Hamish McLachlan

Hamish Angus McLachlan (born 28 August 1975) is an Australian sports broadcaster with Seven Sport and Triple M.

Since he joined the Seven Network in January 2008, he has hosted every Australian Open tennis tournament to date, also commentating occasional matches. He took over from Johanna Griggs as prime-time host in 2015.

On the Seven Network, McLachlan hosts AFL Game Day on Sunday mornings (a program he has also hosted since its inception in 2008) and calls AFL matches on Sunday, he also hosts the Friday night coverage. The show celebrated 300 episodes on Sunday 16 September 2018.

He also hosts radio station 1116 SEN's breakfast show alongside Garry Lyon and Tim Watson.

Career

McLachlan began working in sports management in 1998, where he worked with Elite Sports Properties (ESP).^[1] As general manager of the Events and Entertainment Division, he was involved in a number of different sporting events, including the 2000 Summer Olympics, the 2002 Winter Olympics, the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

In 2004, McLachlan became a director of the AFL Hall of Fame and Sensation exhibition in Melbourne which was placed into administration two months after opening due to severe debt.^[1] He had previously co-founded Spyglass Management, which was awarded the licence to operate the Hall of Fame.^[2] In November 2004, the Federal Court of Australia described Spyglass Management as "hopelessly insolvent", with "many creditors, whose debts in aggregate exceed $26 million".^[3]

In 2008, McLachlan joined the Seven Network becomimg co-host of AFL Game Day, a new Australian Rules Football review panel television program on Sunday mornings. He also took up a role at Triple M radio as a match-day commentator, calling Saturday-night and Sunday-afternoon AFL matches.^[4] He also co-hosted the 2009 and 2011 Brownlow Medal 'Blue Carpet' ceremonies with Seven News presenter, Rebecca Maddern, and fellow Seven Sport presenter, Rachel Finch, respectively.

McLachlan was a court interviewer at the 2008 Australian Open (his first role at the Seven Network), an event he has been a part of every year since, becoming a host a few years later and then prime-time host from 2015.

The same year, he called the Spring Racing Carnival for Triple M.^[5]

Outside of Australian rules football and horse racing, McLachlan is involved in calling polo matches.^[6] He also owns Ten Goals, a small media and production described as specialising in "sports broadcasting, commentary, hosting and multimedia presentations".^[7]

In 2012, McLachlan became part of the Seven Network's AFL team, initially as co-commentator of Saturday afternoon matches with Basil Zempilas.^[8] In 2015, he began calling Sunday afternoon matches with Dennis Cometti (and later Brian Taylor), only for matches played in Melbourne (as AFL Game Day, which he hosts earlier in the day, is produced at Seven's Docklands studios).^[9] McLachlan eventually went on to also host the network's Friday night telecasts, with a pre-game and post game analysis alongside expert commentators.

In 2016, McLachlan created controversy and received criticism following an on-air incident when he was pushed away by fill-in weather presenter and Miss Universe Australia, Monika Radulovic, as a result of him flirting and embracing with her during a live cross to the Magic Millions horse racing event. He later apologised to Radulovic and viewers on air.^[10]

In 2016, Hamish joined the Seven Network's Olympics coverage for the first time (having not been part of Beijing 2008), he was prime-time host at Rio 2016.

He also writes for the Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne.^[11]

In 2018, McLachlan is currently co-host sports entertainment series Australian Spartan.^[12]

In 2018, he hosted the Seven Network's prime-time coverage of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Industry insiders say he is looked upon highly by Seven Network executives, being close with the head of sport Saul Shtein and general manager of sport Col Southey, with his positions in recent years and he is expected to host the network's prime-time coverage of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

In May of 2018 during a live airing of AFL Game Day, McLachlan wore a Superman t-shirt beneath his suit jacket in reference to the newly named Marvel Stadium.^[13] Unbeknownst to McLachlan, Superman is a part of Marvel rival, DC Comics.

Personal life

McLachlan is originally from North Adelaide, South Australia, and attended St Peter's College and the University of Adelaide, where he graduated with a degree in commerce. His older brother Gillon McLachlan is Chief Executive Officer of the AFL.

References