great behind – Footy commentator Yvonne Sampson says she laughed off Bob Hawke’s cheeky 2015 compliment and explains how it fits into her career moves after Richie Benaud.
A cheeky one-liner from a former prime minister left an Aussie sports broadcaster grinning years later, with Yvonne Sampson still recalling the moment she “loved it” when Bob Hawke told her she had a “great behind.”
Sampson revealed the story during a wide-ranging podcast conversation with Tom Birmingham and Eddy Simpson on Hello Sport. tracing the exchange back to 2015. shortly after the death of cricket icon Richie Benaud.. At the time. Hawke directed his remarks to her after meeting her while Channel Nine’s Wide World of Sports was putting together a tribute piece for Benaud.
The Fox League presenter explained how she met Hawke in his office and was initially asked a simple but old-school question: what she was “doing with” herself.. Sampson recalled answering that she was a sports reporter, while a producer added that she had a big future.. Rather than settling into a formal tone. Hawke responded with a cheeky quip that combined a compliment with the kind of larrikin delivery he was known for.
According to Sampson’s recounting. Hawke told her: “I don’t know what is in front of you. but you have a great behind.” Far from taking offence. she said she found the comment hilarious. adding that the compliment “put a bit of lead in my pencil.” The broadcaster also framed the moment as the kind of spontaneous encouragement that landed naturally. especially in the setting of a national tribute around a sporting figure like Benaud.
Sampson, who started her media journey on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast with the Seven Network, later moved to Sydney in 2014 to join Nine. In the years that followed, she said she had to make a careful decision about her next step, particularly as her contract with Nine approached its end.
The presenter said she agreed in principle to leave Nine after discussions with Fox Sports Managing Director Steve Crawley in 2016.. In her telling. the situation was complicated by Channel Nine threatening gardening leave. which required her to hire a manager to handle negotiations and protect her transition.
That manager was George Mimis, who Sampson said sorted everything out. While she described feeling sad about leaving Nine, she argued it was the right move, stating that Fox had been “amazing” since the shift.
Over the past decade. Sampson has built a reputation for versatility on-screen. moving between major live sports coverage and more intimate conversations with footy figures.. She has anchored State of Origin coverage and also taken on sit-down interviews for Fox League’s Face to Face. where her focus on personalities has become part of her appeal with viewers.
Beyond her own on-air work. Sampson said she is also committed to creating opportunities for younger women hoping to enter sports journalism.. She has spoken about organising work experience and offering mentoring. describing this support as a way of helping others find the pathways that brought her into the industry.
Outside work, Sampson—an enduring long-term Broncos fan—married fellow Australian media identity Chris O’Keefe in 2018.. For her. the Hawke moment sits alongside the wider arc of her career: from early steps in regional media. to major national platforms. to the choices she made when contracts. restrictions and timing forced her to move.
And while the setting was a tribute connected to Benaud’s legacy. the lasting image for Sampson is not the formality of the event—it is the breezy. cheeky way a former prime minister managed to make her feel noticed. even years later. when she returned to the story and admitted she simply “loved it.”
Yvonne Sampson Bob Hawke Richie Benaud Fox League Hello Sport podcast Fox Sports cricket tribute
That is such a Hawke thing to say lol.
Wait so she laughed and it helped her career? I mean good for her but also why is that something a prime minister says in an office 😭
They’re making it sound wholesome but “great behind” is still crazy to me. Like if some dude in politics said that to me I’d be like bro what are you doing? Also the Richie Benaud part got me confused, was this after he died or during the tribute? Either way, sounds like awkward networking.
Honestly this kinda stuff is why old Aussie sports people got away with everything. She says it “put lead in my pencil” which is cute I guess, but I’m stuck on the part where he asked what she was “doing with” herself like it’s 1965. Also Channel Nine, Fox League… I can’t keep track. Sounds like she took it as a compliment and rolled with it, so fair.