Media buzz: Why Matty Johns throws himself into work

He doesn’t play golf, fish or have any hobbies, so he throws himself into his media work with the face of Fox Sports.

This year he will take on two live TV shows, three podcasts, a radio show on SEN and a column for The Daily Telegraph every Friday.

“In the off-season, when I’m not doing anything, I find myself downstairs having a beer all the time,” he said.

“I don’t play like a lot of other golfers, and Trish keeps saying, ‘You gotta find something to do.’

“I said what… flying kites? collecting stamps?”

Even chores around the house are generally left to Trish.

“We had a broken screen the other day,” Matty said. “I held it while Trish hammered in the nails.”

“So in the football season I love my job and I’m busy.”

No other sports media star has a busy schedule like John’s. His Fox Sports shows will continue on Thursday and Sunday nights.

It’s the same crew with Gordie Tallis, Fletch and Hindy.

He has three podcasts – one on Fox with Cooper Cronk and two on News Corp – his family chat with Trish and sons Cooper and Jack, and a new one called Good Chat.

It’s a series of offbeat interviews with some of Australia’s most intriguing figures – like Kyle Sandilands, sports broadcasting guru David Hill, rock promoter Michael Chugg, Stan Grant, Wendy Harmer, Matt Nable and many more.

THE EXCEPTIONAL NUMBERS OF THE SUPER BOWL

Nearly 115 million viewers tuned in to the Super Bowl across America on Fox on Monday.

With a population of 334 million, that’s more than one in three Americans watching the game.

The NFL had more viewers in one day than the entire NBA Finals in six games.

It’s an exceptional figure compared to the country of origin in Australia, traditionally our highest rated televised sporting event.

The last Origin game hit 2.6 million on Channel 9 last year out of a population of 26 million.

That’s equivalent to just one in ten Australians watching Blues vs. Maroons.

UFC’S HUGE RATINGS REVEALED

Boxing and UFC subscription TV purchases are always closely guarded.

However, we can reveal that last weekend’s big fight in Perth, Alexander Volkanovski vs. Islam Makhachev in the main event, was the highest number for a UFC fight in that country. The numbers weren’t in the same league as boxing blockbusters like Mundine vs Green, Horn vs Pacquiao, or Mayweather vs McGregor, but were up there with the big events of Tim Tszyu.

FOX NABS EEL IN COMMENT COUP

Parramatta NRLW star Tiana Penitani has joined Fox Sports. The network will cover all NRLW games in the 10-team comp over nine rounds before the finals. The impressive Penitani, the Eels’ captain and marquee player, will be part of matchday coverage for non-Parramatta games throughout the season.

MEDIA PROFILE: EMMA LAWRENCE, 32 (Channel 9, Triple M)

first job? OverBoard Surf Shop in Macarthur Square and as a math and English tutor.

Sporting heroes? I always looked up to my brother Chris who played for the Wests Tigers and growing up I was a fan of Cath Cox.

Which league team do you follow? It’s hard to get past the Tigers, but I’ll always have a place in my heart for Souths. My great-grandfather Vic Lawrence played with his brother Jack for the Bunnies in the 1920s.

What sports did you do? Netball was my life growing up. Unfortunately, this led to two hip reconstructions, so I had to learn to cover sports instead of playing them.

How do you spend a day off?: No days off during football season, but when I have a free moment I love a cheeky wine and spending time with my family, especially nieces Emmerson and Ella.

Career highlights? Rugby League World Cup 2022. Another favorite moment from the early days is interviewing Robbie Farah on the Leichhardt Oval scoreboard. To this day he insists he made my career!

Originally published as Media Buzz: Why Matty Johns jumps into media work