Hundreds of friends, colleagues and fans gathered at Optus Stadium on Monday for a State Memorial Service to farewell Dennis Cometti, the voice of Australian sport. The service began at 2.30pm local time in the Stadium’s River View Rooms and was attended by WA Premier Roger Cook and Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas, with Bruce McAvaney delivering a tribute. Cometti, who died in March aged 76, had a broadcasting career that spanned almost five decades and included calls of AFL, Test cricket and three Olympic Games. The service showd how his work shaped public memory of major sporting moments and set the scene for a television documentary due later this year.

Gathering at Optus Stadium

The State Memorial Service for Dennis Cometti took place on Monday, 4 May 2026. It was held in the River View Rooms at Optus Stadium in Perth. Gates opened at 12.30pm and the service started at 2.30pm. Seating was limited in the River View Rooms. The stadium grandstand was used so more people could watch the event on the big screens.

Hundreds of people filled the stadium precinct. Friends, former colleagues, AFL figures and sports administrators attended. Among them were WA Premier Roger Cook and WA Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas. Broadcasters and sporting figures included Bruce McAvaney, Matthew Pavlich, Don Pyke and Trevor Nisbett.

Seven Network presenters also participated in the broadcast coverage. Tim McMillan hosted the national live stream on 7plus, and Ryan Daniels reported from the service.

The State Memorial was also broadcast live on Seven Perth for local viewers.

Tributes and memories

Bruce McAvaney delivered a principal tribute. He spoke about his long partnership with Cometti and the bond they forged in commentary boxes.

McAvaney asked, “How lucky was I, standing alongside him?” He described Cometti’s timing and wit and said those qualities became part of footy folklore.

Basil Zempilas spoke at the service and reflected on Cometti’s career in Perth and on national broadcasts. Other speakers included Les Fong, and a video tribute played many of Cometti’s famous one-liners, such as “centimetre perfect” and “he came up behind him like a librarian”.

Attendees represented both the media and the sports community. Former players and club officials from West Perth and the West Coast Eagles were present. AFL broadcasting colleagues and cricket figures who worked with Cometti at major events also paid their respects.

Career and honours

Dennis Cometti was born in Geraldton in 1949. He started his media career in Perth radio in 1968. He also played for West Perth in the WAFL and later coached the club in 1982. His broadcast career ran for almost 50 years.

Cometti worked at the ABC between 1972 and 1985. He joined the Seven Network in 1986. He spent 26 years at Seven across two stints, leaving in 2001 and returning in 2007, before retiring from national television after calling the 2016 AFL Grand Final. The man continued to call local radio games until 2021.

He covered three Summer Olympics for Seven. Those were Barcelona in 1992, Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000. His calls accompanied several Australian gold medal moments, and his cricket and AFL commentary reached wide audiences across the country.

Cometti received multiple honours during his career. Optus Stadium named its media centre after him in 2018. He won the Australian Sports Commission Media Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. In 2019 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to broadcast media and the community. He was inducted into the Football Australia Hall of Fame in 2020 and the WA Football Hall of Fame in 2021.

Broadcast and public access

The State Memorial was made available via live broadcast and streaming. Seven Perth carried live coverage in the local market. 7plus streamed the service nationally, with start times adjusted for Adelaide and Perth. Extended coverage ran into the late afternoon, allowing viewers across multiple time zones to tune in.

Mastheads

The WA government published details about access and transport. Public transport was encouraged, and officials provided guidance on parking and entry points. Registrations to attend had closed before the day, but unregistered guests were still allowed and directed to remaining seating on arrival.

The turn-out and the list of speakers signalled the high standing Cometti held in both media and sport. The memorial combined formal civic recognition with a media celebration. Dignitaries and broadcast colleagues shared the platform, and stadium screens let a broader public witness the event.

Naming honours, awards and the stadium memorial space show how sporting figures are commemorated in public venues. Cometti’s career crossed life in the commentary box and local sporting culture. The memorial highlighted that crossover: he was a local son from Geraldton who became a national figure.

Seven has announced a documentary about Cometti called Centimetre Perfect. Bruce McAvaney will lead that project.

The documentary is scheduled to air later this year. The film aims to trace Cometti’s career from his early radio days through his national television calls.

Live coverage of the memorial and the planned documentary show how broadcasters and networks treat legacy content. Archival footage, recorded calls and tributes form part of how Cometti’s voice will remain available to audiences. For commercial broadcasters, that content also represents programming that can attract viewers and advertisers.

The WA government page on the memorial said any updates to the event would be posted on that page. It set out arrival times and entry gates and noted that ACROD parking would be available. The government also pointed visitors to Transperth for public transport details.

Those arrangements reflected a larger logistical operation. A state memorial at a major stadium requires coordination between government, venue operators and broadcasters.

Optus Stadium staff directed parking and seating on the day, and Seven managed on-site broadcast logistics for a national stream.

Cometti’s phrases and one-liners are part of Australia’s sporting lexicon. The video tributes and on-site speeches emphasised how a broadcaster’s style can influence fan memory. That cultural effect also feeds media products: documentaries, special broadcasts and archived segments.

For networks, those products are content assets. They can be repackaged for streaming, special programming and anniversary features. The memorial and the upcoming documentary are examples of how a broadcaster’s archive feeds future programming schedules.

Frankly, state memorials involve costs that sit across public and private bodies. Venue provision, staffing, security and broadcast infrastructure all require funding.

Sure, when a memorial is televised nationally, commercial broadcasters also allocate production budgets and advertising inventory. The decision to produce a documentary is both a tribute and a programming investment.

Networks judge such projects on audience appeal and rights to archival material. A figure like Cometti, whose voice accompanied key national sporting moments, provides access to valuable archive calls and footage. That material has programming value for the broadcaster and can be monetised through advertising and streaming audiences.

For the WA government, hosting a state memorial at Optus Stadium uses public infrastructure to stage a civic event. It also places the state at the centre of national attention for a day. The logistics and public transport notes on the government page reflect responsibilities that come with staging a major public ceremony.

The memorial blended invited guests and the general public. Registrations had closed, but unregistered visitors were accommodated.

Officials asked people to arrive by 1.45pm to secure seating. The arrangement let a broad cross-section of the community attend while still managing capacity in a large stadium setting.

Speakers ranged from government leaders and former players to broadcast colleagues. That mix showed how Cometti’s career connected different parts of the sporting ecosystem: club football, national broadcast networks and Olympic coverage.

The service closed with speeches, video tributes and an acknowledgment of Cometti’s contributions. Attendees lingered afterwards in small groups. Broadcasters and club officials exchanged memories while fans watched on the stadium screens.

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Seven will screen a documentary titled Centimetre Perfect later this year, led by Bruce McAvaney.

This article was created with AI assistance.