Aussie Rules Mascot Melee Trivia Quiz

Answer: Geelong's cat will easily take out Collingwood's magpie

Let me introduce the mascot of the Geelong Cats, 'Slammin' Sam Tomcat. He's a rough and tumble housecat whose speed and stealth will help make dinner out of Collingwood's magpie mascot, Jock 'One Eye' McPie. Both of these mascots are named in honour of former greats from their clubs: Sam Newman (Geelong) and Jock McHale (Collingwood). AFL fans will probably recognise the tongue-in-cheek reference to Eddie McGuire ('Super' Eddie) who was a high profile Collingwood Club President and television personality.

Answer: Collingwood's territorial magpie will swoop Fremantle's laid-back surfer into submission

Collingwood's Jock 'One Eye' McPie is taking on Fremantle's Johnny 'The Doc' Docker at the MCG (the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which is the ground where the season grand final is traditionally played). Johnny is a relaxed and sun-bleached surfer type, and if you don't think the magpie would beat him, you've never been swooped by a territorial magpie in nesting season. Every year, magpies are responsible for sending scores of Australians to the emergency room, particularly in September and October, so look out Fremantle if Johnny has to face off with Jock during season finals.

Answer: Richmond's tiger will maul Sydney's swan

Tiger 'Stripes' Dyer, named after club great Jack Dyer, is the mascot for the Richmond Tigers, and to quote 'Stripes' himself, "How can you beat roar talent?" The Sydney Swans' mascot is Syd 'Swannie' Skilton, and takes the form of a large swan. He was named after Bobby Skilton who played for the team when they were still based in South Melbourne.

Answer: Brisbane's lion will send the Western bulldog running with its tail between its legs

There is no doubt that Brisbane's lion, named Bernie 'Gabba' Vegas, will make short work of Woofer 'Dogg' Whitten, the Western Bulldog's mascot. Had these mascots been designed ten years earlier, the outcome of a match-up between these two clubs would have been very different. From 1987 through 1996, the Brisbane team was called the Brisbane Bears and their mascot was a koala.

At the end of the 1996 season, Brisbane merged with the Fitzroy Lions. The mascot, Bernie 'Gabba' Vegas, is named in honour of Bernie Quinlan, a Fitzroy legend.

Answer: 'Captain Carlton' will swat the Essendon mosquito into oblivion

Although Essendon is known as the Bombers or the Dons, the surprising choice for their mascot was a mosquito named Moz 'Skeeta' Reynolds. Moz was named in honour of the legendary Dick Reynolds whose grandson also played for the club in 2008. 'Captain Carlton' is a traditional club mascot who was incorporated into the 2004 mascot line-up for the Carlton Blues.

Answer: Melbourne's demon will obliterate St. Kilda's saint. Turning the other cheek doesn't work in football.

Trevor 'Saint' Kilda, named in memory of Trevor Barker, was an obvious choice for St. Kilda's mascot. The Melbourne Demons, or Dees, have Ronald 'Dee' Mann (a demon) to represent them. Ron Barassi was the inspiration for the name of the Melbourne mascot. To be fair, it's always difficult to decide whether the demon should beat the saint, but only one of these answers has the mascot matched correctly with its club.

Answer: Hawthorn's hawk will make short work of Adelaide's crow

Hawthorne's mascot is Hudson 'Hawka' Knights, named after two greats of the team: Peter Hudson and Peter Knights. If you take a good look at Hudson, you just might detect a resemblance to another Hawthorn great, Dermot Brereton. Adelaide's mascot is Claude 'Curls' Crow; he was named as a tribute to Neil Kerley whose name is strongly associated with South Australian football.

The outcome of the battle between these two birds might not seem obvious, but several types of Australian hawks eat smaller birds as a major part of their diet, and so Claude goes down to Hudson.

Answer: West Coast's eagle will carry off Geelong's cat for dinner

Geelong's 'Slammin' Sam Tomcat may be a feisty feline, but wedge-tailed eagles are known to kill lambs and feral cats, so Sam will be in trouble when he comes up against Rick 'the Rock' Eagle. West Coast's official mascot was a logical extension of the live eagle entering the stadium featured at West Coast matches.

Answer: Fremantle's laid-back surfer will short circuit Port's 'power'

This prediction only works, of course, if the surfer is fresh from the ocean and dripping wet. A human is smarter than an inanimate object (power, portrayed in the form of lightning) so we expect Johnny 'The Doc' Docker to know that he should show up for this duel soaking wet.

His name, if not his persona, reflects the Fremantle team nickname of the Dockers. Tommy 'Thunder' Power is an ambiguous character, with a human body and a lightning bolt for a head, but is clearly designed to reflect the team's nickname: 'Port Power'.

Answer: Port's 'power' will fry North's kangaroo into a roast dinner

The Port Adelaide football club traces its existence back to 1870 in the SANFL (South Australian National Football League). In the SANFL, the club plays as the Magpies, but when it joined the AFL, this name was already taken by Collingwood and so 'Port Power' was born.

In its new guise, the Port Adelaide mascot incorporates a lightning bolt, and there seems little doubt that this would pose a serious danger for a kangaroo, while the kangaroo has nothing with which to threaten the power. The team now known as the Kangaroos was known as the North Melbourne Football club for more than 125 years.

In the late 1990s, financial incentives offered by the AFL tempted the club into playing a number of home games at interstate venues and the club became known simply as the Kangaroos.

Their mascot, Barry 'Bruiser' Cracker, is a handsome boxing kangaroo named in honour of Peter 'Crackers' Keenan.