Second Captains

[ceemec]

To be honest, doing a review of the Pro12 final after giving absolutely nothing to it in the build up nor anything after the HEC final is still a fairly paltry return. I expect about 15-20 minutes next week on the Pro12 with little or no comment on the Irish test against Argentina, at this stage.

[Avenger]

I expect about 15-20 minutes next week on the Pro12 with little or no comment on the Irish test against Argentina, at this stage.

You'll be disappointed so.

[Morf]

Isn't this the same as the Munster bias moan on Newstalk/SC?

They are hitting demographics.

[ceemec]

Isn't this the same as the Munster bias moan on Newstalk/SC?

They are hitting demographics.

I don't think they are. On last week's show, they had boxing and and were also talking about Landon Donovan being left out of the US squad for the FIFA WC. I follow football relatively closely but I couldn't care less about the US football squad and boxing is nowhere near as popular as rugby in this country.

I really think they just figured they'd try and do something different to NT as they've been blown out of the water on rugby coverage of late.

[future international]

Just been announced that BOD is joining the Off The Ball team.

[ceemec]

Be very odd for him and not sure how successful it will be. Retired players who jump straight into media work rarely give much insight initially.

Will be the death knell of rugby for Second Captains, though. They'll still cover it, I'm sure, but I'm sure it will take even more of a backseat.

[future international]

Ireland legend Brian O'Driscoll is joining Newstalk as a rugby pundit and co-presenter on Off The Ball.

The news was announced this morning on the Pat Kenny Show and is viewed as a massive coup for the station.

O'Driscoll has signed an exclusive deal with Newstalk and will take up the role in September.

Commenting on his new role at Newstalk, Brian O’Driscoll said, “Making the decision to join the Off the Ball team was an easy one for me – it’s the nation’s leading sports show and best radio station and following a break this summer I’ll be more than ready for it come September.”

Commenting on the announcement, Gerard Whelan, Newstalk Chief Executive said, “It is with great excitement that we welcome Brian to Newstalk. Brian is one of the very few truly global sports icons, and we know that his addition to the Off the Ball team will provide our listeners with a sports insight and commentary not found at any other station. “

Speaking to Independent.ie this morning, Whelan added: "He's going to join as our senior rugby correspondent but will participate regularly on Off The Ball as a sporting analyst, particularly on Fridays.

"He's going to be central to our coverage of Ireland games and next year's Rugby World Cup.

"At the moment he's taking a well deserved break and taking stock of life after retirement and I'm sure when he joins us in September, he'll be bright eyed and bushy tailed."

Ger Gilroy, Sports Editor Newstalk said: “We are thrilled that Brian has decided to join the Off the Ball team, we had a gap for a world class centre! Seriously though, his giant sports brain will be picked clean on a regular basis, we can’t wait.”

Brian will join Ger Gilroy tonight on Off the Ball for his first official interview following his retirement.

O'Driscoll played his last game of professional rugby on Saturday evening when injury forced him to be substituted after eight minutes of Leinster's 34-12 victory over Glasgow Warriors in the Rabodirect Pro12 final.

BOD has been an expert analyst on numerous occasions for Sky Sports during the Heineken Cup while out injured and impressed many with his clever insights.

O'Driscoll retired as a two-time Six Nations winner with Ireland, having captained the side for nine years. He also skippered the British and Irish Lions in 2005, a team he has toured with four times.

He won the Heineken Cup with Leinster three times, as well as being part of all four of their Pro12 championships, and he also lifted the Amlin Challenge Cup last year.

Got to pay the bills somehow

[offshorerules]

Wonder if this was 'common' knowledge before now. Would kind of explain the lack of rugby coverage on 2nd captains as they knew they were not going to be able to compete with OTB.

[simonno6]

Wonder if this was 'common' knowledge before now. Would kind of explain the lack of rugby coverage on 2nd captains as they knew they were not going to be able to compete with OTB.

do you listen to second captains on a weekly basis? Sure, last Thursday they didn't cover the Rabo, which was weird, but very uncharacteristic.

It's definitely the sport they have covered most since January.

[Scott]

Wonder if this was 'common' knowledge before now. Would kind of explain the lack of rugby coverage on 2nd captains as they knew they were not going to be able to compete with OTB.

do you listen to second captains on a weekly basis? Sure, last Thursday they didn't cover the Rabo, which was weird, but very uncharacteristic.

It's definitely the sport they have covered most since January.

this SecondCaptins have regular rugby

[Dave Cahill]

The Plan
1. Engineer an exit from Newstalk
2. Watch as OTB and its audience crumbles and falls
3. Take over the sure to be moribund Game On, bring the audience from the by now defunct OTB with us and get some good RTE gravy
4. Become Telly stars

The Outcome
1. Exit engineered. Gardening leave a bit annoying, but no biggie
2. OTB and its audience remain steady and begin to increase
3. Pesky gardening leave allows Game On to establish itself with a small but consistently growing audience. Podcasting is the future though - no, really.
4. Four episodes a year? Four? Bugger.


The Future
1. Sack yissers agent.

[Hippo]

2. OTB and its audience remain steady and begin to increase

This is the bit I can't fathom. It's wretched stuff.

[ceemec]

2. OTB and its audience remain steady and begin to increase

This is the bit I can't fathom. It's wretched stuff.

It's a nationwide, prime time sports show. The whole furore around the departure of the other lads gave them a huge amount of publicity too. Also, since they left, I think they've done what they can to bring in as big names as possible for interviews and blow Second Captains out of the water.

The BOD signing is just the cherry on top. Second Captains must be a bit nervous now that it has been established that the show is the attraction, not them.

[Hippo]

Yes I understand completely how good the slot is and so on, it's just that my ears start bleeding after 3 minutes exposure to their 'witty banter'.

[TerenureJim]

On Second Captains, there is a dedicated football podcast yet aside from the usual "what's coming up on the football sow ken?" bit, which I've no problem with, they spent the first ten minutes of today's episode talking about Roy Keane. On top of no preview of the Pro12 final it's just dropping the ball in terms of rugby coverage.

Maybe I'm just grumpy but if you only have a limited time each week and you completely drop a major final of the only professional field sport played in the country how can you justify spending time in the non-football podcast on bloody football.

The IT is the paper of note for many for rugby coverage, if you want people in the key ABC1 mark to keep tuning into the podcast and keep sponsors/advertisers happy then you don't alienate your core audience seeking new ones.

I'm guessing there'll be relatively little coverage of the Argentina tour.

[ceemec]

Well, that was a load of cr@p about them doing in depth review of the Pro12 final. Hickie was on for 15 minutes. I missed the last 2 minutes but it seemed that it was exclusively to do with BOD finishing up and then a state of the nation discussion around the business model of Leinster and how they'll compete in future. A couple of interesting comments but, overall, dull as dishwater.

As TJ says, they spent the guts of the first 10 minutes discussing Roy Keane on a 47 minute podcast.

Whatever people say about OTB, at least I know I'll actually get a solid amount of coverage and some good interviews with the people who are relevant at that time.

[Morf]

I'm not sure if there was more than one sentence about the Rabo final from memory.

[TerenureJim]

Goodnight second captains so.....

[Mickado]

I'm not sure if there was more than one sentence about the Rabo final from memory.

The only mention of it was something like "well they [Leinster] did well this year, they just won the Rabo"...

Disappointed with it this week I must say.

[Morf]

I'm not sure if there was more than one sentence about the Rabo final from memory.

The only mention of it was something like "well they [Leinster] did well this year, they just won the Rabo"...

Disappointed with it this week I must say.

Nice to have that confirmed yet pretty disappointing alright.