Rivalries in the Australian Football League exist between many teams, most of which typically draw large crowds and interest regardless of both teams' positions on the ladder. The AFL encourages the building of such rivalries, as a method of increasing publicity for the league.
Victorian rivalries
Carlton v Collingwood
Two clubs in close proximity, fueled by the traditional rivalry between white collar Carlton and blue collar Collingwood. Games between these two clubs in the home and away season, finals or preseason tend to have large numbers of spectators.
Melbourne v Collingwood
A traditional white collar (Melbourne) v blue collar (Collingwood) rivalry, additionally fuelled by a loss to Collingwood which stopped Melbourne from winning a fourth flag in a row in 1958 and Melbourne restricting Collingwood to 14 points in the 1960 grand final. Six of Melbourne's thirteen premierships came against Collingwood and the teams have met in seven grand finals, the most of any pairing. Since 2001, Melbourne has hosted Collingwood in an annual match at the MCG on the King's Birthday public holiday Monday in June.
Richmond v Collingwood
Arising from the fact that the two areas neighbour each other, Richmond and Collingwood were both highly successful in the late 1920s to the early 1930s; the clubs played against each other in five grand finals between 1919 and 1929 (Collingwood won in 1919, 1927, 1928 and 1929, while Richmond won in 1920). In the 1980 Grand Final, Richmond handed Collingwood an 81-point defeat, a record at the time, causing Collingwood to lose an 8th Grand Finals in a row.
Both clubs continue to draw large crowds to their meetings in each season, and the two were the subject of a 'recruiting war' throughout the 1970s and 1980s, with David Cloke, Geoff Raines, Brian Taylor, Wally Lovett, Phillip Walsh, Steven Roach, Gerald Betts, Neil Peart, Peter McCormack, Kevin Morris, Craig Stewart, Ross Brewer, Michael Lockman, Rod Oborne, Allan Edwards, John Annear, Noel Lovell and Bob Heard all exchanging clubs, as well as coach Tom Hafey (moving to Collingwood in 1977 following four flags at Punt Road).
Melees have been fought between the teams in two recent matches—Round 20, 2009, and Round 2, 2012—with almost all players from both teams involved in the altercations.
Both teams played each other 3 times during 2018, with all three games attracting massive crowds. Crowds of 72,157 and 88,180 were recorded between both home-and-away games, with Richmond winning both times, until Collingwood unexpectedly pulled off a massive upset in their finals game, smashing Richmond in the preliminary final in front of a crowd of 94,959, which caused the rivalry to reach its highest point since 1980. Games between these two clubs regularly attract large crowds regardless of whether they are in finals contention or not.
Hawthorn v Essendon
The clubs contested the grand final in three consecutive seasons between 1983 and 1985, and the rough nature of these games and other matches between the clubs made them strong rivals during the 1980s. In 1992, Hawthorn inflicted a record MCG score of 32.24 (216) against Essendon. In the 2000s, the clubs played two matches which saw bench-clearing brawls: the infamous "Line in the Sand Match" in 2004, which resulted in four players being suspended and a record $70,000 in fines; and the final round of 2009, a match which would decide eighth place between the two teams, in which four players were suspended for a total of seven matches and $27,000 in fines were handed out. The latter brawl was famously sparked by Matthew Lloyd, who applied a very hard bump that knocked out Brad Sewell in what would be Lloyd's last game.
Hawthorn v Geelong
The rivalry between these two clubs is noted as creating a propensity for close matches, with a number of well-known, controversial incidents arising from this rivalry. The AFL has a lock on fixturing a match between these two teams on Easter Monday at the MCG.
History
Bruns incident
While Hawthorn and Geelong had previously played against each other in several high-profile matches, including the 1963 Grand Final, the rivalry between the two teams is widely held to have begun in their round 12 match during the 1985 season. During the match, Hawthorn star Leigh Matthews struck Geelong player Neville Bruns in the jaw, breaking it and causing Bruns to miss five games. Matthews was deregistered by the AFL for a month for the incident, and became the only player in the history of the VFL/AFL to be charged with criminal offences for an act committed on-field. He was given a $1000 fine, which was overturned on appeal. The incident caused both players to be booed by fans of the opposing teams for the rest of their careers.
1989 grand final
The 1989 grand final, contested between the two clubs, was what solidified their rivalry. The game, noted for its extreme brutality, is widely considered one of the best Grand Finals in VFL/AFL history. Earlier in the season, Hawthorn's Dermott Brereton had damaged one of Mark Yeates's testicles during a tackle. Within seconds of the game starting, Brereton was flattened by a bump from Yeates. He proceeded to get up, vomit, and continued to play. This was one of many examples of Geelong 'playing the man', resulting in major injuries for several Hawks players during the game. Hawthorn controlled the game, leading by approximately 40 points for most of the match; in the last quarter, Geelong almost managed to come from behind to win, but fell short by six points.
2008 grand final In the 2008 AFL Grand Final, Geelong was the heavily backed favourite and had lost only one match for the season, but Hawthorn upset Geelong by 26 points; Geelong won its next eleven matches against Hawthorn over the following five years, under a curse, which was dubbed the "Kennett curse" which was attributed to disrespectful comments made by Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett following the 2008 Grand Final. It was later revealed that after the 2008 grand final, Paul Chapman initiated a pact between other Geelong players to never lose to Hawthorn again. The curse was broken in a preliminary final in 2013, after Paul Chapman played his final match for Geelong the previous week.
Essendon v Collingwood
Since 1995, the rivalry has been defined by the Anzac Day clash; a match generally draws a crowd in excess of 90,000. The inaugural Anzac Day Clash in 1995 was famously drawn in front of 94,825 fans, the 2009 match was won by Essendon in the final minute with a goal from youngster David Zaharakis, and the 2012 match was won by Collingwood by one point after Jarryd Blair's game-winning goal was reviewed by video replay before being awarded.
North Melbourne v Essendon
The rivalry between North Melbourne and Essendon in the AFL can be traced back to 1896, when several clubs, including Essendon, broke away from the Victorian Football Association (VFA) to form the Victorian Football League (VFL). The two clubs almost amalgamated in 1921 when Essendon, evicted from its home ground at East Melbourne, sought to move to North Melbourne's home at Arden Street, a move which was blocked by the VFA.
North Melbourne in particular has a long-standing resentment against Essendon, with Essendon traditionally the wealthier of the two clubs, which in the pre-salary cap era (before 1982), would often buy North Melbourne's best players on higher salaries. North also resented Essendon using its greater wealth and influence to dominate contested junior recruitment zones - North always claiming that while Essendon had more money and administrative power, the Kangaroos had ‘Shinboner Spirit’, a reference to the club's more working-class roots and refusal to give in under adversity.
North Melbourne was finally admitted into the VFL in 1925. In 1950, the two sides met in their first and only grand final meeting to date, which Essendon won by 38 points. The rivalry flared in the 1980s. In 1982, the Krakouer brothers, Jim and Phil, led the Roos to an elimination final win. Essendon had their revenge a year later, winning a preliminary final by 86 points.
The rivalry was reignited in the late 1990s and early 2000s due to the onfield success of the two sides. In preparation for the 1998 finals series, and despite losing six of their last eight to the Roos, Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy publicly labelled North executives Greg Miller and Mark Dawson as "soft" in response to comments from commentators that his Essendon team was soft. The Kangaroos beat Essendon in the much-hyped qualifying final that followed, with North fans throwing Marshmallows at Sheedy as he left the ground. Sheedy was seemingly unfazed by the incident, encouraging a "Marshmallow Game" the next year and relishing in the fact that Sheedy's ulterior motive was to build up the game and draw a large crowd, which proved to be correct, drawing in 71,154 people to attend the game. In 2000, the Bombers thrashed North Melbourne by 125 points in a qualifying final, while the biggest VFL/AFL comeback of all time occurred between the two teams when Essendon managed to come back from a 69-point deficit to win by 12 points in 2001. The last time the two teams met in a final (as of 2026), was in the 2014 AFL finals series in the 2nd Elimination Final which resulted in North winning by 12 points, a 45-point turnaround from Essendon's 33 point lead early in the third quarter.
Essendon v Richmond
A rivalry born out of that the two clubs are both part of the "Big 4" clubs in Melbourne as the highly supported teams. Since 2005, Essendon and Richmond have contested the annual Dreamtime at the 'G match, a celebration of Aboriginal players and their contribution to the league, typically held near the midway point of the season. These games usually tend to get a crowd of 80,000 or above.
North Melbourne v Hawthorn Both teams entered the VFL in the 1925 expansion, and were generally unsuccessful through their first few decades, but the two teams were both very strong through the 1970s, sparking a rivalry between the clubs. The clubs played three Grand Finals against each other in four years, with North Melbourne winning their first-ever premiership in 1975 by 55 points, Hawthorn winning in 1976 by five goals, and Hawthorn winning again in 1978 by three goals.
Melees were fought between the two teams in matches in both 2014 and 2015, with almost all players in both teams involved in the altercations.
Essendon v Carlton
The two clubs share the record for the most premierships with 16, with the clubs meeting in six grand finals (with each team having won three flags against the other) including a 1-point victory by Carlton against Essendon in 1947 and a drought-breaking flag in 1968 in which Carlton became the first team to have kicked fewer goals than the loser.
In 1981 the clubs would meet in the Escort cup grand final which Essendon would win. Later on in the season in Round 20 in 1981, with Carlton leading by 26 points with 10 minutes left to play, with goals from Neale Danniher helping get the Bombers across the line by 1 point. The game is most famous for Carlton skipper Mike Fitzpatrick having the ball taken off him for wasting time. In 1993 Carlton and Essendon met in quite a few memorable affairs, including the 1993 Grand Final in which the Bombers won the game by 44 points. Carlton famously upset the heavily favoured Essendon side by 1 point in the 1999 Preliminary Final.
In 2007 Essendon led Carlton by 48 points deep into the second quarter of their Round 3 2007 match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), only to be overrun by Carlton in what would go down as their greatest ever come from behind victory; however, Essendon went on to defeat Carlton over the next 6 encounters, with Carlton finally breaking Essendon's winning streak with an emphatic 76 point win in Round 19, 2010.