New to the AFL? Here's the right clubs for you.
- 103997752
- Jun 6
- 7 min read
The season is well underway, but that's no excuse to not show your support. If you're new to the game or need a refresher, here are our top clubs, Ted Angel writes.
Once upon a time, Australian Football teams were a simple choice for fans of the game. Most Aussies can draw their loyalty down family lines or to what AFL team their local club has a connection to.
But nowadays, with the competition so accessible to all, we find Adelaide fans in Melbourne, Gold Coast fans in Perth, and North Melbourne fans in Brisbane. Location now has little to do with it.
Australia’s population is also now becoming more diverse, with people from all over the globe, accepting over 600,000 migrants from 2023-2024, according to the ABS. Throw in some 5000 migrating Melburnians crossing the Barassi line, spreading their AFL fervor, it’s fair to say many Aussies out there are only just now picking up the sport.
But if you’re new to the game we call ‘Aussie Rules’, and you need a team to ‘barrack’ for, let this Adelaide Crows fan living in Melbourne East give you some pointers.
First, there are different elements to your choice of club. A club’s history of hard-fought wins or inspiring legends doesn’t have to be a headspin to catch up on. A club steeped in history--or lack thereof-- can make for unforgettable moments where you find yourself woven into the legend itself.
St. Kilda Football Club
The St Kilda Football Club is far from ‘Rich in History’. It’s a club known to have diehard, valiant fans due to its bereft and desolate trophy cabinet, which contains a 1966 Premiership (torturously won by a point in the dying seconds of the game) and 3 pre-season cups…
While we are on the topic of the clubs sadistic nature in performance, St Kilda have lost 6 of it’s 8 Grand Final showings, the two being their 1 point victory over Collingwood in 1966, and their draw with Collingwood 44 years later (the replay resulting in a 56-point loss the next week). That’s 1 premiership, in 152 years of Football…
So, why on earth should you support the St Kilda football club, you may ask? Well, it’s this sort of vicissitude that makes the club lovable. It’s absolutely heartbreaking, and many fans turn up week after week, in the hope that they catch a glimpse of the 1966 side that once was, and of Brownlow medallist Ian Stewart.
In 2009, the St Kilda Football Club were miles ahead of the competition, and looked set to bag their second premiership. A star-studded lineup filled with generational key forwards ‘Nick Riewoldt’ and ‘Justin Koschitzke’, their high and long game plan was dominant. Until… Grand Final day was dubbed the wettest and coldest grand final day on record, horrific conditions for what was their dominant game plan. To make matters worse, St Kilda are the only team to lead in the first three quarters of a Grand Final and go on to lose.
The 2010 draw one year later was literally inches away from a St Kilda premiership, as they famously roared back in the second half, and Stephen Milne was a fingertip away from raking the ball into his hands for an open goal. Talk about a bad beat… Yet, there is hope that one day, the club will turn it around, and as history indicates, it will happen… surely?
The St Kilda Football club is now home to one of the best media teams in the league, which continue to enthral and charm fans of the sport, which in turn is somewhat building fans. The club is now finally debt free after years of financial struggle and are comfortably at home at Moorabbin Oval. The team is building a list of young stars in the making, such as Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, who is looking at his First All Australian Blazer in the 2025 season, Mattaes Phillipou, Max King, Darcy Wilson and Tobie Travaglia to name a few, and they look as though their future is in good hands under coach Ross Lyon, who got them into 2 grand finals in 2009 and 2010.
If I were a betting man, I would suggest that St Kilda’s hardships are ending. I predict that they, as a club, will have a period of success in the future, within the century, and that they will slowly start to fill their trophy cabinet and discard the pre-season cups. The club is doing good things around Mental Health in the game, as a beloved player, Danny ‘Spud’ Frawley, sadly lost his life in 2019.
They play home games only in Melbourne, at Marvel Stadium in the Docklands, so they are locally based, and their team guernseys are often fun and creative. Get behind them if you live around the Moorabbin area or near the CBD of Melbourne, they will continue to build and get better.
Remember those ‘elements’ to a choice of club I was talking about? Well, it’s now time for the second… FUTURE.
North Melbourne Football Club
I know what you’re probably thinking… You CANNOT be serious? Well, I am deadly serious when I say that the North Melbourne Football Club will appear in 2 or more grand finals within the next 10 years.
The ‘Kangaroos’ are absolutely chock-full of young talent, as they look to build their next dynasty following their late 90s ‘Wayne Carey’ glory days. With a promising young line-up, its just up to the roos to ditch their hidebound culture.
The ‘Shinboners’ (a term used to describe the playing style of the club, hard and courageous) have a fitting, stereotypical ‘hard-nosed’ player in George Wardlaw, who is a contested beast with an appetite for competing. He alone is one of the most marketable figures at the club, due to his all-in, courageous and powerful style of play, tied together with his 1960’s Beatles haircut and tucked-in guernsey, he is a player for the future. If fit, he can win a Brownlow one day, and his best mate ‘Harry Sheezel’ isn’t far from that either.
Harry is a generational player who won the AFL Rising Star award in his first season, as well as the Club’s Best and Fairest award as a mere 18 year old. His comparisons to Collingwood star Nick Daicos have been made, some arguing that Sheezel is the better player. He looks set to captain the club in the future. With best mates Wardlaw and Sheezel as the foundation of the club, and a supporting cast of Tristan Xerri (ruckman and contested beast), Riley Hardeman, Zane Duursma, Luke Davies Uniacke, Finn O’Sullivan, Nick Larkey and more, it is only up for North Melbourne.
A team that has been absolutely wretched in its last four seasons, will turn things around under the jurisdiction of four-time Hawthorn premiership coach Alistair Clarkson. Arden Street Oval will produce good football in the coming years, their youth just needs the right guidance. I strongly suggest looking at picking North Melbourne as your club; a club that plays a huge role in the Good Friday appeal, and a club that will be great again soon.
And now for the final element… Success. It is a personal pet peeve of mine, to support a club out of it bias for it’s recent success. However, understandably, there are bandwagons out there. And to you, I suggest the…
Collingwood Football Club
There is not an inch of my soul that gives me any satisfaction in saying this, or wanting to believe this, but the fact of the matter is, the Collingwood Magpies are a great Football Club.
Sure, their fans are for the most part Repugnant, Rancid, Vulgar, Disreputable, Rakish Reprobates, who are a complete pain to sit next to at a football game; but my god, do they bring the atmosphere. I have always said that while Collingwood are a club I despise, I admire and appreciate what they do for the game, and that, put simply, is bringing cinema to the sport.
Being at a Collingwood home game when your side loses narrowly is a heartbreak, and their ‘Good ol Collingwood forever’ club song, to this day, gives me PTSD. But they’re simply the kings at the close finish.
The Magpies are rich in history, dating back as an organisation to 1892 and boasting 16 premierships. They’re the biggest club in the AFL without a doubt, both in terms of members and finances. They play nearly every game of the year at the MCG, largely due to their ability to sell out and pack the stadium.
The Pies look as though they’re in the box seat to win the 2025 premiership, with star players Nick Daicos, Darcy Moore, and Darcy Cameron playing excellent football, and veterans Steele Sidebottom, Jeremy Howe, and club great Scott Pendlebury turning back the clock in some of their performances. It seems as though they’re the team to beat in the competition this year.
It pains me, but the lure of supporting a club like Collingwood is a fair one – they’re simply a well-run club, with a huge supporter base, that brings a different level of enthusiasm and passion to the sport. I have been at the MCG and witnessed a cinematic Collingwood moment in front of 90,000, and let me tell you, the stadium WAS shaking.
If you want games at the MCG? Collingwood plays all their games there, even most of their away games! If you want the full AFL experience and huge crowds, again, I say to you – COLLINGWOOD!
If you're in Victoria, you'd be crazy not to pick a team. No matter if your club of choice is homegrown or an AFL plant, just know the only requirement at a match is to bring the energy and fan factor. See you in the stands.
Comments