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<\/p>\nIf you’re over the age of 30 and have watched a bit of footy, you’ve probably got your favourite Cometti-ism.<\/p>\n
Mine came in September 1992, when he described Peter Wilson and his efforts to regain his footing as akin to “a cork in the ocean”, before he kicked a miracle goal over his head in the AFL Grand Final.<\/p>\n
Looking back on that passage of play, it seems there is no more apt description of the action \u2014 Wilson did, at that moment, resemble a cork in the ocean, bobbing back up to his feet after being tripped.<\/p>\n
It was a moment of pure commentary genius, but there were so many of them you could have published a book. (In 2004, in fact, someone did.)<\/p>\n
Dennis Cometti, who has passed away at the age of 76, had more great lines than Hemingway.<\/p>\n
Centimetre perfect<\/p>\n
Cometti was the finest commentator in sport.<\/p>\n
No-one saw a game of football better than him, and his gift for describing the action with a turn of phrase that would bring a smile, a chuckle or a twinkle in the eye was unparalleled.<\/p>\n
He is famous for coining the phrase “centimetre perfect”, but according to the man himself, its origins are banal.<\/p>\n
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Dennis Cometti earned the respect of all he worked with throughout a 50-year media career.\u00a0 (Getty Images: Morne de Klerk)<\/p>\n
“I don’t think it was ever that clever,” he told the AFL website in 2020 on his induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
“When I was a boy, I used to say ‘inch perfect’, and so to be with the times, I had to change it to ‘centimetre perfect’, so that was something I never understood, as to the reaction.”<\/p>\n
Such was his impact that the media centre at Perth Stadium is named after him.<\/p>\n
‘I’ve lost something truly precious’: McAvaney mourns great mate Cometti<\/a><\/p>\n Bruce McAvaney says he has “lost something truly precious” with the death of long-time AFL commentary partner Dennis Cometti.\u00a0<\/p>\n The bar he, along with his long-time broadcast partner Bruce McAvaney, set was so high that an entire generation of AFL callers has not got close to surpassing it.<\/p>\n And what a voice \u2014 a rich, sonorous baritone you could listen to all day.<\/p>\n Unlike many of the shouters that call the game today who, to butcher a line from Spinal Tap, leave it cranked up to 11 all the time, Cometti only raised his voice when the moment truly demanded it.<\/p>\n He was a proud West Australian, remaining based in the state even at the height of his fame, and he had the frequent flyer miles to prove it.<\/p>\n A life in football<\/p>\n As a boy Cometti would head to Subiaco Oval with his father to cheer on East Fremantle.<\/p>\n “I think most of our memories with football are strongest back when we were kids,” he once said.<\/p>\n “[East Fremantle] played in four consecutive grand finals when I was at high school. That was a good time, that’s an impressionable time.”<\/p>\n Dennis Cometti, pictured with swimmer Stephanie Rice, is inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2019. (AAP Image: Michael Dodge)<\/p>\n The football bug had bitten.<\/p>\n He went on to play 40 games for West Perth and later coached the club.<\/p>\n He also began a career in broadcasting, playing records on a popular music station, before calling cricket at the ABC.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, WA Opposition Leader and former AFL commentator Basil Zempilas said he “loved his origins at the ABC”.<\/p>\n “He would tell me so often about his great times and interactions with George Grljusich, with Wally Foreman, with (Ian) ‘Sticks’ Brayshaw,” Zempilas said.<\/p>\n As his television career was taking off, Cometti still maintained a foothold in radio \u2014 co-hosting a program with then West Coast Eagles coach Mick Malthouse called Cometti and the Coach.<\/p>\n![\"Dennis](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0c3041fda3d06596288b6951c0782990.jpeg\")
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