“We’ve got a lot of issues with footy”: Nine’s next gen on AFL in 2024

L to R: Natalie Yoannidis, Xander McGuire, Jess Webster & Marnie Vinall.

Yesterday at a Nine Footy media launch in Melbourne, four young journos took centrestage to share their thoughts on the game.

They included Natalie Yoannidis & Xander McGuire from Nine News, AFLW reporter Jess Webster and The Age’s Marnie Vinall.

Host Eddie McGuire asked Natalie Yoannidis about Season 2024.

“We’ve got a lot of issues with footy,” she said. “The thing with AFL in this town is that it’s a small town, but the hunger for football is immeasurable. We’re always looking for something new. A different angle, whether it be just a little tidbit, a little nugget. We’ve got some big issues that we have to tackle this season and seasons to come, but then there’s also the little things and just the colour around the game as well. I think that that’s something really important that we need to really cover and something that we do in our newsroom really well.”

AFLW reporter Jess Webster said, “I grew up with three older brothers and all we did was talk AFL and play pranks on each other so it feels strangely at home on the set of the Sunday Footy Show actually. They’re a great bunch of people to to work for. I’m looking forward to the AFLW coming back again at the end of the year. It’s a competition that continues to grow from strength to strengths alongside the AFL men’s. So it’s going to be a big year.”

“I would argue that women still have a bit to go to become an equal part of AFL and AFLW,” said The Age’s s Marnie Vinall.

“But it is very exciting and we are seeing more new voices every single day in this landscape and what they contribute just makes it so much richer and brings in so many more audiences to AFL. We always talk about growing markets and I do think that there are so many markets that new faces and diverse voices just get to bring into the game. We all know how important this game is and how rich it can make our life. So to include just more and more people in that I think is very exciting.”

She added, “It’s really amazing that we can use something like sport as a vehicle to talk about these bigger issues like racism and sexism, homophobia. All of these issues that exists within society at large and we get to talk about them through the game and learn about them. We have players who are amazing voices on all of these topics.”

Host Eddie McGuire also asked his son Xander what motivated him to get into media?

“Leigh Sales said in her book that journalism is more a trade than it is anything else,” he replied, “and the more you get up close to it and do it yourself, the better you get. Getting to Nine as opposed to watching it from afar just to watch the way that Tom Morris goes about it in the newsroom has just been an inspiration, and growth for my development.”

“And Tony Jones,” he quickly added.