Frank the Tank: Celebrating AFL goal celebrations

After Drew Petrie’s ‘Frank the Tank’ celebration on the weekend after kicking a clutch goal, it’s time to reflect on what AFL players do after they score.

Geelong’s Steven Motlop and Allen Christensen come to mind first.

Motlop is regularly performing his very own finger twirl, kicking 17 goals in 16 games this season. When he twirls his finger he excites Cats fans while infuriating opposition supporters.

Christensen is often seen showing the ‘perfect’ hand gesture. I call it the perfect gesture because if you look up “perfect hand gesture” in Google images it’s exactly what he does. He has every right to claim his goals to be perfect because they usually are.

Now to the finger pointers, there are plenty of players who do it but there are some serial offenders. Some include Taylor ‘Tex’ Walker and Jay Schulz. Yet it’s a Tiger who does it the most. Jack Riewoldt always points at the person who delivered the ball to him and he was even doing it before 2012, his Coleman Medal winning year.

Another common celebration is facing the crowd, pumping the fist and yelling, “Come on!”. Many captains seem to enjoy getting their fans on their feet, especially the likes of Travis Boak, Joel Selwood and Kieren Jack.

Jobe Watson enjoys celebrating with the fans after rising up to kick a game-defining goal, while many AFL fans may not notice the celebration of Port Adelaide’s Brad Ebert. After every goal he kicks at Adelaide Oval he turns to the crowd and double fists pumps the crowd.

Other footballers find themselves offering even more entertainment after kicking a goal. For example, Tom Hawkins frequently puts on a show, recently he grinned like a Cheshire Cat at a Hawthorn supporter in Round 22.

Eddie Betts loves to lift the crowd atmosphere after scoring goals. He makes goal kicking look like poetry in motion, consistently making something out of nothing. Jarryd Roughead and Lance Franklin ensure they are having a good time after kicking a goal, too.

There has also been the fair share of controversial goal celebrations. The most recent would be Troy Chaplin’s guernsey tugging and sticking his arms out like a plane when he kicked two crucial goals against his former side, Port Adelaide, in Round 17.

Dustin Martin has also come under scrutiny for a performing a ‘jailhouse salute’ by crossing his arms, allegedly imitating he had handcuffs on in last year’s elimination final against Carlton. The AFL imposed a $2000 fine for Martin’s actions but it was suspended.

Most viewers of AFL cannot deny that seeing a variety of goal celebrations (rather than simple bum taps and high fives) adds more entertainment value to a game, especially when they are watching with no allegiance to either side.

Maybe in the future we will see new goal celebrations like Drew ‘Frank’ Petrie’s, but hopefully not like in football, which would be too extravagant in AFL.