Growing up in Melbourne, AFL was always the dominant sport.

Everyone asked (and still asks) who you barrack for (in case you were wondering, it’s Collingwood), people host or attend grand final parties and in primary school, we celebrated footy pie day wearing our favourite team’s colours or gear.

I first became associated with the NRL about two decades ago when one of my sisters and I undertook cheerleading and acrobatic dance classes.

Through the dance school, we performed at two Melbourne Storm matches at Olympic Park Stadium (now AAMI Park). This was an extra performance aside from the team’s professional cheerleaders.

That’s the reason why I chose them as my team, but of course, being the only Melbourne team, there wasn’t much choice anyway!

In the following years, I attended matches here and there with either family members, my housemate or dragged along friends.

I have also followed some big rugby union tournaments, including the 2015 Rugby World Cup in London watching on the big screen at Trafalgar Square as New Zealand beat Australia 34-17 with some of my university classmates (including a New Zealander) in tow.

In 2017, I was living in a small town in North Queensland when I was lucky enough to interview several local players, including former Storm player Colin ‘Col’ Wilkie about being part of the Italian Azzurri team who were taking part in the Rugby League World Cup.

I also headed to Townsville to watch the doubleheader of Fiji v Wales and Italy v USA. It was a fantastic experience watching the world’s best players. At some point, the Fijian players huddled to sing a beautiful song that filled the stadium, which was so special to watch.

That same year I managed to catch two matches in Townsville (one against the Storm), adopting the North Queensland Cowboys as my second favourite team.

At the end of the season, it was Storm against the Cowboys in the grand final; I opted to watch the match from the Cowboys Leagues Club in Townsville where I was surrounded by fans of the opposing team. This made the Storm’s 34-6 victory even sweeter.

One of the things I found during my time living in Queensland was that the AFL wasn’t always shown on television, which is much the same in regional Victoria where I lived for the next about seven years where not all NRL matches were broadcast on free-to-air television.

I have since adopted the Redcliffe Dolphins (who have many ex-Storm players) as my third favourite team, and I guess the Canberra Raiders will now be my fourth.

Jump to 2023 and the Storm offered a one home game membership for half price ($14).

Working weekends as part of my job at the time and living hundreds of kilometres away from the city in Warrnambool, made it difficult to attend matches.

Then this year, I decided to sign up for a two-game membership (as did my parents), and because I took an extended break from working, I managed to attend most of this year’s home games. My parents also managed to attend the Storm’s two finals matches at AAMI Park.

We ended up extending our memberships multiple times and attended our first-ever Anzac Day match of any kind.

We also attended our first State of Origin match (game II) at the home of the AFL, Melbourne Cricket Ground in June 2024. As the pre-game entertainment went on, I felt an emotion that I could not describe.

Several years ago, I hardly knew who any of the players were on my team, now I can probably name all of them. I still don’t know most of the rules of the game but nonetheless enjoy the atmosphere of cheering my team on from the grandstand.

I have now been to a lot more NRL games than AFL. I have only watched Aussie Rules in person twice: once in 2006 when I received a free ticket for being involved in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and again a few years later for the pre-season NAB Cup to show the sport to a university friend from Thailand. However, I will never stop enjoying the AFL.

Now, come this weekend I will be attending my first-ever grand final of any kind.

Seeing my team beat the Sydney Roosters last Friday, 27 September, was the best birthday present I could have asked for!

As I watched the Storm thrash the opposing team while on the phone to my other sister, she said with living closer than I ever have to a grand final venue, I should go or I would ‘regret it’.

Straight after the match finished, I bought my ticket.

Go the Storm!

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