The Biggest AFL Rivalries
By
Will Brown
Contributor Updated: 24 October 2024
Will Brown Contributor
William Brown is a Content Writer with strong expertise in US and global gambling industry trends. Having covered the local sports betting market since the repeal of PASPA in 2018, William approaches his gambling guides with passion and diligence. He is a keen player of online slots, blackjack, and a regular sports bettor.
Top AFL Rivalries
Since its 19th-century origins as the Victorian Football League, there have been countless heated clashes between both new and historic AFL teams. However, several AFL rivalries stand out among the rest for the heated tensions that brew between the players and fans at their games. In this guide, we’ve looked at the five biggest rivalries between AFL teams and have shed interesting details about the storied events that have led to them.
Intro to the Biggest AFL Rivalries
Before we shed light on what the five biggest rivalries are, we’ve provided some background information regarding their significance. As many of the AFL’s current teams have their foundations in the suburbs of Melbourne, these rivalries have evolved from regional disputes to intense clashes on the national stage.
In the following section, we’ve broken down the five biggest rivalries. In each section, we’ve uncovered some of the biggest events in the history of the teams’ showdowns and offered context to how they formed. You can use the following links to jump to each section or keep scrolling to learn everything.
- Background to AFL Rivalries
- The Top Five Rivalries
- Collingwood vs. Carlton
- Essendon vs. Carlton
- West Coast Eagles vs. Fremantle Dockers
- Hawthorn vs. Geelong
- Adelaide Crows vs. Port Adelaide Power
A Background to the AFL Biggest Rivalries
While some of the biggest AFL rivalries have stemmed from the beginning of the sport’s conception, others have formed in the wake of the team becoming a national competition. There are several reasons for how these rivalries have grown in intensity, from historical misdeeds to geographical proximity.
In the early days of Australian rules football, the major professional competition was called the Victorian Football League, which is the state in which the sport’s home, Melbourne, is located. As is common with many NFL and college football rivalries, often the biggest rivals were between neighboring suburbs or towns.
As the sport grew, so too did the tribal nature of the sport, with loyalties often passed down from generation to generation. Many historical events have become legends among fans, so things such as club mergers, team relocations, player poaches, and controversial umpiring decisions can breed animosities that are never forgotten.
Interestingly, many younger fans are probably completely unaware of how these rivalries began yet commit to their endurance wholeheartedly. As the 2024 Grand Final date fast approaches, speculation is brewing on whether some of the biggest rivals will go head-to-head in the most-watched annual event in the Australian sporting calendar.
The Top Five Rivalries
While there are many more heated clashes between Aussie rules teams, these are undoubtedly the AFL’s biggest rivalries. The games between these teams tend to be the most heated and can see unpredictable results that can shift right up to the last second. Therefore, these are extremely important to know when placing live wagers at Australian Rules betting sites.
Collingwood vs. Carlton
If we were to make this a list of the AFL rivalries ranked, Collingwood and Carlton would still be at the top of this list. The rivalry between the Collingwood Magpies and the Carlton Blues dates back to the early 1900s and is likely rooted in the working-class and middle-class divide between these neighboring suburbs.
For much of the 20th century, the mutual disdain for the other’s team simmered, but the rivalry was brought to a climax in the 1970 VFL Grand Final between the rivals. Often considered to be one of the greatest games of ‘footie’ of all time, the game showcased one of the largest comebacks in the sport’s history.
In front of a record-breaking crowd, Carlton, which was trailing by 44 points at half-time, reversed their fortunes after star forward Ted Hopkins came off the bench to kick four goals. The team ultimately won by 10 points. While this upset Collingwood fans, they were moved to anger during another pair-up in the 1979 Grand Final.
After Carlton’s Wayne Harmes’ made a controversial move in the final moments of the game to secure the team’s winning goal, many argued that the ball was out of bounds. After the event, Carlton’s president George Harris famously said, “What’s better than beating Collingwood by ten goals? Beating them by five points!”
Essendon vs. Carlton
It’s not just Collingwood that Carlton holds eternal beef with. The Blues have also held one of the biggest AFL rivalries with the Essendon Bombers since the late 1800s. The teams are among the most successful in the league, with both holding 32 premiership cups between them.
While the early years of the rivalry still held an element of mutual respect, this changed greatly in 1981 when Essendon hired a new coach, Kevin Sheedy. The former Richmond player brought his personal vendetta against Carlton with him. This culminated in a controversial match whereby Carlton conceded a free kick on a rare infringement and Essendon won.
This continued to brew in the following decades, with another incident occurring during a 1998 match. Sheedy, still a coach at Essendon, informed his players to target Carlton’s players physically, and the match saw several brawls break out that resulted in multiple suspensions. The following year, Carlton upset the Bombers with a surprise win in a preliminary final.
Over the 2000s, the tensions continued to rise, with notable player exchanges and transfers adding to the dispute. The last 20 years have seen both teams be formidable premiership contenders, and their pair-ups today still inspired heated exchanges between the players and fans.
West Coast Eagles vs. Fremantle Dockers
Another of the AFL’s biggest rivalries has been nicknamed “The Western Derby” and is held between the league’s only two teams in the state of Western Australia. Interestingly, these two teams were introduced during the transitional period from the VFL to the AFL, with the Eagles debuting in 1987 and the Dockers debuting in 1995.
The rivalry kicked off immediately after Fremantle’s introduction to the league due to the existing cross-town rivalry in the city of Western Australia’s capital of Perth. In the early years, the West Coast Eagles dominated their neighboring rivals, but as Fremantle’s skills improved, so too did the competition.
The turn of the century resulted in the intensification of the rivalry after a game nicknamed the “Demolition Derby” saw several brawls break out between the teams. Dockers fans remain particularly bitter about the game after Fremantle’s Clive Waterhouse produced seven goals to bring the club to a victory.
Another defining moment came in the Round 6 game of the 2015 season when Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe dominated to end Fremantle’s nine-game losing streak against West Coast. Since then, both teams have fared well, with current games seeing the evenly-matched teams battling in fiercely contested fixtures.
Hawthorn vs. Geelong
The rivalry between Hawthorn and Geelong is another of the best AFL rivals and one of the more recent on this list. Although the teams are among the oldest in the league, it wasn’t until the 2008 Grand Final that the current competitive state was truly ignited.
The year previous, Geelong had ended its 44-year premiership drought by a margin of 119 points over Port Adelaide, making it the greatest winning margin in the league’s history. The next year, the Geelong Cats sought a back-to-back victory against the Hawks, only to be denied the opportunity.
After the game, Hawthorn’s club president Jeff Kennet provoked the team by claiming the Cats lacked the mental fortitude to beat the Hawks. So began the “Kennett Curse”, whereby Geelong beat the Hawks over their next 11 encounters. This ended when Hawthorn beat the Cats in the 2013 preliminary final in a hotly contested match.
Adelaide Crows vs. Port Adelaide Power
The last of these tense AFL rivalries is similar to the Western Derby in that it involves two teams from the same city. Called the “Showdown”, this involves the Adelaide and Port Adelaide teams. However, this stemmed from before Port Adelaide entered the league in 1997 and was formed a century before.
In their first pair-up of the 1997 team, Port Adelaide won, which embarrassed the more established Crows. Then, in the Round 3 game of the 2002 season, the game saw one of the most tense brawls in the league’s history break out at three-quarter time, resulting in multiple suspensions.
Another memorable showdown came in the Round 5 game of the 2005 season, which saw Adelaide’s Scott Welsh kick a goal after the siren to secure a one-point victory. To this day, one of these top AFL rivalries is given a chance to be disputed in the annual Showdown Trophy, which is among the most anticipated games in the league’s calendar.
