Rivalries in the Australian Football League

[1] The two clubs share the record for the most premierships with 16, with the clubs meeting in 6 grand finals ( with each team having won 3 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.

Since 2001, Melbourne has hosted Collingwood in an annual match at the MCG on the King's Birthday public holiday Monday in June.

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).

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.

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.

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.

[13] 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.

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.

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 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.

In 1953, Collingwood ended Geelong's record 23-game winning streak in the home and away season, and later defeated them by 12 points in the grand final, denying the Cats a third successive premiership.

When West Coast won the toss and kicked against the breeze, it looked as if Sheedy's plan had worked.

[24] In his excitement at winning a close match in Round 16, 1993, with ruckman and forward Paul Salmon kicking a goal 30 seconds before the final siren against the West Coast Eagles (the reigning premiers), Sheedy waved his jacket in the air as he came rushing from the coaches' box.

[25] The moment is captured in Jamie Cooper's painting the Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport, with Sheedy shown waving a red, black and yellow jacket rather than a red and black jacket, to reflect Sheedy's support of indigenous footballers.

[26] The Bombers would go on to defeat West Coast again later that year in their semi-final clash and take home the 1993 premiership cup a couple of weeks later.

In yet another game against the Eagles, Sheedy was fined $7,500 by the tribunal after making a cut-throat gesture to then-Eagle Mitchell White during the half-time break of the Essendon–West Coast clash in Round 15, 2000, also apparently mouthing the words "You... are...

[27][28][29] In a famous game in 2004, with 35 seconds remaining and the scores deadlocked at 131 points apiece, Essendon legend James Hird swooped on a loose ball in the right forward pocket and snapped a match-winning goal with his 15th possession for the quarter, famously hugging an Essendon supporter in the crowd in a moment of jubilation after being fined $20,000 earlier in the week for criticising umpire Scott McLaren.

[37] However, the rivalry between the Lions and the Magpies was properly ignited post-merger; it began in late 1999 when Collingwood played their last-ever VFL/AFL game at their spiritual home ground, Victoria Park, with the Lions emerging 42-point victors that day and consigning the Magpies to their second wooden spoon in their VFL/AFL history that day.

The rivalry first started when Bulldogs captain Ryan Griffen controversially requested a trade to the Giants after the 2014 AFL season.

[43] The rivalry was further exacerbated by an incident in Round 21, 2017, in which Giants small forward Toby Greene collected Bulldog Luke Dahlhaus in the face with his foot while flying for a handball receive.

The Gold Coast Suns won the first QClash, held in 2011, by eight points, but the Brisbane Lions have dominated the rivalry, leading the head-to-head tally 18–7 as of the end of the 2023 season.

The Sydney Swans have dominated most of the rivalry, holding a 16–10 advantage over the Giants and winning eight of the twenty-five games by at least 30 points; however, the tide started to turn in 2014, with the last 22 meetings being near-evenly split since the start of 2014, with the Giants winning a historic qualifying final in 2016[47][48] as well as elimination finals in 2018 and 2021.

A rivalry between the Sydney Swans and the West Coast Eagles developed during the first decade of the 2000s due to an unusually high number of close games, many in finals.

In Round 4, 2008, the era of consistently close games came to an end when the Swans smashed the Eagles by 62 points.

The rivalry between the West Coast Eagles and Collingwood Magpies stems from a series of finals matches after the VFL became the AFL,[51] with its roots in the 1990 Qualifying Final in which West Coast and Collingwood drew the match, requiring a replay the following week.

The clubs met for the first time in a Grand Final in 2018, with the Eagles winning by 5 points to claim their fourth premiership after a heroic Dom Sheed goal.

[52] The two clubs also share a common coach in Mick Malthouse, who led West Coast to their first two flags in 1992 and 1994 and took Collingwood to their 15th premiership in 2010.

After the 2018 Grand Final, the pair met at Optus Stadium, where Collingwood upset the Eagles to claim a 1-point victory.

The rivalry is amplified by players who have moved between the two teams, most notably Lance Franklin to Sydney in 2013 and Tom Mitchell to Hawthorn in 2016.

These two teams would eventually meet again in the 2009 AFL Grand Final, but Geelong would defeat St Kilda this time in a gripping match that went down to the wire.