Editor’s Note: This piece was originally published in January, 2023, after Grace Gill’s lead commentary debut.
As Western United faced Brisbane Roar in the Liberty A-League in mid-January, Grace Gill stepped into the commentary booth feeling different to the norm.
Commentary is something Gill has become well accustomed to since the conclusion of her playing career – but not like this. As Western played host to Roar in North Hobart, Gill picked up the microphone not to add expert opinion, but as the lead play-by-play caller, for the very first time.
“It was pretty nerve-wracking, pretty daunting,” Gill explained as a guest alongside Catherine Cannuli on The Official Liberty A-League Podcast.
“I think over the years, I’ve grown comfortable with the expert role of a co-commentator, so to step into the lead call it was a pretty different space to be in… it was exciting and obviously a really big occasion.”
It’s rare to see a former player make the leap to a role beyond expert analysis in the game; in Australian football, Gill is blazing a trail in that regard.
Cannuli, a former Liberty A-League star just like Gill, has done her fair share of media duties since retiring as a player, but couldn’t imagine making the jump to a lead commentary role.
“I’d love to know how you felt walking into that booth knowing you were the lead commentator, Grace,” Cannuli said. “Because I know if I got told in the morning I was going to be the lead commentator I would be absolutely s******g myself!”
Turns out, despite the nerves, it was a jump Gill had been ready to make for some time. Inspired by female voices rising to prominence in European sports broadcasting, Gill has taken mental notes of the lead commentary process while working alongside the likes of Robbie Thomson, Simon Hill and Teo Pellizzeri in the booth for Paramount+ and Network 10.
Translating those pointers picked up from some of the nation’s pre-eminent callers into a gameday process of her own was a challenge in itself – but if you tuned into Western’s 2-0 win over Brisbane on Saturday you would have heard it for yourself: a lead commentator making her very first call with all the confidence and competence of a commentator making their 100th.
From the moment she stepped into the booth, despite the “nervousness” and “excited energy”, Gill knew she was ready for the task at hand thanks to the “similarities in preparing for a game, and preparing for a call.”
“Throughout the week, as you do at training on the park, you’re looking at what you did last week and how you can get better,” Gill said. “You’re looking at the opposition, you’re studying them, then you go out and you practice it.
“What I’ve discovered in calling, whether it’s in co-commentary or my first lead commentary is you do the same thing: you look at the tape from the last week, of the team that has played, the personnel, the players, you look up statistics and a lot of research around that. And then, you practice.
“Definitely those moments just before you go on air, just before you step on the pitch, there’s this nervousness. Just this really excited energy. I think as a former player, I can really see the likeness to stepping out on the field or picking up the microphone as you get your cue to come in as a commentator.”
Gill continued: “I’d say in the last year or so, it’s something I’ve been acutely aware (of): that there’s a massive opportunity for it, especially in our country. We don’t have women leading play-by-play calls.
“There’s a couple of really talented women overseas in the Premier League in Jacqui Oatley and Pien Meulensteen, and I look to them with great admiration because they are forging their way in what is traditionally a really male-dominated industry.
“It’s hard to be a woman’s voice in that space. It comes with a bit of fear of criticism, of failure, of wanting to live up to that quality and expectation.
“I’m relieved to have the first one behind me, and for the most part really happy with how it went. But I’m always going to be my harshest critic, and there’s parts of it that I’ve listened back to and just cringed my way through. There’s always a starting point though.”
