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Gary Ablett of the Suns and Heath Scotland of the Blues wrestle during the AFL Round 02 match between the Gold Coast Suns and the Carlton Blues at the Gabba, Brisbane.
Each AFL club has a certain word or phrase that you can associate with them. With the season now entering finals time, I have attempted to link them all.
Adelaide: Powerful with a whole state behind them. Struggling at present, but they will return.
Brisbane: They are a rabble with a CEO who is scared or in love with the coach… who knows. Poor off-season moves proved costly. I predict that the Suns will be more popular in three years.
Carlton: A winning and arrogant mentality. They expect to win finals, however the last 10 years have been tough. But the Carlton of old is definitely on its way back.
Collingwood: Poles apart in what they believe in and what they are. Battlers from the inner city, us versus them, everyone out to get them – couldn’t be further from reality. They have more money, sponsors, members and supporters than anyone else in the league.
They thrive on playing up to their ‘army’ – ‘doing it for the fans’, a common theme is just the type of marketing rubbish they go along with, and it keeps the great unwashed content for another day.
The reality is that Collingwood players, officials and the club in general would love nothing more than to not have to deal with this rabble. I guarantee Daisy Thomas hates it when he is recognised by their toothless masses.
Essendon: One word sums them up: ruthless. The Bombers are similar to Carlton, but more cut throat in their expectations. Sheeds was almost tipped out many a time, but the wily old fox always managed to be close to a flag in the final year of his contract.
The way the Essendon faithful, backroom powerbrokers and media buddies essentially got rid off Knights was typical Essendon. They are ruthless in their assessment of their own players as well. Lucas, Stanton, Ryder, all on the end of jeers from their own at some point.
Fremantle: Worst trade blunders, worst theme song, and worst motivational speech by a captain to get them up for a game – “put on your superman capes boys, its Wharfy time!”
Geelong: The Cats are the ‘country’ club who developed an under-achievers status prior to eliminating that belief by winning premierships and setting records. Located down the highway with the best home ground advantage, they are down to earth and liked by all – well, almost all.
Gold Coast: Too early to tell, but the early signs are of a professional outfit flush with AFL dollars.
Hawthorn: They maintain a winning culture as well as having good values. Look at the number of ex coaches and players who are still a part of the fold. The Hawks take care of their own people irrespective of what happened in the past. A true reflection of their character is that the club is bigger than the individual.
Melbourne: No idea what their values are. If they weren’t called Melbourne, I doubt they would exist due to mergers.
North Melbourne: Battlers forever. Still haven’t reached it back to the top since the King left in that well-known incident.
Port Adelaide: Who knows what they stand for anymore? I don’t think anyone in South Australia does either. What a shocking year they had and potentially may lose their promising forward in Butcher to Victoria.
Richmond: They eat their own. Constant board battles, KB still holding a grudge, Richo taking 15 years to understand it is a team game, memberships being thrown at players by Round 4. Oh, and then there is the thrill of finishing eighth.
St Kilda: Loser culture. Have done for years, hence why they have only won one flag. They continually shoot themselves in the foot. They almost won it all last year then the St Kilda school girl fiasco kicked in.
They have been this way for a long time. Stan Alves getting sacked after taking them to a flag, for example. They then appoint Tim Watson as coach when he was he was reading the Channel 7 sports report rather than being directly involved in footy.
Sydney: They seem to continually milk the best out of everything – players such as Captain Kirk, small supporter base, 1920s nickname, etc.
West Coast: They have the soul of a corporation. The Eagles have been built without grassroots or a specific area to associate them to the lower levels, just a money making machine way out west – but a successful one at that.
Western Bulldogs: Same battler mentality as the Kangaroos. They need to add some flashy stuff and win over a new generation of fans. Dour football doesn’t win the hearts and minds of kids.
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