How AFL’s most humble TV show was born on a pub coaster… and the stars behind 1500 episodes

Two guys shooting the sh*t at the pub, talking sports.

It’s primarily a social occasion, but there was some business to attend to.

In fact Curt Jones and Alex Brown are jotting down their next light bulb moment on the back of a coaster.

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Now it sounds more like a scene out of Mad Men.

Don Draper and Roger Sterling with cocktails in hand, concocting something that will make a splash on Madison Avenue.

But no this wasn’t 1960s New York. It was Sydney in 2015, at the Blues Point Hotel.

A watering hole for folks north of the Harbour Bridge, Jones and Brown were contemplating how to make Fox Sports News appointment television.

Every pub with more than two TVs in Australia has FSN switched on (albeit on mute).

Robbie Williams and Drew Jones Source: Supplied

Getting people to come back night in, night out for a specific show, well that was a different challenge.

So Jones, Head of Fox Sports News and formerly a member of the ESPN brethren, scribbled down ‘AFL Tonight’ and ‘NRL Tonight’ on a coaster next to his schooner of Reschs.

It was partly inspired by Baseball Tonight, where Jones had worked in Bristol, Connecticut.

Baseball fans could tune in each evening, knowing they’d have a dedicated team showing them every highlight they needed to see from the day’s MLB action.

Jones and his colleagues knew so much about Major League Baseball that they could tell who had crushed a home-run in the Rays v Mariners game just from seeing the batter’s swing out of the corner of their eye.

It was that type of attention to detail and commitment which was to form the bedrock of the new ‘Tonight’ programs – appointment television for footy fans.

A programming revamp was devised, which would see AFL Tonight debut in season 2016.

FOOTY MEDIA’S ‘BIG FISH’ SIGNING

And every new franchise needs a headline recruit.

Brown was the Managing Editor for the Fox Sports News and Digital, and formed a two-pronged attack with Jones to ensure quality and synergy between the TV and online arms of the business.

Brown and Jones wanted a big fish that could provide gravitas on screen and break stories online.

Tom Chadwick, Jake Niall and then-Suns coach Rodney Eade. Source: FOX SPORTS

Jake Niall had long been one of the most respected AFL journalists in the country and had been playing at the top of his game for The Age.

The chief football writer role was the natural step for Niall, but the giant figure of Caroline Wilson was in the way for the time being.

Brown, Jones and Niall agreed he would break stories on AFL Tonight and write copy for the website – a significant coup for foxfooty.com.au.

Jake wasn’t a natural on TV, but he did manage to gain a cult following by holding his hand like a ‘claw’ while he spoke about some of his stories.

It definitely added to the profile of a man known behind the scenes for his friendly, long footy-related phone calls.

Niall still occasionally reaches out to Curt to talk about their shared love of the San Francisco 49ers.

Jake had a story almost every single show for two years.

He broke the news that Dustin Martin had turned down North Melbourne in August 2017. Martin would go on The Footy Show that night to confirm he was staying a Tiger, it was the biggest story of the year.

EXPANSION

So the news-breaker was locked in but the Melbourne team needed to be expanded.

Niall, Tom Chadwick and yours truly would join Sarah Jones, Neroli Meadows and Julian de Stoop in the Fox Footy office.

There’s no other way to put it: AFL Tonight was stacked.

Chloe Molloy disrupts a Drew Jones cross. Source: Supplied

The show was to be the first daily national AFL TV program, 30 minutes dedicated to the news of the day.

There was even a 15-minute mini that aired later in the night — which Gill McLachlan watched — and AFL Today for Saturdays and Sunday.

And if that wasn’t enough, Saturday and Sunday nights you got all the highlights and news.

FSN stalwart Ryan van Haalen was tasked with producing the show, booking talent around the country and wrangling Niall during the day to ensure he was on track to be in studio at 5pm.

Jones was the face of the show. She was already a Fox Footy staple and it was only a few months until she would become the Thursday night footy host.

Experienced newsman Chadwick shared reading duties with Jones, while De Stoop and Meadows completed an accomplished news team.

Having moved from Sydney to be the Melbourne junior burger, I felt like I’d been given the golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s factory.

The show debuted on March 14, 2016.

Niall came armed with a great yarn on night one – he broke a story that Fremantle was chasing Essendon defender Cale Hooker.

The show was slick, pacy and gave every club a spot on the national footy stage.

Sarah Jones and Jake Niall on Episode 1 of AFL Tonight. Source: FOX SPORTS

In addition to airing on Fox Sports News, crucially Fox Footy agreed to air the show.

AFL Tonight has developed a long association with AFL 360, providing a huge amount of ‘on the road’ content and setting the table for Fox Footy’s nightly feast of football.

As we prepare for a huge 2025 finals series, AFL Tonight has notched up nearly 1500 episodes across 10 seasons.

By any measure, that’s an incredible effort.

THE FOOTY EXPERTS

An array of personnel has rolled through in the last decade, and the show has had a happy knack of nurturing media talent.

Nick Dal Santo has been a regular throughout the program’s history and continues to be an articulate expert on Monday evenings.

Another beneficiary of the platform was Leigh Montagna.

After ‘Joey’ hung up the boots, he turned up week after week and produced razor-sharp analysis for AFL Tonight, rarely submitting an invoice, if ever.

Montagna’s ascension to the commentary box for Fox Footy was inevitable, but his work on AFL Tonight made it a slam dunk.

Neroli Meadows and Leigh Montagna. Source: FOX SPORTS

Even Kane Cornes had a stint as part of the AFL Tonight analyst rotation.

Cornes has forged himself a remarkable career, but we’ll always be able to say he praised Luke Beveridge on our show, calling the 2016 flag “worthy of a Hollywood movie”.

The late great Robert Walls spent a year as the head analyst, famously predicting the Eagles would win the 2018 wooden spoon.

Will Schofield was building a media empire through BackChat well before his slot on AFL Tonight, but made his Wednesday segment so compelling that Fox Footy brought him in to be a regular on the Perth broadcast.

Brian Lake, Brendon Goddard, Brett Deledio, Dane Swan, Adam Treloar, Daniel Hannebery, Josh Jenkins, Brenton Sanderson and coaches Adam Simpson and Leon Cameron gave the show a truly national feel.

STARS ON THE FIELD … AND IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA

The show has also taken great pride in being a part of News Corp’s AFLW cadet program.

Chloe Molloy played a big role in the Melbourne newsroom, before handing the baton to Collingwood skipper Ruby Schleicher.

Seeing Ruby up close in the newsroom, it’s no surprise through hard work and grit she’s elevated herself from Pick 137 in the inaugural draft, to captain of the biggest club in the land.

Chloe Molloy, Kath Loughnan, Drew Jones and Cath Durkin. Source: Supplied

Kath Loughnan cut her teeth on the show as well. She stepped in for a Brownlow Medal night edition of the show, and never looked back.

Loughnan is now one of the stars of Super Saturday LIVE on Fox Footy, she’s one of many star female reporters to have graced AFL Tonight.

Meadows was without doubt the big sister of the show. Her advice still rings in my ears as I write scripts each afternoon.

Sarah Olle was a mid-Covid breath of fresh air for the show and now plies her trade for AFL Media.

Nat Yoannidis, Cath Durkin and Katelyn Barry all rolled through the rotation, while Isabella Leembruggen gets extra points … during her stint in Melbourne she introduced me to my fiancé.

AFL Tonight also proved a platform for a foxfooty.com.au reporter to shine.

Tom Morris was making great progress as a reporter for the website, and was getting reps on the show as well.

When Niall departed at the end of the 2017 season to become chief footy writer at The Age, Morris effectively took over as AFL Tonight’s news man.

Morris seamlessly stepped in, breaking the explosive Adelaide Crows camp controversy.

HURDLES

There have been countless other contributors, all creating a unique tapestry to tell football’s best stories.

If a show survives 10 seasons, there will always be bumps and bruises.

A major hurdle came early.

In May 2017, News Corp decided to merge Fox Sports News and Sky News into one Australian News Channel powerhouse.

Combining two newsroom’s resources into one is a tricky process, the days following that announcement were some of the hardest in my time at FSN.

The channel’s leadership structure changed and the creators of AFL Tonight moved on.

Tom Morris, Drew Jones and Julian De Stoop. Source: Supplied

A portion of Fox Sports News’ most influential people departed.

It was the beginning of the end for Jones and Chadwick hosting the show, and experienced reporters at various bureaus were farewelled.

Australia News Channel also sought to make sweeping changes to the way news was gathered, they believed the video-journalist model (reporters using the camera) was the way forward.

Camera operators around the country became an endangered species – which was to the detriment of the channel.

Tony Escott was one of the few who kept his job, ‘Esky’ is one of the best sports cameramen in Australia, and will one day take his place in the Australian Football Media Association Hall of Fame.

If you’ve seen an AFL Tonight bulletin or been to a pub in South Melbourne, you’ve seen Tony doing his best work.

The merger and new ‘VJ’ revolution ensured a few wobbly moments (literally), and the show lost some of its’ trademark slickness.

Mentioning COVID-19 elicits a shudder from everyone, and for those in TV it was a tough time.

Our team was cut back as the pandemic took hold – widespread redundancies included de Stoop, who was the heartbeat of the show.

Julian saw out his last few weeks with grace and said a memorable on-air farewell, which brought Esky to tears behind the camera.

PUSHING THROUGH THE PANDEMIC

Gill McLachlan had shut the season down after round 1, but as usual, AFL Tonight kept rolling.

We did over 60 episodes of the show despite there being no actual games for three months.

Julian de Stoop and Tony Escott. Source: Supplied

If you tallied up the numbers, Jon Ralph probably filled 10 minutes per show as we sifted through the Covid wreckage.

The Zoom press conference became a staple of the show. Trent Cotchin once took the piss out of me for asking questions while on a tram.

The last ‘Covid’ game was the 2021 Optus Stadium Grand Final, and in the days leading up Morris broke a big story that Ryan Gardner had been dropped.

Fast forward to Round 1 of 2022 and Morris reports Lachie Hunter will be left out of the Wednesday night season opener and grand final rematch.

After the Demons saw off the Dogs (Hunter was a late inclusion), Beveridge unleashed on Tom in the post match press conference.

Less than 48 hours later Morris had been sacked as offensive pieces of audio coincidentally emerged online. Tom had been a major part of the show and a friend I had sat opposite for many years, but Fox Sports correctly prioritised the others parties who were inadvertently dragged into the saga.

Simon Conway had taken over as the new executive producer during the Tokyo Olympics, and had to weather that storm.

Conway inherited a streamlined version of AFL Tonight, but the show fights far beyond its weight division on a nightly basis. He’s the Billy Bean of AFL program bosses, so I suppose that means Brad Pitt would play Conway in the AFL Tonight ‘Moneyball’ movie.

Conway’s best free agent signing has been David Zita, who’s witty tribunal coverage has added an extra element to the program.

ALL-ROUNDER REPORTING

A daily AFL show needs to be filled with content, even if you’re running on the smell of an oily rag.

Busy Thursdays might involve as many as 10 coach press conferences.

Tony Escott, Steph Clarkson, Drew Jones and Ruby Schleicher. Source: Supplied

A reporter heads out on the road, while the other begins churning through content.

At AFL Tonight, the reporters cut their own stories – so from start to finish each piece of work is generally handled by one person.

In season 2025 the show continues to evolve, with Conway steering the reporters through live hosting from the MCG, Marvel Stadium and GMHBA stadium when Thursday and Friday night football is in Victoria.

Every talk topic, stat and question is planned by us, with our producer cutting interviews, overlay and creating ‘supers’.

In a crowded footy show market, AFL Tonight survives not on hot takes but by bringing footy fans all the news from every club, every night.

The show couldn’t exist without the stars of the show, the players and coaches. It’s a privilege to cover our great game.

To every reader, reporter, producer, director and camera operator involved in the show … here’s to 10 seasons.

Not bad for a scribble on a coaster at the Bluey.

AFL Tonight airs nightly at 5:30pm Monday to Wednesday and 6pm Thursday to Friday on Fox Sports News. On Fox Footy, it airs 6pm Monday to Friday.

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