Top 5/Bottom 5 Australian Football League logos

[El Scorcho]

I'd love to hear how people on here rate the AFL logos. Obviously over in Australia there are a lot of strong opinions given how attached we are to our teams, but i'd love to hear what people think of the logos as they are, without having a lot of prior knowledge of the AFL.

As you can see there is a wide variety of approaches to logo design going on here. Some are more traditional looking, some are more bold and modern.

[Gothamite]

I might not be your actual target, since I've spent time in Australia and been to my share of matches, but I think a lot of the "modern" designs tend to fall flat. That Crows logo is hideous (almost as hideous as the Baltimore Ravens), Gold Coast is just silly and Brisbane's lion is well-done but somehow soulless. GWS looks like a paper company's logo.

That's not to say that a traditional logo is always best. Witness Collingwood, which is trying too hard for a classic look but fails. Mostly because they had to swap the flags and the national flag looks like its being flown from the wrong edge. If they isolated that magpie and built something simpler around him it would be much more effective.

And Jesus, Demons. Pick any three symbols and run with them. What a mess.

Then there's the good. I do love Carlton's interlocking letters. Class. Sydney's logo is very clever, with the Opera House and Swan playing off each other. Geelong's cat shouldn't work at all, but has a lot of personality and I find it charming. Freemantle's anchor is an example of how "simple" can be very effective.

[Fresno St. Alum]

I live in California and never been to Australia but I check the Ladder every week and watch Hawthorn Hawks games online from time to time.

Hawthorn, Adelaide, Brisbane newer logos are major upgrades from the old ones.

1 Brisbane, 2 Hawthorn, 3 Richmond 4 Western

16 St.Kilda, 17 Melbourne, 18 GWS

[AusGiant]

This is interesting seeing peoples take on AFL logos, when they have little or no knowledge of each clubs history.

The classic logos that have been around for years like Collingwood (1993), St. Kilda (1933) and Carlton (the first CFC logo was in 1909) would be highly regarded as some of the best in the league. Where as the; IMO, overly cartoony or generic logos like Essendon, Brisbane, Adelaide and Richmond would be some of the worst, given the long histories of each club being shafted to appeal to the kids and (what some would say) the Americanization of the league.

[El Scorcho]

I knew it would happen, but i'm glad to see Melbourne among the worst in the first few replies here. They launched this logo only a few seasons ago, trying to go for a super-traditional look. A lot of people loved it but it just looks so cluttered and messy.

It's interesting to hear people say Adelaide and Brisbane logos are upgrades. Over here they are both pretty hated, especially by their own fans. Brisbane's new logo replaced a fairly iconic lion logo that represented one of the clubs that merged to become Brisbane. Adelaide obviously borrowed heavily from the Ravens.

[Discrim]

Like Gothamite, I'm probably not your exact target either...never been down under, but back in '05, I happened to catch a highlight show FS Wisconsin was airing on Friday evenings at the time and fell in love at first sight. I kinda wish you'd posted Geelong's other cat, I've grown to prefer that one to the cat face...but I digress.

My own top five, in no real order:

• Hawthorn...then again, had this graphic featured Geelong's other cat, I'd be listing that on top.
• Freo...I liked what they'd had before (which would likely go in an Aussie flavored 'Unpopular Opinons' but their current set's solid.
• Richmond...to put it bluntly, far as revamped big cats go, the black & gold put out a far better effort than Brisbane did.
• St. Kilda...yeh, it's not exactly groundbreaking, but I've long liked it.
• West Coast Eagles...tough choice, really, it was either WCE or Sydney
• Honorable Mention: Sydney, Geelong's alternate cat, Carlton's old CFC (I'm not a huge fan of the current CFC monogram, to be honest. The older monogram has more charm IMO.)

Lemme post what I would've put in my top five had it been in the top graphic though...

And bottom five, also in no real order...

• Adelaide....what they had before wasn't anything ground breaking, but was still better than this Ravens ripoff
• Port Adelaide...man...I know what they were trying to do here, but they could do so much better.
• Brisbane...they can't win, it seems. Their 'classic' lion is ugly as hell, but they whiffed so badly on the new lion they're going back to the old one this year.
• Greater Western Sydney...then again, can't remember what other names they were considering, and I'm not sure they could've really done much more without ripping off either of the American Giants. That said, a GWS monogram might have been more palatable.
• Melbourne...so much potential for a modern classic....so much wasted potential. Sadly, a fitting graphical representation of MFC, really. Like a bad horror flick where you wanna scream at the idiots on screen while they blunder into their own deaths, and the Dees are always the idiots dying in increasingly moronic fashion.
• Dishonorable mention: North Melbourne and Gold Coast...man, North's old roo silhouette was far more versatile. This new one's good as a soccer-style crest only. I recall they tried to use a large version on what was otherwise their 1925 jumper, damn thing looked like something out of Flavor Flav's closet.

[Fresno St. Alum]

I knew it would happen, but i'm glad to see Melbourne among the worst in the first few replies here. They launched this logo only a few seasons ago, trying to go for a super-traditional look. A lot of people loved it but it just looks so cluttered and messy.

It's interesting to hear people say Adelaide and Brisbane logos are upgrades. Over here they are both pretty hated, especially by their own fans. Brisbane's new logo replaced a fairly iconic lion logo that represented one of the clubs that merged to become Brisbane. Adelaide obviously borrowed heavily from the Ravens.

Look at it this way. It would be very easy for the Packers or St.Kilda to come up w/ a new//better logo to non Packer/St.Kilda fans but me and the rest of them would probably hate a new logo even if logo-ogicly the new one would be better looking. To me a lot of the AFL logos look like soccer logos and if you're used to it, it looks good, I'm not a soccer fan so the logos that look more football or college logos would get higher marks from me. I've been watching the AFL since 1987 when it used to come on espn, then prime ticket every week for about 10 years. ESPN had the premiership finals for a couple of years recently but didn't show the last 2. I remember the Fitzroy Lions and the Brisbane Bears but they had to merge for some reason, money? Why is Footscray now Western?

I liked the old Dockers logo better...

[kc51design]

I'm a Hawthorn baracker, but the only reason I almost have more Cats merchandise then Hawks is the logo (one posted by Discrimihater). That one is by far the best in the league, Docekrs are #2, Richmond #3, and I would say Giants are #4 (simple, unexpected, great branding and use of colors overall). Bottom are Suns, St. Kilda and Crows.

[AgentColon]

I like that red and blue bulldog logo on the bottom row.

[VictoriaGooner]

I have been following Aussie Rules Footy for a number of years now living in Canada and have a real connection to the sport. Just like football/soccer, the team is driven by their supporters. I'm a Swans supporter but that makes me impartial to their logo. But from a truly unbiased selection of top five logos: #1 Collingwood, #2 Geelong, #3 Richmond, #4 Sydney, #5 GWS. And my bottom logos are: St. Kilda, Adelaide and Melbourne (too much going on in such a little logo)

Btw...can't wait for March 15th and the start of the 2014 AFL season!!!!

[WideRight]

I would put the Geelong Cats at the top, followed by the Hawks and Dockers. Then a big drop off. At the very bottom I would put the Suns, Giants and Melbourne's crest.

[TrueYankee26]

My faves are Geelong, Collingwood 'Pies, Fremantle.

Most boring is Carlton.