Leigh Matthews is the most authoritative voice in football. Within the AFL's ecosystem, he sits atop the food chain. As Dermott Brereton once put it, Matthews has "no natural predator" in the footy jungle.



As an eight-premiership player/coach ranked in the top couple of last century's footballers, he doesn't answer to anyone, and his words count - all the more for the fact that they are used sparingly. If he buys into a topic, we listen.



In terms of commentary on his game, Leigh warrants comparison with Richie Benaud. He doesn't have Benaud's broadcasting craft - phlegmatic Richie was highly trained, having spent years with the BBC - but has a similar economy and ability to simplify. Where some others gabble and gush, Matthews cuts to the chase.



If sporting commentators can be likened to renowned writers (a cultural stretch, yes), Matthews is the one most comparable to George Orwell - plain language, concise and always speaking the unvarnished truth. He tends to hose down, rather than fall prey to hyperbole. Most commendably, he draws attention to whatever he's describing, not himself, and rarely regales us with war stories about his own (formidable) exploits.



It's as if he doesn't know he's Leigh Matthews.



This economy, understatement and modesty is welcome in a game that can be over-analysed, over-hyped and over-burdened with egotism.



It is therefore disappointing that Matthews will not be featured on Channel Seven's flagship Friday night broadcasts in 2015. Seven has re-deployed Leigh to Sundays, where he will share the booth with callers Dennis Cometti and Hamish McLachlan.



Tom Harley, who had been the other special comments man on Friday nights, has left to take up his job as head of Sydney's football department. While this opened up a vacancy, Seven still opted to send Leigh to Sundays, replacing he and Harley with the combination of Wayne Carey and Cameron Ling as the special comments duo. Cometti and Bruce McAvaney will remain as the Friday night callers, with Bruce having a Sunday siesta. Matthew Richardson and Tim Watson will share Friday duties "downstairs".



Seven has reasons for shifting Matthews from the Friday night flagship to the second-tier Sundays. The rationale may be that Sundays need an organ transplant, and Matthews can give those Sunday afternoons a fillip, without Seven losing ratings on Friday nights. My understanding is that Seven hopes that Leigh's authority and presence will give it some news edge on Sundays, given that it also plans to use him regularly — albeit less than half the time — on the 10am review/preview program, AFL Game Day.



On one level, Seven's decision could be viewed as the kind of cold-blooded, business decision that Leigh would make as a coach. Seven knows that Friday night ratings are determined by the fixture — and how particular teams are faring — not the commentary team. Switching Matthews won't harm ratings, and it might give Sundays a small jolt. Seven could say that they're switching Matthews to the forward line, because they need goals, instead of keeping him in the centre square.



But one's choice of commentators is a matter of personal taste. My preference — and that of many colleagues — is for Leigh Matthews over the other special comments people in the Seven stable, and for Matthews to be retained under Friday night lights.



This is not to say that Carey and Ling don't have interesting things to say, or that they will be ruinous to the broadcast. Carey has shown himself to be a strong and forthright commentator on air and in this newspaper, with a touch of Robert Walls' hard edge. Ling, who is more measured, knows the modern game exceedingly well.



No, the issue isn't that Carey and Ling aren't capable. It's that they don't have the flying hours of Matthews, whose special authority is born of unparalleled success in coaching and playing and his gift for summing up what matters in half a dozen words.



If, as I believe, Seven's clear intention is to freshen up the Friday nights with new blood, they could have achieved this by filling Harley's slot with either Carey or Ling (or alternating them) while keeping Matthews at the side of Bruce and Dennis on the showcase broadcast. Seven's revamped Friday nights will also see the unveiling of a new pre-game show on 7Mate – essentially a countdown to the game from 7pm until 7.30pm, hosted by McLachlan, and also featuring Carey and Ling.



It's possible that Seven is mindful that Cometti and McAvaney are in their '60s, and wants to implement "generational balance". There was talk late last year that Jonathan Brown was a candidate for Seven's Fridays, before Brown signed with Fox Footy. Brown, incidentally, had a far better debut as commentator on Thursday night than his first outing for the Lions, when he didn't get a single touch.



This column belongs to a generation who remember (with a shudder) Matthews the player and coach of Collingwood's drought-breaker. Younger viewers mightn't have the same reverence for Leigh's football deeds — a number of which would have seen him suspended regularly for long stretches by today's match review panel — as those of us who stood on the terraces throughout the '70s and '80s.



That said, Leigh is a dab hand on Twitter, which suits those with a talent for distillation. While he's no expert at the plotting and palace intrigues of Canberra (where the coaches/leaders are getting sacked, despite "the full support of the board"), he spoke the everyman's common sense with this tweet on Tony Abbott's baffling "captain's call" on the unloved Prince Philip. "Condemnation of the PM decision to make PP a Sir is as universal as it gets. Disturbing when the 'why' logic from our leader escapes us all."



The logic of moving Matthews from Friday nights to Sunday might be more apparent than Prince Phil's gong. But that doesn't make it the right call.



In his playing days, Matthews was the first you'd want picked for the big games. The same still applies to his televisual presence behind the glass.

