To quote the late and legendary commentator Dennis Cometti: “What I found over the years sitting and watching is that you can see where you can say things and where you can’t say things.”

For Cometti, it was all about timing and balance, and it was an art he came to perfect over decades.

Dennis Cometti on Seven’s Friday Night Football in 2009, with Leigh Matthews, Nathan Buckley and Bruce McAvaney. Credit: Seven

And so it was on the eve of the 2026 AFL season that the health struggles his family had kept private in recent years finally overcame him.

Maintaining the timing that only a precious few in Cometti’s profession manage became the task facing new Swans boss Matthew Pavlich, who was hosting visiting media at Sydney headquarters on Wednesday when he heard his friend and one-time business associate had died.

Having already insisted to the AFL that the Sydney-Carlton game would balance celebrating the SCG season opener with a sombre pre-game tribute to the 15 people slain at Bondi, the Swans – in league with Cometti’s long-time employer Channel Seven – will now also screen a tribute to the Australian Football Hall of Fame member Cometti at half-time.

Seven announced this month that a Cometti documentary had moved into pre-production.

Cometti in 2009.Credit: Simon Schluter

The project had been driven over the off-season by sport bosses Chris Jones and Gary O’Keefe along with Cometti’s long-time colleague, co-caller and fellow hall of famer Bruce McAvaney.

That trio has been aware for some time that Cometti’s brilliant mind and famous turns of phrase had deserted him. They hoped, though, that the former WAFL footballer, coach and long-time commentator and sportscaster would live to witness the doco being made with the support of the Cometti family.

© WA Today