‘They’re loved here as well’: footy fever grips WA ahead of first-ever Perth AFL grand final

With their regular cheer squad stuck in Victoria, the Western Bulldogs have scrambled to recruit a group of Western Australian fans to take on their duties ahead of Saturday night’s grand final in Perth.

Among them is Kirsten Gianni, 28, who made the 600km trip from Kalgoorlie to Perth to serve on the 60-person replacement squad – a six-and-a-half hour drive that takes longer than it does to fly from Melbourne to Perth.

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“Being part of the cheer squad is a great way to express our support for the club, especially over here in WA, so they know they’re loved here as well,” she says.

Gianni says she has been a lifelong Bulldogs fan since she wrote a letter to star player Chris Grant as a little girl and actually received a response.

“That was it,” she says. “I’ve been a fanatical supporter ever since.”

Gianni will be among 60,000 West Australians in the stands when her beloved Bulldogs take on the Melbourne Demons – who haven’t won a premiership since 1964.

With the pandemic forcing the AFL to shift the grand final from the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the second year in a row, footy fever has gripped Perth since it was chosen as host.

While fans may wish it was one of the state’s two teams – West Coast Eagles and Fremantle – playing on Saturday night, that has not stopped fans embracing the all-Melbourne affair.

In a town serious about its football, the mood has been one of giddy anticipation for an event that may prove bigger than the America’s Cup.

Official AFL merchandise has been stripped from store shelves in the last fortnight, murals have been painted in Yagan Square and footy parties held been held across the city.

With mostly blue skies forecast for Saturday evening, temperatures are expected to hover around 21C at kick-off, making for perfect footy conditions.

Darren Joseph, the president of the Bulldogs WA supporters group, has had a busy couple of weeks making sure everything runs smoothly.

Between planning the Doggies Grand Final Eve party on Friday – where 220 people registered to attend the event at Blasta Brewery to rub shoulders with former players including Todd Curley, Daniel Southern, Mark West and Kingsley Hunter – he was also helping those trapped in Victoria to generously share their club member numbers to enable locals to go to the game.

“Lucky I’m pretty good with Excel,” Joseph says. “We were playing matchmaker for 48 hours there.”

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For others, the game is about much more than who wins. Monty Kanungo says although he is a Port Adelaide “tragic” (the Bulldogs thrashed Port Adelaide in the preliminary final), he couldn’t miss the chance to go to a grand final in Perth for the first time.

“People are treating it like a rock concert or a music festival they’ll never see again,” he says. “A lot of people are messaging me from Adelaide, saying can you even be excited when we lost so badly?

“I’m hurting, but if I wasn’t here I’d be hurting even more. It’s cauterised the pain.”

As to who he will support, Kanungo says he is split.

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“My heart’s with the Dees, but my head’s with the Dogs,” he says. “It’s been that long [for Melbourne]. They deserve a win, their supporters deserve a win.”

Getting a seat has not been easy leading up to the big day. Although it has a 60,000-person capacity, only 12,000 tickets were released to the public with the rest held in reserve.

As a result, some have gone all out to get a ticket.

Dylan Hughes says he spent a whole week trying to find tickets.

“I’m actually a West Coast Eagles supporter, but on social media I was whatever supporter I needed to be to get me a ticket,” Hughes says. “Thanks to the guy who gave me his number, I’ll be supporting the Dees tomorrow.”

Though he did make an effort to get hold of the team colours to show his support, Hughes says that ended up proving impossible.

Instead he picked up a shirt from local social media personality Josh Garlepp who campaigned for the 2021 grand final to be held in Perth in a social media video with the tagline: “Perth, we’re still here and slightly better than Adelaide.”

“My sister was in Brisbane, she got to the grand final last year,” Hughes says. “So I was super jealous, and I was super stoked to have it here. I think Perth will put on a fantastic show.

“It’s incredible. It’s definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity.”