Neroli Meadows

Neroli Meadows (born 16 September 1985)[1] is an Australian television presenter, sports journalist and sports commentator. Meadows is a boundary rider for Triple M's Australian Football League (AFL) coverage, and was a presenter and commentator across the Fox Sports network for nine years, covering Australian rules football, cricket and basketball. She also co-hosted the short-lived revamp of the Nine Network program The Footy Show in 2019.

Neroli Meadows
Meadows during the Fox Footy broadcast of an AFL Women's match in March 2017
Born
Neroli Meadows

(1985-09-16) 16 September 1985
Collie, Western Australia, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Other namesNez
Alma materWest Australian Academy of Performing Arts
Occupation
  • Television presenter
  • sports journalist
  • sports commentator
Years active2006−present
Employer
RelativesIan Meadows (brother)

Early life and education

Meadows was born and raised in Collie, Western Australia, and supports the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).[2] She has two older brothers: Ross, who played hockey for Australia,[3] and Ian, an actor best known for his role on Home and Away.[4] Meadows studied journalism at Curtin University and completed a diploma in broadcasting at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts. She also studied in the United States at the University of Tennessee on a student exchange program.[2]

Career

Meadows began her career as the weekend sports producer at Perth radio station 6PR in 2006 before spending four years at the Seven Network as a sports reporter on Today Tonight.[2] She was a panel member on the Network Ten program Before the Game, alongside Andrew Maher, Mick Molloy, Dave Hughes and Anthony Lehmann, in the program's final year in 2013, and has also appeared on the association football-themed comedy show Santo, Sam and Ed's Total Football and the game show Have You Been Paying Attention?.[3]

In January 2016, Meadows recorded an interview on the ABC program 7.30 regarding inappropriate comments made by Jamaican cricketer Chris Gayle towards her and fellow sports reporter Mel McLaughlin (who worked for Network Ten at the time).[5] In March 2017, Meadows spoke out against Herald Sun chief football writer and fellow Fox Footy presenter Mark Robinson about an article he wrote describing Adelaide premiership co-captain Erin Phillips kissing her wife at that year's AFL Women's awards ceremony as "a touch sensual for a number of men".[6]

In 2017, she joined Fox Footy's inaugural AFL Women's commentary team,[7] and also joined Triple M for its coverages of AFL[8] and cricket,[9] as well as Fox Sports for its National Basketball League (NBL) coverage for the 2017–18 NBL season.[10] Meadows hosted the Fox Sports program Game Day Live, where she spoke to Australian sportspeople from a variety of sports,[2] and the Fox Footy program AFL Tonight, where she spoke to players and other personalities involved in the AFL.[11] In 2018, she also began co-hosting the Fox Footy program On the Mark, alongside Sarah Jones and Kelli Underwood.[12]

In February 2019, the Herald Sun reported that Meadows was in talks with the Nine Network to become the female co-host of the revamped AFL Footy Show, which she would juggle with her usual Fox Footy commitments.[13] She was confirmed as co-host in March 2019, reuniting with Anthony Lehmann from their work on Before the Game.[14][15] However, the show was cancelled just seven episodes into the new season following weeks of poor ratings.[16][17] In October 2019, Fox Sports parted ways with Meadows due to alleged cost-cutting, which came as a surprise to media and fans alike;[18][19] Foxtel boss Patrick Delany defended the decision by saying, "We have plenty of women on the network and from time to time people go [...] people don’t have jobs for life".[20]

In January 2020, Meadows rejoined the Nine Network for its coverage of the 2020 Brisbane International and 2020 Australian Open as a court announcer and post-match interviewer.[21] Later that month, she joined ESPN Australia for its coverage of the Super Bowl LIV in Miami.[21]

References
  1. Mercer, Daniel (1 February 2019). "'I'll always love my sports-mad hometown'". The West Australian. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  2. "Neroli Meadows". Fox Sports Australia. 20 July 2010. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  3. Vickery, Colin (16 July 2013). "The Big Ask with Neroli Meadows". News.com.au. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  4. Molloy, Shannon (3 July 2016). "The Wrong Girl star Ian Meadows says sister Neroli comes out on top in talented clan". News.com.au. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  5. Rubinsztein-Dunlop, Sean (5 January 2016). "Why sports reporter Neroli Meadows wants people to stop laughing at inappropriate remarks from Chris Gayle". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  6. "Neroli Meadows Hits Back At Mark Robinson Over Recent Herald Sun Article". Triple M. 31 March 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  7. "Fox Footy's expert AFLW commentary team to be led by Kelli Underwood, Neroli Meadows with footy stars". Herald Sun. 3 February 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  8. Black, Kelly (23 March 2017). "The most listened-to AFL call in Oz is ready to rock footy for another year". Southern Cross Austereo. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  9. Sharwood, Anthony (16 December 2016). "There's A New Way To Listen To Cricket, And It's Not Half Bad". HuffPost. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  10. "TV coverage of NBL set to expand in 2017/18". nbl.com.au.
  11. Epstein, Jackie (9 June 2017). "Women are making their mark in footy broadcasting with special comments and boundary roles". Herald Sun. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  12. Rapana, Jessica (7 March 2018). "There Is A New AFL Show Hosted By All Women, And It's About Time". Whimn. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  13. "Fox Footy star Neroli Meadows headhunted by Channel 9 for Footy Show re-vamp". Herald Sun. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  14. De Silva, Chris (16 March 2019). "Revamped AFL Footy Show line-up for 2019 revealed". Nine's Wide World of Sports. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  15. Naghten, Tom (16 March 2019). "Neroli Meadows to co-host revamped AFL Footy Show in 2019". Sporting News. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  16. Sutton, Ben (9 May 2019). "Channel Nine axes The Footy Show amid poor ratings". afl.com.au. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  17. Welsh, Sophie; Garlick, Shelby (9 May 2019). "Channel Nine cancel The Footy Show". Herald Sun. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  18. "Presenter Neroli Meadows departs Fox Footy due to cost cutting". news.com.au. 28 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  19. "FOX Sports dumps Neroli Meadows". TV Tonight. 28 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  20. Manning, James (30 October 2019). "Foxtel boss Delany on Neroli Meadows: 'No one has a job for life'". Mediaweek (Australia). Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  21. "Mediaweek Roundup: Kerry Stokes, Murdochs, The Project + more". Mediaweek (Australia). 17 January 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
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