Geelong great Billy Brownless has opened up on his decision to leave the AFL Sunday Footy Show after this season, declaring that he’s “had enough”.
Brownless has been a mainstay on a number of Nine’s flagship AFL programs, including the since-defunct AFL Footy Show, but has been a long-time panellist on the Sunday edition.
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The 54-year-old explained why he was leaving to his great mates Matthew Lloyd, Nathan Brown, Tony Jones, Damian Barrett and Kane Cornes on this week’s show.
“It’s been good fun, 23 years on the Sunday Footy Show,” Brownless said on Sunday morning.
“A sad day, but I’ve probably just had enough. I’m getting a bit older, it would be nice to have a Sunday off. And I haven’t been sacked but it’s a matter of time, I suppose. Probably get out before I do get pushed.
“Sad day because we are all family, we’re good friends.
“Even the camera crew and the floor staff, they’ve been here longer than us.”
Brownless’ decision was met with sadness from his colleagues, with Jones saying the announcement had left the team “genuinely flat’, while Lloyd said the Geelong icon would be “hard to replace”.
While Brownless will continue in his radio role Triple M, his TV retirement brings to an end a stellar 27-year career in front of the camera, which began with appearances on the original Thursday night AFL Footy Show.
“I started with the Footy Show with Ed, Sam and Trev (Marmalade) in the good old days. Once I finished up footy I was lucky enough to get onto the show and ended up doing both the Thursday and Sunday shows,” he told the Herald Sun.
“It has been a fantastic ride, to be honest. I have just had enough, to be honest. I love the show and I love the boys.
“We have a very good chemistry which is hard to get on a footy panel show because we all have egos, but we all get on really well. We are a team.”