Kelli Underwood
Kelli enters her tenth straight AFL season as a sports broadcaster in 2009, where she will again provide reports for TEN News, Sports Tonight and boundary riding for AFL games.
She will also play a major role in the ANZ Netball Championship, which will be exclusive to ONE. Kelli will host, commentate and conduct courtside interviews.
Kelli began her career in radio in her home town of Adelaide, covering the Adelaide Crows back to back premierships in the late 90’s before crossing the border to Australia’s sporting capital, where she joined Melbourne’s highest rating talk-back station 3AW.
She covered numerous Grand Prix, Melbourne Cup Carnivals, Australian Tennis Opens and Davis Cup ties. She also worked with the likes of Rex Hunt and Robert Walls in the 3AW AFL commentary box. In 2005, she created history by becoming the first woman to call an AFL football game, when she sat alongside Rex Hunt at the MCG to broadcast a quarter of a Carlton-Essendon clash for 3AW.
Kelli has been with the Network Ten for three years. Originally employed as a sports reporter for the 5pm news, her role has expanded to include feature stories on Sports Tonight, AFL boundary riding, the Brownlow Medal Red Carpet Special and hosting and commentating netball.
Her career highlight came this year when she became the first woman in history to call an Australian Football League match on television. Kelli joined highly respected commentator Tim Lane to broadcast the NAB Cup game between Adelaide and Geelong.
During her career, Kelli has spent time getting to know some of the biggest names in sport, interviewing Roger Federer, Andre Agassi, Serena Williams, Kelly Slater, Michael Schumacher, Mark Webber, Shane Warne, Sachin Tendulkar, Muttiah Muralitharan and Asafa Powell.
Her favourite sports are tennis, basketball, surfing and of course, Aussie Rules.
When not holding a microphone and chasing sports stars, Kel loves hitting the beach, relaxing with a good book and a coffee. She also has a passion for travelling and watching movies.