AFL Moniker Match Part Two Trivia Quiz

Hawthorn is the youngest of the Victorian teams in the AFL with the club forming in 1902 but not entering the VFL until 1925. They were originally called the 'Mayblooms', a name for the flowers of the May Bush which, in turn, is another name for the Hawthorn Bush which were prevalent in the area and presumably gave their name to the suburb the club is based in.

With their colours of striped brown and gold there was a period when they were referred to as 'Mustard Pots' too. In 1943 their coach, Roy Cazaly, changed their name to the Hawks stating that he expected then to live up to the name "being ready to fight hard and carry the ball away with pace and dash to the goal."

Greater Western Sydney was a new team created as the second NSW team after the Sydney Swans were formed in 1993 from the South Melbourne club. The club announced its name and colours in 2010 but did not play its first game until 2012. The Giants were chosen from a vote that also included the Rangers, Warriors or Wolves as options. In 2022 commentator Kelli Underwood referred to them as 'the orange team' and this has since stuck with fans adopted the phrase for the team.

University began as a VFA team then, in 1907, the 8 founding VFL clubs voted to increase their numbers to 10 by including University and Richmond. As a university team its players needed to have a degree or a higher matriculation certificate to be selected.

They remained in the league until the end of 1914 but then withdrew, mainly because its wish was to continue playing at an amateur status and other clubs were just beginning to pay their players. They are the only VFL/AFL team to never have had a professional player. There was also the issue of the players needing to focus more on their studies and exams and the advent of WWI had players enlisting. Many of its players transferred to the Melbourne Football Club. Understandably they were known as 'The Students' and 'The Professors.'

In 1986 the VFL decided to include two expansion teams into the league (the AFL did not exist at that time) and Western Australia had 160 days to create the infrastructure and assemble a team. Luckily they had a successful league of their own to draw players from and the team was named in October as the West Coast Eagles. There were two rationales to this name, one is obviously the size and ferocity of the bird, but the other is a reference to how much flying the team would have to do with Melbourne being 2700 kms away. The club now has a real wedge-tailed eagle named Auzzie that flies for 15 mins before bounce down at every home game.

Just in case there did happen to be any confusion between the hawk and the eagle I did include the heraldic eagle as an inset.

St Kilda was formed in 1873 and named after its suburb in Melbourne. They have always been known as the 'Saints' due to their club name which is an obvious choice. There was a brief period in 1945 when they changed their colours and logo and decided to become the Panthers which didn't last long.

They also had a push for the Seagulls at one stage but they've basically been the Saints for 150 years. Just in case it wasn't apparent the picture is of Saint Bernards.

Port Adelaide won the tender for the second South Australian AFL licence in 1994 but had to wait for an available spot as they could not increase the team numbers. With a merger of 2 clubs occurring in 1996 they finally joined in 1997. As their name, the Magpies, and colours were both already in use they had to change both. Some of the nicknames in consideration were the Pirates, Black Diamonds, Mariners and Sharks. Beyond the obvious use of it denoting power there doesn't appear to be any reason for the nickname.

Another Melbourne team, Collingwood was formed in 1892. At the time it was an extremely flat landscape and they were known as 'Flatties' or "Flatites." They were also known as the Purloiners for many years but I can't find any information on why. Possibly because as a 'new' team at the time they took other teams players? We know they convinced Carlton centreman Bill Strickland to cross the divide but that was after the name first appeared.

Two years later they became the Magpies which matched their team colours of black and white. I imagine the fact that Maggies are territorial, swoop frequently and don't give up could be part of the reason too. The term is often shortened and they are referred to simply as 'the Pies'.

The Brisbane Bears were finally created in 1986 after a 2 year campaign and then a competition to have a Queensland team in the VFL based in Brisbane. The team, named as the Brisbane Bears, began playing in 1987. Although they are marsupials and not bears they choose the koala as their logo for some reason. Their original thought was to make it like the cute koala Kenny that is a mascot for Dreamworld on the Gold Coast and then to create an angry version for the game. Although koalas can be dangerous if roused enough generally speaking they are a placid, very lethargic creature that wouldn't scare anyone.

When they were based at Carrara on the Gold Coast they were called the 'Carrara Koalas' and "Bad News Bears' by spectators and other teams. The Brisbane Bears took over the Fitzroy Lions AFL license in 1996 and the combined teams moved to Brisbane and became the Brisbane Lions from the 1987 season.

Richmond played in the VFA until they joined the VFL in 1907. In the beginning they saw themselves as a gentlemanly sportsmanship club and demanded this behaviour from their players even barring those who used bad language. This earned them the nickname the 'Richmonites'. They originally wore blue with a black and yellow cap which led to them becoming the wasps for a while. When they became known as the Tigers instead they changed their entire outfit to black and yellow.

Legend has it that there was a man named Miles who was a great supporter but couldn't afford to see them play so he used to climb a big gum tree outside the grounds to watch. Looking at them playing he would yell "Eat 'em alive Tigers".

The Western Bulldogs began as Footscray way back in the 1880s playing VFA from 1886 and then joining the VFL in 1925. During its VFA years it was known as Bone Mill Fellows, the Saltwater Lads, and, most popularly, the Tricolours, in reference to its club guernsey, or just simply 'The Scray."

In 1920 the team presented their president with a flag with their red, white and blue colours and a picture of a bulldog with 'bulldog tenacity' written on it. The team joined the VFL in 1925 and, although the club was using stamps and tickets with bulldogs on it, it wasn't until 1938 that it was adopted officially.

The club has a bulldog named Caesar who walks the perimeter before each match and then sits and waits for the players to come out. At the end of 1996, as part of a broader rebranding scheme, the club changed its name from Footscray to Western Bulldogs. I had to return to the name Footscray because removing the 'bulldog' (which is the answer) just left Western which could have got very confusing.