In a big night for ABC Grandstand at the AFL Media Awards, Victorian based caller Gerard Whateley collected two of the night’s top individual gongs for his work with the national broadcaster.

Whateley took out the Most Outstanding Caller – Radio award and was praised by judges Bruce Hearn-McKinnon, Janelle Ward and Michael Lovett, for his clear, concise and accurate commentary across all aspects of the game – from the excitement of close encounters to the on-ground tributes to Phil Walsh by players and coaches.

Gerard also took home the highly coveted Alf Brown Award. In a hot field, judges Geoff Poulter, Martin Blake and Ondrej Foltin were swayed by Whateley’s triumph as this year’s best radio caller with the ABC, along with his co-hosting of the winning entry in the television section, the AFL 360 program. His role as regular host of ABC Grandstand’s AFL radio broadcasts was also highly commended in the ‘Best Radio Program’ section, in addition to his regular Herald Sun column.

In other good news, ABC Grandstand’s AFL Coverage and the Saturday Agenda were highly commended in the Most Outstanding Radio Coverage category for skilful hosting, agenda-setting interviews and high-quality discussion of on and off-field issues.

Justin Holdforth, Head of Sport and Events, was really pleased with last night’s results.

“Congratulations to Gerard Whateley and the whole ABC Grandstand AFL team for their recognition at the AFL Media Awards, the accolades are well deserved,” he said.

The ABC Grandstand AFL team are gearing up for the business end of the AFL season, with only three games remaining live and commercial free on ABC Local Radio and ABC Grandstand Digital.