AHEAD OF Friday night's critical clash at the MCG, Carlton and Collingwood have again taken to social media to demonstrate their mutual loathing for each other.
Using the #lovetohatecarlton and #lovetohatecollingwood hashtags, the clubs have been tearing into each other with many of the usual, and perhaps odious, slurs being thrown at each other.
Carlton fans have again brought up the 1979 Grand Final. "Wayne Harmes just called. He said the ball was out. We laughed," was the offering of the twitter feed from Talking Carlton, one of the unofficial message boards.
Carlton's 16-15 edge in premierships won has also been the subject of gloating from Blues supporters, as well as a few barbs about the rate of employment among Collingwood types.
So what has the Magpie army countered with? The respective ladder positions for starters, with the Pies safely ensconced in the eight with an 8-5 record while the Blues, at 6-7, are two games out.
The official Collingwood twitter feed has got in on the act, bringing up the 2002 and 2003 drafts, which the Blues were largely excluded from because of salary cap cheating.
This week's barbs are a follow up from earlier this year, when both clubs agreed to have some social media fun with each other ahead of the hugely-hyped round two clash that featured Blues coach Mick Malthouse coaching against Collingwood, who he coached for 12 seasons, including the 2010 premiership.
The Pies won that clash by 17 points in front of 84,247 fans at the MCG. A repeat on Friday night will just about finish Carlton's finals hopes for the season.
Friday night's clash is for the Richard Pratt Cup.
Pratt, the billionaire industrialist who died in 2009, was a former Carlton president and longtime benefactor. His wife Jeanne is a Blues vice-president and his daughter Fiona is married to Blues director Raphael Geminder.
But the Pratt family has deep Collingwood connections as well, with his daughter Heloise married to Alex Waislitz, a long-time Collingwood director.
Of course, lost in the wash is that for all the noise spewing forth from both sets of supporters, their rivalry is no longer the best in football.
Twenty-four hours after the Carlton-Collingwood clash, Geelong and Hawthorn will take to the MCG in a rivalry that is real, bitter and thoroughly modern.
Rest assured, Hawthorn and Geelong supporters cannot abide each other. And they don't need to take to Twitter to demonstrate it.
Ashley Browne is a senior reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on twitter @afl_hashbrowne
