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“Smash hit”: Why Caro loved being on The Front Bar
Andrew Slevison • May 8th, 2025 5:00 pm
Caroline Wilson was the special guest on Channel 7’s The Front Bar on Wednesday night.
The esteemed journalist and media trailblazer was put through her paces by Andy Maher, Sam Pang and Mick Molloy on the light-hearted footy show.
From covering hockey, lacrosse and penning a women’s sport column in the early 1980s to becoming the AFL powerhouse she is today, Wilson has seen it all.
The main guest is usually a footy hero - in Wilson’s own words - so she admits there were some nerves in the lead-up.
“It is a very, very funny show,” Wilson said on the Don’t Shoot The Messenger podcast.
“It is basically three blokes in flannel shirts sitting at a bar cracking gags and poking fun at footy. They manage to poke fun at pretty much everything.
“It was obviously very nerve-racking because usually they have footy heroes. I mean last week they had Peter Hudson.”
She loved the old footage that was found, a lot of which featured her father, Ian Wilson, who was Richmond president for over a decade in the 1970s and 80s.
“The archival stuff on former players… there aren’t many on-field highlights (of me),” she added.
“They did find a shot of me at the footy in about 2002 with my daughter Rose who was 12 at the time. It was so funny seeing us both at the footy.
“A lot of stuff of my father (Ian) when he was president at Richmond.”
On the night itself, Wilson recalls one of her earliest memories of the Tigers.
It occurred after the 1967 Grand Final which Richmond won over Geelong in a classic and involved a song from Alan ‘Bull’ Richardson, the father of Tigers legend Matthew.
“I have no memory of the game but I remember sitting in our back garden, the sun was setting on the Sunday night, and ‘Bull’ Richardson, Richo’s father, and Fred Swift, the captain, were (there),” Wilson said on The Front Bar.
“I remember sitting on Bull Richardson’s knee and he sang the Mikey Mouse Club song. It was late in the day, they might have had a couple, I just remember everyone being incredibly happy.”
The trio of panellists and the guests usually have a schooner of beer sat by them as they regale the viewers with stories from yesteryear.
Wilson says she turned down the offer of a cold one but admits she would have been open to a wine if the opportunity presented itself.
“They asked if I wanted a beer. I said no don’t put a beer there,” she added. “They just put a water under the bar, and I felt like saying, ‘Well, you could have put a glass of pinot or chardy’, I would have been happy. I had one (a glass of chardy) afterwards.
“I think they all have a sip of beer, I don’t think they have that much beer.”
From the moment she showed up, Wilson said she was welcomed with open arms.
“They do a lot of work, they do a lot of research, they have brilliant writers. From the minute I arrived they just make you feel at home,” he added.
“One by one, every one of the panelists came in and said, ‘Great, we’re going to have so much fun, great to see you’.”
Overall she was enamoured by her experience.
“It’s just a brilliant concept,” Wilson sad further.
“None of it is mean-spirited, it’s always funny and warm.
“They had this file of all my old articles and kept reading these banal, dreadful articles about lacrosse back in 1982.
“If you haven’t seen the Front Bar, it’s a very good show. An absolute smash hit.
“The boys were absolutely lovely and a good night was had by all.”
