Former NRL stars have reminded footy fans of the time Sunrise co-host Matt Shirvington delivered a bungle for the ages while he was live on air.
Shirvington is the second-fastest Australian sprinter of all time and finished fifth in the 100m final at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
After that, he embarked on a career in television that has seen him become co-host of the highly popular breakfast news show on Channel Seven.
Before that, though, he had a long stint on Foxtel where he became the unlikely studio anchor for NRL matches.
While he departed the network four years ago, many of his colleagues remain including footy star and television star Matthew Johns.
He hosts the popular Sunday Night With Matty Johns show, but will be heading to Paris as part of the Foxtel Olympics team.
In his absence, former Roosters and South Sydney forward Bryan Fletcher will host the Sunday show.
As part of the announcement on Sunday, Johns couldn’t help but stitch up his old colleague Shirvington in the process.
Johns: [reading an email] ‘I heard Fletch is hosting the show while you’re in Paris. Have you got any tips for Fletch? Well, the first one, Fletch, that is really important, is you’ve always got to be aware of who you’re throwing to.’
The show then cuts to the clip of Shirvo in his early days on Fox League.
Shirvington begins the segment by saying: ‘Thanks very much guys, we’ll catch up with you at halftime. Let’s go now to your commentators Matt Russell… sorry, Warren Smith and Greg Alexander. Sorry, Matt Russell and Ben Ikin. No, sorry. Matt Russell and Warren Smith and Greg Alexander, sorry, for that game out at Parramatta Stadium.’
The panel on The Sunday Night with Matty Johns were in stitches after playing the clip of Shirvington completely fluffing his lines
Shirvington appeared to be dealing with a faulty teleprompter back in his Fox League days – and he was very unhappy when the series of mistakes went to air (pictured)
Shirvington left Fox Sports to join Channel 7 in 2020 and is now co-host of Sunrise alongside Natalie Barr (pictured together)
The bungle appeared to be the result of a teleprompter failure, with the camera still rolling and an angry Shirvington pointing to the device and gesturing to make his disapproval obvious.
Johns then said of ‘Shirvo’: ‘I tell you what, he’s doing a good job now, though.’
Fletcher: ‘He’s flying.’
Johns: ‘He’s booming.’
The former Olympic sprinter began his television career at Channel Seven in 2005 as host of a program called Beyond Tomorrow before moving to Sky News Australia as a sports presenter in 2010.
In 2013, he was signed by Fox Sports to primarily cover the NRL.
Back in his athletics days, Shirvington reached the final at the Sydney Olympics and is still the second-fastest Australian sprinter of all time
Shirvington left Fox Sports for Seven in 2020 so he could get his shot at commentating on the Olympics.
He had already moved away from Fox League at the time, working more with Fox News and covering all sports.
‘I’d already been thinking, “How do I get out of [Foxtel]? What do I do?” I’d love to spend some time at a commercial network,’ he said.
‘[Channel Seven boss] James [Warburton] called and said, “Look, we have a change-up with Jim Wilson going over to 2GB and it leaves a void for our sports reads on the weekends. Would you be happy to do that?” So I jumped at the chance.’
Shirvington had been filling in for presenters on Sunrise and The Morning Show as well, until his big break came midway through 2023 when veterean Sunrise presenter David Koch announced he was standing down.
At the time, Shirvington said he had ‘mixed emotions’ about taking on the role.
‘Daunted. So excited. Happy. Cannot tell you the honour and privilege this is,’ he said.
‘I think I’m more nervous than I have ever been, including the Olympics.’
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