robinson, and features players, coaches and experts as regular guests.
Bounce, formerly known as Before the Bounce and After the Bounce, is an Australian family friendly, light entertainment television series focusing on Australian Rules football. The show, currently airing on Fox Footy, takes a comedic look back at the previous week in the Australian Football League. First aired in 2007, the show is currently hosted by former footballers Jason Dunstall and Cameron Mooney and former basketballer Andrew Gaze.
Open Mike was an Australian interview-based talk show hosted by sports journalist and writer Mike Sheahan. Each week during the Australian Football League (AFL) season, Sheahan interviewed a figure in the history of Australian football, discussing their involvement in the game, whether on-field or off-field, as well as their lives and contributions away from the game.
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