Footy, callers, gripes, and running gags.
Off The Bench mixes AFL chatter, World Cup score-checks, listener texts, and old-mate studio needling into a Saturday-morning sports hang. It is as interested in traffic, sick days, and bad passwords as it is in Hall of Fame nights and Gather Round.
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Off The Bench is Australian sports talk built around momentum, not tidiness. The show starts from footy, but it treats sport as a doorway into everything around it: work excuses, traffic, delayed planes, pub memories, password frustration, and whatever listeners have sent through by text or phone. AFL is the strongest thread. Recent episodes spend time around Gather Round, Hall of Fame recognition, club form, wildcard possibilities, South Australian football atmosphere, and the week-to-week business of following teams with too much hope and not quite enough certainty. The show also keeps one eye on the wider sporting calendar, with FIFA World Cup score updates, Socceroos watch-party chat, and praise for Zipper’s football commentary. Its tone is loose but not lazy. Hutchy, Pickers, and Sam Hargraves work like people who can interrupt each other without losing the room, turning a small complaint into a shared bit before looping back to the actual topic. Listener input matters. Calls and texts are not decoration; they often become the spine of a segment, whether Margaret is talking through her team’s finals chances or someone is confessing how they got out of work. The recurring segments give the show its comic machinery. Picks Flicks turns streaming movie reviews into a weekly tease, especially when Crime 101 becomes another excuse to prod Pickers about heist plots and vague verdicts. The Saturday Draft makes everyday annoyances competitive, from coffee and traffic to automation and Microsoft Authenticator. The Malcolm Blight Snap Medal keeps a scoreboard for third-person self-congratulation, turning sports-media ego into an ongoing joke. Guests such as Malcolm Blight bring memory, status, and football texture, but the show’s main pleasure is the back-and-forth around them. Off The Bench is for listeners who want sport with personality attached. It likes results, but it loves the argument after the result even more.
Made for: Best for Australian sports fans who enjoy AFL talk with a talkback-radio pulse, local references, and fast studio chemistry. It also suits listeners who like recurring bits, listener texts, and movie-chat side roads.
What sets it apart: Off The Bench stands apart by letting the banter become the format: segments feel planned enough to return every week, but loose enough to follow a caller, a gripe, or a stray sporting memory wherever it goes.
Off The Bench with Hutchy and Pickers! Join Craig Hutchison and Liam Pickering talking sport and anything else they can think of every week.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Off The Bench pairs AFL judgment with calls, guest insight and broad sporting conversation that stays lively beyond the final score.
Off The Bench turns the weekend's sport into a loose, quick-moving conversation led by Craig Hutchison and Liam Pickering, with Sam Hargraves filling in during Hutchison's time in the United States.
Margaret's family singalongs sit beside AFL ladder talk, if your footy appetite has room for a detour.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Work excuses, listener banter, and World Cup score chasing keep the hour moving.
Off The Bench settles into the familiar business of getting out of work, with listener texts and studio banter carrying the show from sickies and RDOs to the old migraine excuse.
A loose Saturday sports radio lap that still lands on the Hall of Fame and the World Cup.
This morning's Off The Bench keeps things loose, with World Cup talk, Hall of Fame reflection, and a back-and-forth pace that never feels forced. The Gary Ablett Jr.
A Melbourne-to-Los Angeles football chat where wildcard talk, weather and studio banter sit comfortably together.
Off The Bench turns a Saturday morning into an easy loop of football talk, with Hutchy calling in from Los Angeles and Pix keeping things moving in the Melbourne studio.
A post-match call turns Margaret's Blues frustration into a warm argument about football's changing era.
Off The Bench turns a post-match call into a compact study of football grief, with Margaret from Sunbury still smarting over the Blues' loss to North Melbourne.
A live Gather Round chat where family memories make the football banter feel warmer and more lived-in.
Off The Bench uses its live Gather Round setting as a way into a looser, more personal chat about family life, with Hutchie bringing Margaret into memories of shared meals, music in the dining room and callers at the door.
Malcolm Blight connects Adelaide's Gather Round colour with draft patience and a plain-spoken view of the AFL's out-of-bounds rule.
Malcolm Blight gives Off The Bench a South Australian entry point into Gather Round, with Adelaide full of club colours, a Thursday night Crows-Carlton crowd, and scarves from every club moving through the city.
Mike Muncer and a different guest dissect two horror films per episode, by subgenre.
Craig Hutchison and Liam Pickering broadcast live from the Tire Power stage at Gather Round in Adelaide.
Craig Hutchison and Liam Pickering interview AFL legend Malcolm Blight during Gather Round in Adelaide.
Margaret returns to Off The Bench after a traumatic month in hospital and describes recovering at age 96 after four days running in theatre.
Off The Bench features Harts and Pixie discussing a 24-hour trip through Perth and Adelaide that ended with a fire-alarm evacuation from an 18th-floor hotel room.
Sam Hargrave sits in for Hutchie on the second hour.
Off The Bench opens in full Saturday morning mode, with sponsor reads, talkback numbers, and the regular crew settling in.
Hutchy, in Los Angeles at Bell Studios in Hollywood, and Pickers, in Melbourne, open with AFL results, the Big Freeze weekend, and the question "What price happiness?" around Knicks playoff tickets at Madison Square Garden.
A humorous and self-congratulatory radio segment where the host celebrates himself with nicknames and discusses a 60-vote week in a sports-related context.
This episode humorously contrasts LinkedIn's professional utility with office absurdities before shifting to a lively sports commentary on football and weather conditions.
The hosts broadcast live from Gather Round in South Australia, discussing sponsors, the event atmosphere, and a humorous mention of Tony Jones.
Margaret discusses her annoyance with mobile phones, arguing that they have caused people to lose the art of conversation, especially affecting children's social skills.
The hosts interview Malcolm Blight, a legendary Australian rules football figure, discussing Gather Round in Adelaide and the excitement surrounding the AFL event.
The hosts review the 2026 heist thriller 'Crime 101' starring Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo, discussing its release on Prime Video and giving it a positive rating.
This episode features a casual conversation between hosts discussing weekend plans, horse racing events like the Golden Slipper, and the debut of VFL coverage on television.
The hosts Hutchy and Pickers discuss their morning routines, sleep patterns, and preview football results including Hawthorn's 62-point win over Essendon.
A sports radio show discussing recent matches in football and cricket, weather updates, and listener interactions on a Saturday morning in Australia.
The hosts discuss a night of Australian sports results including cricket and basketball, while preparing for Blue Diamond Stakes Day horse racing.