The AFL, like so many other sports, is defined by its rivalries.
For footy fans, winning becomes as much about defeating and demoralising a hated opposition, as it is about receiving four premiership points.
With a mix of modern rivalries and more historic duels, these are the AFL's 10 best current rivalries ranked.
3. West Coast vs Fremantle
Arguably the most heated modern rivalry, the Western Derby between West Coast and Fremantle is undoubtedly one of the league's best. Although it didn't start competitively, with West Coast winning the first nine derbies after Fremantle's entry in 1995, it would take until the 2000s for the rivalry to really spice up.
In Round 21, 2000, the two teams played a match that would come to be known as the Demolition Derby. After West Coast's 117-point thrashing of Fremantle in their previous encounter that year, Fremantle's Clive Waterhouse declared that โblood would be spilled.โ The brutal contest saw 12 players reported, with Fremantle's Dale Kickett suspended for nine matches. In the end, Fremantle recorded a dramatic one-point victory in that fiery affair.
The rivalry intensified further in 2018 when Andrew Gaff struck 18-year-old Andrew Brayshaw off the ball. Gaff received an eight-week suspension for the hit, which Ross Lyon described as a โking-hit,โ adding that his senior players โwanted retribution.โ
Although West Coast have won 33 games to Fremantle's 26, the Dockers have dominated recent contests, continuing to enthral the footy world.
Confected garbage used as โcontent-fillerโ.
Carlton v โwobblesโฆ. itโs a โrivalryโ only.. no more โฆ.. thereโs nothing there. Neither club has ever challenged the existence of the other.
The Darby and the Showdown have far more than โrivalryโ both behind the members and the history of each club and the Leagues they came from.
The card games of the vfl donโt come anywhere near whatโs behind these clubs.
The โq clashโ โ if you want to make a confection this is it.
It means nothing, itโs just another game, they might be in the same state but there is no history, in every way, itโs simply another game.
Simply pretending theyโre in WA or SA is indicative of the pretence the afl is pushing.