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The siren has sounded, it’s footy season again! As Five Senses’ Footy Tipping competition ramps up, the taunts are starting to fly thick and fast between offices. Old rivalries are rearing their heads: husband against wife, neighbour against neighbour … and colleague against colleague. Nowhere is the competition fiercer than between Fremantle fanatic Jason Gray from WA and passionate St Kilda supporter Gavan Hogan from Victoria.

A staunch Dockers supporter since the Club’s inception, Jason has been a Fremantle member for over 10 years. He used to think going to a game was the perfect opportunity for a night out with the boys but these days Jason enjoys taking his kids along to cheer from the sidelines.

From what we hear, there is an awful lot of purple in the Gray household — skirts, gloves, hats, shirts and even purple baby rugs! Richard, Jason’s son, has been a member since the day he was born and Jason says the only thing he wants to know when his daughters talk about boys from school is “what team do they go for?”

The only problem is that Jason has four kids and two child memberships, so there is a strictly enforced roster in place to say who can head along to a game with Dad!

Things are a little different, however, at the Hogan household in Melbourne. Besides supporting different teams, Gavan’s daughters (15, 18 and 20) aren’t exactly hanging to go to the footy with Dad any more. And they reckon they wouldn’t be caught dead in a footy guernsey anyway.

Despite their passion, neither Gavan nor Jason won last year’s tipping comp — Gavan is always close, but last year that honour went to the multi-talented Kimbo. But both Gavan and Jason are betting they’ll top the ladder this year.

It’s Jason’s opinion that in the past, his Fremantle fervour hasn’t exactly helped his tipping prowess (he won’t tip against the Dockers) but he says “seeing as Fremantle are going to win every game from here on in, I’ll probably win by three or four points this year”.

It seems the fight for bragging rights is on!