Your “Sir Doug Nicholls Round AFL Recap” Thursday Night Open Thread

Evening. Five posts in one month from this guy?  I guess you all can’t get rid of me.

This past weekend was the AFL’s Sir Doug Nicholls Round, and while you may recognize that term from Balls’s previous writeups, I thought maybe tonight I could do an homage to BeerGuyRob and try and learn you a thing or two. The problem is that I’m none of the following: Australian, aboriginal, historian, educator, qualified in any way to talk about the complicated issue of reconciliation between indigenous peoples and their colonizers through the lens of sports or anything else.

When you hear Sir Doug Nicholls Round, your first thought (for the subset of people who aren’t immediately confused) is “oooh, those are the cool jerseys, right?”  Right, except they’re called guernseys or jumpers, ya clown.  Unfortunately, I’m REALLY tired, and since the Sir Doug Nicholls round is not just one round but two (don’t ask me), why don’t we start with fashion and then get to history in a future post? Let’s take a quick spin through the laundry.

One of the things I really appreciate about the AFL is that it isn’t just superficial, like the NFL’s pinkwashing (and just about everything else the International Disgrace does).  There’s a personal connection to the guernsey designs that goes beyond checking a box by doing something “tribal.”  Take the story behind Adelaide’s jersey:

The Crows’ guernsey, with a primary theme being connection, features a family link with AFLW premiership player Danielle Ponter. It has been designed by Anmatyerr educator and artist April Napangardi Campbell from the Ti Tree community in the Northern Territory. Campbell is Ponter’s Aunty and the two met recently in Adelaide. Their family lost connection when Ponter’s grandfather on her mother’s side was forcibly removed from traditional lands as a two-year-old.

Brisbane’s uni was designed by two retired Lions players and it also looks pretty damn cool (though I like Adelaide’s better).

In years past, Bobby Hill had designed one for the Giants that I ended up buying, looks like his new team decided to hire professionals instead but still spotlight Bobby on the promotional materials:

Gold Coast DID have a current player design their jumper for this year, and NGL, I think it’s awesome when a player shows this much range and it ends up looking cool:

Similarly, an active AFLW player designed West Coast’s guernsey, though the Hungry Jack sponsor slot undercuts it just a skosh.

Port Adelaide is another team where a former player took the reins on the design:

Richmond, I believe, is the only team, where an Assistant Coach did the design.  Check out this story (and result):

Richmond’s guernsey for the annual Dreamtime at the ‘G clash is designed by assistant coach Xavier Clarke and his family. The artwork on the sash is from an original painting from Clarke’s uncle Timothy Dumoo, and depicts a Wangka (dance) from Clarke’s people, the Marri Ammu Marri Tjevin clan of the Moyle River floodplains. The Wangka tells the story of Elders calling out to their ancestors to protect and guide people while on Country. It represents looking after each other and looking after family.

I’m not going to show them all, but a) they’re all here if you want to go through the full list and b) let’s close out with this year’s GWS jumper, which I would wear the shit out of (and may order it if I’m doing another shipment from down under anyway):

Next time, we’ll try and get to the HISTORY part, where we tackle who is Sir Doug Nicholls and why does he get a round (or two)?  (Spoiler alert: the answer to this question is here, but I’ll try and TL;DR it when it’s not several hours past my bedtime).

And if you want to know who’s at the top of the ladder after 10 games, unfortunately it ain’t the Giants–

But they’ve been super competitive despite the rebuilding phase and usual rash of injuries, so at least it’s entertaining. Could be worse, I could be a Jets fan.

WHAT’S ON TV TONIGHT?

Weren’t you paying attention? Australian Football or GTFO. If you have THE STONES (or the insomnia) you can stay up til 4:40AM DFO time and watch the Swans play the Blues.  Regardless, get the WatchAFL app and a digital membership and start watching this sport, dammit.

FINE you can watch NBA Eastern Conference Finals Action, where the Celtics continue to try to stave off elimination against the Heat, this time at home if a loss in front of the home crowd is more your form of Schadenfreude. (7:30PM DFO time on TNT)

Additionally, the Golden Knights of Las Vegas have a chance to take out their brooms in Dallas, if the Stars align.  /ducks tomatoes. That’s at 7PM DFO time on ESPN.

If Béisbol is more your speed, my Cubbies are hosting the Mets at 6:40PM DFO time on ESPN+, otherwise check your local listings. Let’s go GWS!