Channel Nine’s football TV bloodbath continues after AFL legend Leigh Matthews announced he was leaving.
Leigh Matthews, who joined the network this year to lead the new Footy Furnace show, will leave the program on Sunday night.
Matthews, 72, who was a prolific footballer before moving into coaching and commentating, has been poached by Channel Seven ahead of the 2025 season.
His departure is the latest setback for Nine, following the recent defection of Kane Cornes, Caroline Wilson, and Craig Hutchison to Seven.
These departures leave Matthew Lloyd as the sole remaining panel member of Footy Classified on Monday nights.
Matthews, who has been officially recognised as the ‘Twentieth Century’s Best Player, had made intermittent appearances on Seven since the ’90s, when he was also a panellist on the marquee analysis show Talking Footy.
Matthews boasts an unparalleled football career, having won four premierships as a coach—three with Brisbane from 2001 to 2003 and one with Collingwood in 1990—along with four premierships as a player with Hawthorn.
Channel Nine now has several vacancies to fill, though Eddie McGuire downplayed the impact of losing long-time veterans Caroline Wilson and Craig Hutchison, who had been with the network for 18 years.
Channel Nine’s football TV bloodbath continues after AFL legend Leigh Matthews announced he was leaving. Leigh Matthews, who joined the network this year to lead the new Footy Furnace show, will leave the program on Sunday night. Pictured
‘End of the season, you get rid of the list-cloggers, and you move the new superstars in,’ he claimed in a cheeky interview on the Today show.
‘And that’s what we’re doing. We commissioned it when I was up in Sydney, actually. And it’s been fantastic. And it’s great that Channel Copycat is just taking something we’ve done for 18 years and putting it on air,’ McGuire added.
The Herald Sun previously reported McGuire suggested ‘legal action may be around the place’, in the wake of Footy Classified panel stars Kane Cornes, Caroline Wilson and Craig Hutchison jumping ship.
Matthews, 72, who was a prolific footballer before moving into coaching and commentating, has been poached by Channel Seven ahead of the 2025 season
Kane has already confirmed his move while it has been reported that Caroline is under contract with Nine until December.
Her contract includes a restraint clause that would mean she couldn’t begin with Seven until halfway through 2025.
Speaking in Melbourne at the Carbine Club Lunch at Crown on last Tuesday, Eddie was still unsure if the show would air on Tuesday night saying tensions had been rising.
‘Footy Classified tonight, who’s going to be on it we’re still not sure, I’m waiting for a phone call to come through as we speak.
‘Some legal action may be around the place, it’s all getting very hotted up.’
Matthews’ departure is the latest setback for Nine, following the recent defection of Kane Cornes, Caroline Wilson, and Craig Hutchison (all pictured) to Seven
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