A who’s who of Australian sport and media turned out to farewell Dennis Cometti at a state memorial service for the commentating great at Optus Stadium on Monday.
AFL media royalty including Eddie McGuire, Matthew Pavlich and Tom Harley made the trip west to pay their respects to one of the luminaries of Australian sport.
WA Premier Roger Cook extended the offer of a state memorial service for the veteran commentator to Cometti’s family after he died in March this year, with the public invited to pay tribute.
And pay tribute they did, with hundreds lining up in the early afternoon to pay their respects and commemorate the life of one of the greatest sporting figures the state has ever produced.
Speaking at the service, Cook said Monday’s speech was a tough gig.
“How does one begin to honour with words one of the greatest orators in Australian history?” he told the crowd.
“No one speech can do justice to a man whose voice and witticisms became the official soundtrack to a core pillar of Australian life.
“He enriched the lives of millions of Australians, and none more so than his family, his wife Velia, daughter Ricki and son Mark.”
Born in Geraldton in 1949, Cometti’s connections with West Australian football run deep. He played in the WAFL for West Perth, kicking 70 goals in 38 games for the club, before returning to coach the Falcons in 1982.
One of his former players from his coaching days, West Perth legend Les Fong, spoke on behalf of the club Cometti so dearly loved.
“At West Perth, Dennis was held in the highest regard,” Fong said.
“He was a talented forward, tall and gangly, but full of promise.
“What stood out most from Dennis as a coach was his understanding of the game. He was humble, genuine and never likely to speak ill of anyone.
“He had empathy, wisdom and an ability to earn respect by always showing it.”
Cometti called the West Coast Eagles’ first premiership in 1992, and the media centre at Optus Stadium is named in his honour.
He was also picked up by Footscray in 1971, but injuries and media commitments meant he never played a senior game in the VFL.
But it was his contribution off the field that brought the voice of a sporting generation to the public, who quickly came to appreciate Cometti’s often understated but unmistakable dulcet tones.
His media career spanned nearly five decades and saw him cover AFL, Test cricket, and the Olympic games, where he memorably called Australia’s 4x100m freestyle relay gold in Sydney.
His long-time broadcast partner and close friend Bruce McAvaney, who delivered a heartfelt eulogy for the man he shared a commentary booth with on countless occasions, told the crowd that countless people had stopped him over the past eight weeks to ask about his memories of Cometti.
“He has certainly entered our vernacular,” he said.
“He made footballers famous. We pride ourselves in Australia on the standard of our sport broadcasters.
“Dennis is without a doubt the benchmark when it comes to AFL football.
“His passing has had a significant effect on me – we shared a journey.
“That grand final – the Bulldogs and the Swans – will always be my favourite game of football.
“Right until the end he had my back and I hope he knew that I always had his back as well.”
It was somewhat fitting that Cometti’s final televised AFL match as a commentator was the 2016 grand final, where his former side, now known as the Western Bulldogs, broke a 62-year premiership drought after defeating the Sydney Swans.
Cometti was awarded an Order of Australia in 2019 and inducted into the Football Australia Hall of Fame in 2020, and joined the WA Football Hall of Fame in 2021.
Basil Zempilas, WA’s Opposition Leader, former Channel 7 commentator and fellow West Perth tragic who considered Cometti both a mentor and a friend, thanked the state government for holding the public memorial.
“What a commentator, the ‘cork in the ocean’ and the ‘centimetre perfect’, that he never really cared for,” Zempilas said.
“For Dennis, every game was a big game, whether it was a preseason match or the grand final, it was always a big game.
“He hated making mistakes, but if he made one he would demand a copy of the tape … and he insisted on watching that mistake he made back – that was the level of perfection that he demanded of himself.
“But his greatest gift was his ability to uplift … he always had time for people.”
It was his use of what affectionately became known as “Cometti-isms” that made him such a hit with the fans.
Some of his trademark quotes became synonymous with the AFL, including “like a cork in the ocean” and “centimetre-perfect” – the latter intrinsically linked to the WA commentator.
Seemingly off-the-cuff calls became legendary, but were often the work of an attention to detail that helped carve a career in one of the most competitive fields in the media landscape.
Monday’s memorial service included a highlight reel of some of the greatest moments in Australian sporting history, with the unmistakable voice of Cometti adding wit, humour and, when necessary, gravitas.
The list of Cometti-isms ran long, and included, “Adam Yze, a terrific player … terrible scrabble hand,” and, “Libba went into the pack optimistically and came out misty, optically,” which were talked about years after the events on the field.
It seemed fitting Cometti’s own words should describe his life and contribution to Australian sport, the words he used to describe Kieren Perkins’ victory in the 1500m freestyle at the Atlanta Olympics back in 1996.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is rare gold, the best kind of gold.”
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