Bendigo, mid to late 1970s.

The door of the old Kingswood creaks as a young Geelong supporter pulls it open, his heart beating with anticipation.

He slides across the vinyl bench seat to set himself in front of the car radio. It’s a crisp Saturday afternoon, and an eight-year-old Anthony Hudson, Bruce Nankervis’ number 33 on his back, readies himself for a long afternoon listening to the Cats on what was then 3GL Radio, later K rock Football.

According to to Hudson himself, now a lead caller with 3AW and Fox Footy, this is when his dual love affair with commentary and the Geelong Football Club began. For many he’s the voice of as many Cats heartbreaks, think Nick Davis in 2005, as he is triumphs, but his affection for the club he grew up barracking for is still there. 

Listening to him talk to Zach Tuohy and Tom Stewart on the latest episode of the Tuohy and Stewie podcast, those Sepia toned memories remain as strong for him today as if they happened yesterday.

“I couldn't always get the reception very well in Bendigo,” he said, “so I'd actually go out to the front of the house where Dad's old Kingswood was parked and it had the better radio and tune in to 3GL and hear the biased commentary.

“Half the time you couldn't even hear it properly, but you could hear the crowd, so you knew something good was happening. Those were great times for me as a young kid growing up.” 

Despite the neutrality demanded of broadcasters, Hudson’s affection for his Cats is never far away. His ‘I see it but I don’t believe it’ call of Nick Davis’ infamous goal to send the Cats home in the 2005 semi final may not have been quite what it seemed at the time.

“There's two ways to look at I see it but I don't believe it,” he laughed. “Everyone took it as a positive, but we lived the heartbreak of the 1989 and the 90s Grand Final losses and to think the team was emerging with the chance to finally win one in my life time and then to see it go down the drain in that semi final...”

That disappointment of that day was somewhat dampened by being behind the mic for many of the Cats’ greatest moments across his 30-year broadcasting career, but every now and then the passions do boil over, but he has learned to control it somewhat.

“I got to call the 2007 Grand Final, so that was pretty good, and the 2011 Grand Final as well, so that was also very good from a TV point of view,” he recalled.  

“I called 2009 on radio and called last year on radio so there's been some good ones along the way. Most of the time you're doing your job and you're focused on that and then afterwards you can feel the emotion of a fan. 

“I've worked out along the way, I've called a lot of games with Gerard Whately, and we're both Geelong supporters and so when the other person is calling, it is dangerous,  but you can be kind of be a fan when you're not calling, and then switch roles.” 

Talk of bias or team-leaning in commentary was at it’s height in the mid-2000s when then Collingwood president Eddie McGuire was calling Magpies games, and it was something that Hudson himself felt in the lead up to the 2007 Grand Final, but something he thinks is, ultimately, a non issue.

“I always thought that was a bit silly because if you're a footy fan you would have a team growing up, so I didn't mid saying I was a Geelong supporter but then trying to be fair and be balanced, it's a perception,” he said.

“If anything, you're probably more likely to get annoyed and be hard on the team than anything else but people would read into what they like, but as it turned out they won very easily so it didn't turn out to be a stressful day at all.” 

One thing is for suire, football clubs have a way to incite the greatest passion among its supporters and in many ways, despite being the voice of some of the game’s greatest moments, Hudson is still the young boy switching through the dial in the front seat of his Dad’s car, looking out for the call of the Cats games, oversized number 33 on his back, dreaming of one day being part of the game he loved crackling through the stereo.

You don’t always get what you want, but sometimes it works out just fine.