Off the Wall

The latest addition to the rugby league television program - Game On - made a promising start on Ten's HD channel, OneHD, last night.

The demise of the Matty Johns show on Seven gave little cause for sorrow as it ended up being more about silly stunts, and less about rugby league - but what I saw on OneHD last night was generally serious stuff, and good for the game.

It also raises hopes the Ten Network will be a serious bidder for the rugby league television rights, and provide Nine with the bidding competition we need.

The programme is hosted by 2GB's Andrew Moore, who takes over from Ray Hadley as the station's main league caller this year, with panellists Steve Roach and Joel Caine also part of the 2BG team.

OneHD will also have a Monday night program, One Week At A Time, as well that will review the weekends round - featuring Ricky Stuart and Ben Ikin.

The addition of constructive previews and reviews is welcome. Fox Sports has an excellent suite of previews and reviews, but OneHD is able to draw on a much wider audience.

For the first time in a long time I also had a look at the first 20 minutes or so of Nine's Footy Show.

I was pleasantly surprised. By the Footy Show's standards it was civilised, and relatively informative. The panel included Darryl "The Big Man" Brohman, Brad Fittler and the doyen of broadcasters, Ray Warren.

It was not bad stuff at all. Readers who saw the whole program might have a different view!

The game needs all the promotion it can get - OneHD is helping the cause.