Greatest AFL nicknames of all time and background on how the nickname came about.

[Ginnieboy]

Played for Macleod/Rosanna one year, we had this bloke who was 6’4 but very robotic, behind his back we called him Hymie, first game the white board comes out in the change rooms and written on the board beside ruck was ‘Hymie’, the coach didn’t know his name, Hymie started undressing thinking he didn’t make the cut, was pretty funny.

PS, need to have watched Get Smart to get it.

We only got beat by 48 goals that game, anything less than a 50 goal defeat we sung the song and it was party time!!

 

[Ginnieboy]

I thought back in the day Horse Longmire’s name was due to his prodigious kicking length, whilst that name would aptly apply I didn’t know the real meaning to years later, many commentators didn’t either.

 

[The hands of stone]

Another guy I played cricket with nickname was 'OJ' or ' Juice'
He once got busted stealing sports memorabilia from the local pub

 

[Ginnieboy]

Michael "windows" Turner played for Geelong

My second favourite player growing up, criminally underrated, loved how he’d just carve through the middle on one of his runs.

 

[allrighty]

Jeez.....dunno why "Lethal" got his nickname?

And Jimmy O'Dea will always be known as that "%^$#@*" DOG.

Jim O'Dea was known as Boo. He drove me to a party in the 70's, good guy but scary.

 

[GhostofJimJess]

I thought back in the day Horse Longmire’s name was due to his prodigious kicking length, whilst that name would aptly apply I didn’t know the real meaning to years later, many commentators didn’t either.

Steve O'Dwyer was known as "Donkey" amongst his uni mates for a very similar reason

 

[The Falcon Strike]

David Hart - Diouf

Always makes me giggle

 

[kool kangas]

Ray "Slug" Jordan....

 

[GreekLunatic]

Kevin Bartlett lou nicknamed him hungry

 

[yyou]

Josh Gibson

Josh Gibson

Age

40

Ht

189cm

Wt

93kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.4

4star

K

9.0

3star

HB

8.4

5star

M

5.1

5star

T

2.1

4star

MG

196.5

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.8

4star

K

6.2

3star

HB

7.6

5star

M

3.4

4star

T

2.6

4star

's nickname is the Jamaican, yet his father is from Barbados.

Alex Ishchenko had the nickname, the russian, but his dad was Ukrainian

On SM-G960F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Alex Ishchenko had the nickname, the russian, but his dad was Ukrainian

On SM-G960F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Isn’t that the same for Mark Jamar?

 

[yyou]

Isn’t that the same for Mark Jamar?

I don't know the Jamar family.

 

[kranky al]

Bloke on our company footy team hasmd a strange gait so we called him god.

(He moved in mysterious ways)

 

[Fat Jesus]

Bloke on our company footy team hasmd a strange gait so we called him god.

(He moved in mysterious ways)

I call him father.

 

[FredLeDeux]

Alex Ishchenko had the nickname, the russian, but his dad was Ukrainian

On SM-G960F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Similarly, Paul Vinar was called Swede, despite being a Czech

 

[My Tilly]

Did John Coleman have a nickname?
Have only ever heard past players call him Colly and being such a brilliant aerialist, would have thought he'd have more than a few nicknames.

 

[cakewalk06]

My favourites, though not all from AFL:

Former NRL player Matt Hilder ... Waltzing
Former Rugby star John Eales ... Nobody (cos Nobody's perfect)
Cricketer Mark Waugh ... Afghanistan (the forgotten war)
A former AFL player ... Tail Light (not bright enough to be a headlight)

 

[GhostofJimJess]

My favourites, though not all from AFL:

Former NRL player Matt Hilder ... Waltzing
Former Rugby star John Eales ... Nobody (cos Nobody's perfect)
Cricketer Mark Waugh ... Afghanistan (the forgotten war)
A former AFL player ... Tail Light (not bright enough to be a headlight)

These are great - that first one is a pisser - but I'm pretty sure it was the third Waugh brother Dean who was nicknamed "Afghanistan".

 

[Strebi3]

Let's hope there's no background but apparently Warren Tredrea called Michael Pettigrew 'The File'.

 

[Roo Beauty]

Nick “Souv” Larkey
Andrew “Spitter” Swallow
David “Barra” Mundy
Jason “George” Castagna
Kyle “Fetta” Cheney
“Sugar” Kayne Turner
Rory Laird - “Desk”
Jarrad Grant - “Microphone Head”
Drew Petrie was “Dish” (petri dish)
Ben Jacobs was “Blowie” due to his initials

 

[DEVO]

These are great - that first one is a pisser - but I'm pretty sure it was the third Waugh brother Dean who was nicknamed "Afghanistan".

No, it was Mark Waugh, he was given the nickname Afghan because he was the forgotten Waugh and didn't make his Australian debut for a few years after Steve.

 

[GhostofJimJess]

No, it was Mark Waugh, he was given the nickname Afghan because he was the forgotten Waugh and didn't make his Australian debut for a few years after Steve.

Haha, fair enough. But what does that make Dean then ... Myanmar?

 

[The Devils Advocate]

Michael Rischitelli as TEAC is my favourite all time, so hilariously niche. Doesn't even feel like footy banter.

 

[haveago]

Louie the Lip basically was the master of this. Wanna be's like Rex Hunt tried to copy with Special Fried Rice and The Cranium but we all knew he was trying to copy the master nickname creator.
Galloping Gasometer almost my favourite by Louie.
Flying Doormat and Lethal Leigh he known for more.

Special fried was a ripper though

What a brilliant recruit he was.

 

[haveago]

I know it's not AFL but I believe Sam Pang played football for Prahran back in the day and was known as The Orchid because he needed perfect conditions to blossom.

'Wow' Jones is also a good one. Think I remember reading somewhere there were two possible reasons for the nickname. One being he had a W tattooed on each butt cheek next to his A hole and the other was that he had a massive Schlong, and the first reaction from most when they seen it was Wow.

Both of the above