‘I’ve made it’: AFL’s newest commentary star lifts lid on epic rise… after dream was almost ‘lost’

Two years ago, Jess Webster had doubts that her dream of calling the AFL on TV would come true.

After a breakthrough in 2023 that saw her feature regularly on radio as a play-by-play commentator, she was dealt boundary-riding duties the next season.

It prompted what she says was a “low point” in her 17-year footy broadcasting career.

But little did she know it at the time, an initial five-games-a-season deal with Triple M proved the conduit to boost herself to where she is now.

And after a triumphant Round 1 debut that’s drawn rave reviews across the country, Webster’s turned her attention to Super Saturday, when she’ll be heard calling St Kilda vs. Brisbane alongside one of her idols.

Foxfooty.com.au chatted with the rising star to gain an insight into her perseverant ascent.

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Listen to Jess and Dwayne Russell call St Kilda vs. Brisbane on Super Saturday HERE!

THE DREAM … AND THE ‘LOW POINT’

Throughout a well-travelled journey that’s taken her interstate more than once, Webster, 36, always sought the chance to call the AFL on television.

But despite her non-linear trajectory, Webster’s words ring true: “Everyone has their own path.”

“Calling was always the end goal. It was always my North Star,” Webster told Foxfooty.com.au.

“So I thought, to get there, to be a sports journalist is where I’m going to go and how I’m going to get there.

“I always kind of thought, when I was younger, you’d be a sports journalist and caller, right? If that makes sense. That’s just how I thought you would get there. But there are so many ways to become a caller.

“As I tell people all the time in this industry, everyone has their own path; there is no one path to becoming a caller. This is just how I ended up where I was.”

Webster’s extended family is steeped in footy tradition. Her grandfather played for Essendon in the 1950s, and her great, great grandfather played in Pakenham Football Club’s first premiership in 1909.

And Jess, who hails from Pakenham yet was raised up in Brisbane after her dad sought a move to warmer weather, started out in Darwin as a NTFL boundary-rider.

“You’ve got to get in the industry before you can start to navigate your way through it, so I just took a job in the industry, happened to be in Darwin, and that’s just where I started and kind of found my way through there,” Webster said.

“I started my first ever commentary gig when I was a boundary-rider for ABC TV in NTFL. So, I’ve come through calling community level, state-league level, AFLW, AFL — I’ve done kind of the whole thing.”

After a stint close to home that included calling NEAFL games, Webster had the epiphany that moving to Melbourne was the only way to genuinely progress her career to get where she wanted to go.

“I started doing a few games a year for ABC in Brisbane, did kind of five years there, (then) I thought, ‘Well, for me to take the next step, I’ve got to move to Melbourne’, because there was (only) a certain level I was going to get to,” she said.

“I thought, ‘I’ve got to go, this is where it all happens’. So then I got to a point … when I first moved, got my break with Fox, and then the (Covid-19) pandemic happened. And again, I didn’t commentate at all, anything, for 2020.

“Came back a little bit, doing a bit of boundary work on radio in 2021, but obviously, when the pandemic was happening, boundary-riders weren’t allowed early, and so there just wasn’t a lot of work there.”

Webster commentated her first game for ABC in Melbourne in 2021 — a two-year gap from her last play-by-play call in Brisbane — and rose in prominence before her progress came to a screeching halt in 2024.

“I got to a point where I was calling regularly for ABC, I think it was 2023, maybe, where I was doing a game a week, which was awesome,” she said.

“(But) then I lost that the next year (in 2024) and was only doing boundary. That was when I was really kind of at a low point, thinking: ‘Oh, is it all just kind of falling apart? I just don’t know what to do’.

“I was feeling kind of really lost and unsure where the next step was.”

Then, in the midst of all her uncertainty, she joined Triple M last year, where she was originally offered five play-by-play calls for the season.

And not only did she wind up calling more than five matches, but she called Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera’s match-winning performance in Round 20 — a fixture she wasn’t initially rostered on to call. But she’d made her own luck by then.

“Luckily, I think those five games turned into maybe 10, and so the whole Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera moment (happened). I wasn’t even rostered on to do that game, and so I look back at that just thinking so many things had to align for me to be in that right place at the right time,” she said.

“So yeah, that was amazing, and then here we are.

“I would say two years ago, I was genuinely fearful, thinking ‘I don’t know how I’m going to get back to that level again’. I just couldn’t see a way forward. I didn’t know when my next opportunity to call play-by-play was.

“And I’m just really fortunate that Triple M gave me an opportunity … I had a good year with them, and then obviously I was still calling AFLW for Fox as well this whole time, which was awesome.”

‘SLOW BURN’ … BUT ALL ROADS LEAD TO FOX

Webster’s will be a new name to many, but the 36-year-old has been a part of the Fox Sports family for six years now, honing her craft in the AFLW sphere.

Her first game with the network was in January of the 2020 season, having only moved to Melbourne six months prior to that.

Webster recalls the moment she met Fox executive producer Leigh Carlson, who, after several emails asking for a chance, gave her the foot-in-the-door opportunity she’d craved.

“I managed to track down Leroy’s email address. And the email address is all I had. And so I was emailing the first couple of years, and yeah, there were no opportunities. Sometimes he responded, sometimes he didn’t,” she said.

“And then I moved to Melbourne mid-2019. And at the start of January 2020, I was working for the AFL at the time in a corporate affairs role. And they had a meeting with AFLW managers at AFL house, and Leroy was there to present to the group. That was the first time that I saw him and met him in person.

“I remember thinking ‘he’s not leaving this room in this building until he knows who I am’.”

Webster wound up waiting until Round 7 of that season before receiving an unexpected call asking if she could fill in on the boundary — a gilt-edged chance she graciously accepted.

And while the pandemic was declared the day after that game, she was invited back to do more boundary work in 2021, before getting her AFLW play-by-play chance early in 2022.

Fast-forward to the present day, and Webster has completed five women’s campaigns with Fox Footy, with her AFL TV calling career now flourishing.

She’s said previously that it’s been a ‘slow burn’ across the 17 years, mixed with moments of doubt and progress as she fought to plant her feet in an inherently male-dominant industry.

“When you think about it, at 36, I’m still young in terms of a caller. So I am still really fortunate to be given an opportunity at this stage of my career — that’s certainly not lost on me,” Webster said.

“And yes, it’s a slow burn because it’s a childhood dream, right? I’ve been on the planet for a while now, and I’ve just really wanted it to happen.

“Because I knew nobody in this industry … I’ve had to learn so much in the 17 years. When I first started, I didn’t have a great concept of networking, things like that, that are important in getting you to where you need to be in any industry.”

‘PROUD’ DEBUT ALONGSIDE IDOL, AND WALKING KELLI’S TRAIL

Webster said that “like any 90s kid”, she grew up idolising Dennis Cometti and Bruce McAvaney — but as an early subscriber of the original Fox Footy channel, she also “religiously” tuned in to Clinton Grybas on White Line Fever and was inspired by Tiffany Cherry.

And she was also heavily influenced by the likes of Dwayne Russell and Anthony Hudson — with the former by her side in Round 1 and this upcoming Saturday.

Webster was also next to Russell when the duo commentated the Melbourne vs. Richmond Community Series game in Ballarat — that was unfortunately abandoned early due to lightning — with Webster cherishing even that preseason scene.

“Even when I called that practice game with Dwayne in Ballarat a couple of weeks ago was really a pinch-me moment. I’m sitting in the box next to Dwayne, who’s an icon,” she said.

“Even though it’s a practice game, I thought, ‘This is cool. I’ve made it. I have absolutely made it’. So that was a really amazing moment.

“He’s been so supportive of me, and calling my first game with him, I couldn’t imagine anybody better to call alongside. Special memories that I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life.

“He’s a legend and very generous.”

In Round 1 of this season, Webster made her AFL television commentary debut, calling North Melbourne’s win over Port Adelaide with aplomb.

But while there were nerves, Webster, who’s called more than her share of women’s games, found unexpected calm once she was in the box.

“There were general nerves, but I think I was actually a lot calmer than what I thought I was going to be, which was sort of a really interesting experience,” Webster said.

“Because you wait a long time to get a moment like that. But the one thing I just wanted to do was enjoy it. I didn’t want life to kind of pass me by in that sense.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be a perfect call. I knew I was going to learn a lot, and there’ll be a lot to work on in the future.

“But I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself, and I wanted to make sure that I really just was present in the moment and really enjoyed where I was and to be proud of how far I’d come. I had a great time.”

Webster also reveres her connection with women’s commentary trailblazer Kelli Underwood, another beloved member of the Fox Footy family.

The pair’s “really special” relationship spans more than a decade, and Webster now joins Underwood in ultra-rare air as just the second-ever female to call an AFL game on TV.

That reality is “surreal” to Webster, who explained what taking another stride for women in the male-dominated AFL industry means to her personally.

“It’s surreal. Because I’ve watched her (Underwood) since I was a uni student when she called her first game. And I remember it so vividly as a poor uni student on a crappy old TV, tuning in and hearing Kelli and just being so wide-eyed and in awe and amazed at her and what she had achieved,” Webster said.

“And we’ve had a really special relationship. I met her the year after at a press conference in Darwin, and I don’t remember who we were interviewing in that press conference that day, but I remember meeting Kelli.

“She called me ahead of me doing my first game for ABC 10 years ago. She’s been there every step of the way in my journey as well, and always been so supportive and encouraging.

“To me, it means this is the new normal, right? I’m not the first (female TV caller), and I’m not going to be the last. And I think that’s awesome. I think I’m just another chapter in the journey. But this is what we want.

“Kelli’s a true pioneer and a trailblazer. I spoke to her ahead of my first game. And I just sent her a text and said, ‘It’s an honour to follow in your footsteps’. It really is.

“She’s been so courageous in being the first and blazing that trail for the rest of us to follow. And I just said to her, ‘I hope I do you proud’.”

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