Mark Knight’s AFL premiership posters for 2024 revealed

The 2024 Herald Sun Premiership Poster designs for Saturday’s AFL Grand Final match between the Brisbane Lions and the Sydney Swans have been unveiled, delighting eager footy fans across the country.

A yearly tradition, the popular poster has been raising funds for the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) since 1954, generating* more than $7.7 million throughout its 71-year history.

Award-winning Herald Sun cartoonist Mark Knight, whose regular cartoon explainers are exclusive to Kids News, has created the championship posters for the last 16 years and his designs have become part of footy folklore*.

The two designs for this year were unveiled on Wednesday ahead of Saturday afternoon’s blockbuster.

Knight said inking* the 2024 designs was “pretty exciting” given the Swans and Lions haven’t met in a Grand Final since 1899.

“The last time these two teams met in the grand final was 1899, as the great old Fitzroy versus the South Melbourne Bloods,” he said.

While both teams are based in other states, histories extend back to Victoria.

The Sydney Swans were known as the South Melbourne Bloods up until 1982, when they were moved north of the border to a new home in the harbour city, while the previously Melbourne-based team of Fitzroy merged with the Brisbane Bears in 1996 to become the Brisbane Lions.

Knight said he tried to capture the energy of each team’s recent performances in the posters.

“I tried to get the image of the game into the posters. For the Lions’ qualifying final, where

they just won, I tried to get that energy in. And the Swannies are here to make amends* for 2022, so they’re up and about,” he said.

The Brisbane Lions poster features an image of a roaring cartoon lion with a thick mane and muscular arms, while the Sydney Swans version depicts a broad-chested swan with fury in his eyes and footy boots on his feet.

Each mascot is portrayed in its team’s jersey grasping a trophy with the words “AFL Premiers 2024” etched on the front.

Volunteers will be selling the triumphant team’s poster outside the MCG after the game on Saturday, with one dollar from each poster going to the RCH.

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GLOSSARY

• generating: creating
• folklore: stories told about something that are passed down from generation to generation
• inking: drawing in ink
• make amends: make up for a previous loss

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QUICK QUIZ
1. Which two teams are playing in the AFL grand final?
2. When was the last time these two teams met in a grand final?
3. When did the South Melbourne Bloods become the Sydney Swans?
4. How many years has Mark Knight been drawing the Herald Sun AFL premiership posters?
5. How much money has been raised for the Royal Children’s Hospital through the sale of these posters since 1954?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Why did they move?
Did you know that the Swans and the Lions were originally Melbourne teams? Write down reasons why you think the teams moved out of Victoria. Use your research skills to see if you are right!

Time: allow at least 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education

2. Extension
Create an RCH fundraising poster that remembers the last time that the teams met in a Grand Final in 1899. Use your research skills to find out about players, uniforms and other details about footy and the Grand Final in 1899 to help you.

Time: allow at least 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, History

VCOP ACTIVITY
Stretch your sentence
Find a “who” in the cartoon – a person or an animal. Write it down.

Add three adjectives to describe them better.

Now add a verb to your list. What are they doing?

Add an adverb about how they are doing the action.

Using all the words listed, create one descriptive sentence.