Follow AFL opening round 2026, results, odds, squads and start time from SCG in Sydney
To quote the late and legendary commentator Dennis Cometti: “What I’ve found over the years of sitting and watching is that you can see where you can say things and where you can’t.”
For Cometti, it was all about timing and balance, an art he perfected over decades.
Nathan Buckley, Leigh Matthews, Bruce McAveny and Denis Cometti are on commentary duty. Credit: Channel Seven
And so, on the eve of the 2026 AFL season, the health issues his family had kept secret for recent years finally eluded him.
Maintaining Cometti’s timing, which only a precious few in his profession have managed, became the task facing new Swans boss Matthew Pavlich, who visited media at his Sydney headquarters on Wednesday and heard of the death of his friend and onetime business partner.
Having already insisted to the AFL that the Sydney-Carlton game would balance celebrating the SCG season opener with a somber pre-game tribute to the 15 people killed at Bondi, the Swans – along with Cometti’s long-term employer Channel Seven – will now perform a tribute to Australian Football Hall of Fame member Cometti at half-time.
Seven announced this month that a Cometti documentary had gone into pre-production.
The project was run in the off-season by sports bosses Chris Jones and Gary O’Keefe, along with Cometti’s long-time colleague, co-contributor and famous friend Bruce McAvaney.
This trio had been aware for some time that Cometti’s brilliance and famous rhetoric had abandoned him. But they hoped the former WAFL player, coach and long-time commentator and sports presenter would live to witness the doco, which was made with the support of the Cometti family.
Read Caroline Wilson’s full emotional tribute to Cometti HERE.
