“I’ve been to every grand final, of course,” says Lynne Trainor, a Kangaroos fan going back five decades. She started going to games in 1974 and has witnessed four premierships and eight grand finals. But none in 24 years.
“It’s very exciting, it’s been a long time between drinks,” Trainor says as she prepares for her team’s return to the big dance in this weekend’s AFLW decider against Brisbane.
After the club racked up more men’s coaches than seasons in recent years, things at Arden Street are finally looking up. And as a volunteer at the merchandise store inside the club’s headquarters for more than a decade, Trainor has watched first hand the good ship Kangaroo slowly changing course.
“It’s very important because everybody’s got a lot of spring in their step, they’ve been down for so long. And now they’re all very excited, nervously excited.”
The Kangaroos reached their first AFLW decider thanks to a nail-biting victory over Adelaide last week. The result means a grand final at Ikon Park, the first in Victoria since 2018. Tickets for the 12,000-capacity ground have already sold out.
Together with the arrival of Alastair Clarkson as men’s coach last year, Trainor believes the women’s success has refreshed the Kangaroos.
“The Arden Street games with the girls this year have been fabulous, huge crowds and great atmosphere,” she says. “It’s just like the old days when we [the AFL side] played there.”
The Kangaroos cheer squad president, Annette Scott, says this weekend’s game is a reward for years of competitiveness stretching back to the team’s first AFLW season in 2019. That year they won five of seven matches but still missed out on the finals.
The following season, they were heavily favoured until Covid struck one week into the finals and games were cancelled. “It’s come to their time now, and yes, it is their time, they’re playing so well,” Scott says.
Despite the side’s success, the 64-year-old says there is still some way to go before the women’s side draws the same level of passion as the men’s. While the cheer squad might attract 400 to AFL games, they’re lucky to get 20 to AFLW fixtures.
“Not everyone loves the girls, we won’t see a lot of people at the girls that come to the men’s,” Scott says. “They don’t think women should play football.”
Trainor, who is 76, sits with the cheer squad during men’s matches and has found the same attitudes persist. “People my age, just seem to think that the girls shouldn’t be playing football,” she says. “But I would have played if I could have.”
The club’s three matches at Arden Street this season have attracted almost 2,200 fans on average – solid turnouts close to the league average. It can be more difficult to get North Melbourne fans to go to other grounds.
But this weekend could prove to be a tipping point, according to Scott. “The club messaged me to ask how many tickets you want [for the cheer squad] and I said 20,” she says. “I should have bloody asked for more.
“So many people have been ringing me, saying, ‘Have you got tickets?’ And I’m like, ‘You haven’t even been to a women’s game!’”
She has some sympathy for those fans, as she herself was slow to warm to the AFLW team. Scott works at a hospital and understands time can be precious on weekends.
But in 2020 she and others in the cheer squad were invited by the club to meet the players. “The girls were just fantastic. And so then we thought, ‘Oh, they’re a bit different to the boys,’ a bit friendlier, and they want to have a chat.” She’s been going to matches ever since.
Whatever happens on Sunday, Trainor is confident the Kangaroos are moving in the right direction. “That’s what we always say: we can’t go any further downward, it’s all upwards.”
