EVERY time Ruby Tripodi runs out for North Melbourne, she doesn’t have to look very hard for her own cheer squad - she’ll hear them first. 

Her parents will be in attendance at every single match, whether it’s interstate or not, with her dad, Joe, so notoriously passionate for Ruby and her Roos that he’s even heard over the broadcast. 

“Oh, my God, he is so loud! It is, honestly hilarious the amount of people that have told me they can hear him sometimes on the telly,” Ruby told AFL.com.au

“He has a very loud voice, and he's just a very passionate supporter. But no, the whole team all love my dad, ‘Joey’.  They just think he is hilarious, and he's always just yelling out support. He just absolutely loves it, so I’m very lucky to have him.”

Joe’s the first to admit he’s an enthusiastic supporter. A self-proclaimed Collingwood 'nuffie', Joe’s passion has easily transferred to North Melbourne’s women’s team since Ruby made her debut on Father’s Day in 2023.

“If you come to any of the games, you'll notice that I'm by myself and my wife's on the other side. She said that's near enough because she can hear everything I'm saying from that distance anyway,” Joe said. 

“Oh, look, I do get a bit, you know, probably over the top at times, but I try to calm the farm occasionally, but it's a very emotional game!” 

Joe’s love for AFLW doesn’t stay directly on the sidelines of a North game, he brings it to work too. 

A provider working in Melbourne’s fruit and vegetable markets, Joe has been friends for forty years with Vinnie Brancatisano, an agent in the markets and the father of Gold Coast’s Maddy. 

Keeping an eye on their kids' careers over the last few years, Joe and Vinnie have developed a bond over being the proud parents of AFLW daughters, reviewing each round of football throughout the week. 

“I love seeing Ruby do well. Joe loves seeing Maddy do well and, we just love watching our girls succeed,” Vinnie said.

 “We’re always having a review on the games and that type of stuff, so it’s good fun.” 

The two aren’t keeping their AFLW recaps quiet either, they’re starting conversations in the market circuit, ensuring more people learn about the game.

Knowing there’s an unfortunate stereotype of men their age having a level of disdain for the AFLW competition, Joe and Vinnie have taken it upon themselves to be league’s loudest cheerleaders.  

“We'd like to share more, we really want to garner more interest,” Joe said. 

“In particular, I'm older than Vinnie, I'm 61 and people of my vintage, unfortunately, there's a lot of blokes out there that just, they won't make the time or even some of the comments I get. 

“But for them to actually take the time to come and see a game live, I think would change everybody's output on that.

“Anything we can do to raise the profile, not just for our girls’ teams, but for the competition in general, it's got to be a good thing. I mean, everybody's got to be able to benefit from it. And those naysayers, get off your backside, get to a game, then cast your vote. You know, don't be a bloody negative Nelly!” 

Getting people to AFLW games is step one. With the belief that no one walks away from an AFLW game with a negative view, both Joe and Vinnie will get tickets for friends and family whenever they ask. 

Joe has had requests for finals tickets for upwards of forty people, whereas Vinnie has had old schoolmates ask for tickets even just a couple of weeks ago, when he went to see Maddy’s Suns take on West Coast in WA. 

Arranging a day out with his mates and their family to watch his daughter’s huge win over the Eagles, Vinnie also had a win that day - in changing some long-held misconceptions of AFLW.  

“One of the guys that were coming along said to me as he's walking in the gate: ‘You know I'm doing something that I said I’d never, ever do in my life. I said, I'll never go to an AFLW game. I just don't like it. I just don't think I’d enjoy it’,” Vinnie said. 

“Anyway, I said, ‘well, I'll be interested to hear feedback after the game’. 

“And as we're walking back to the car afterwards, he goes, 'you know what? I really enjoyed that. I was impressed with their skills…and I'll definitely be going to watch another game'. So if we can get people there seeing it instead of just diminishing it we'll get a lot more people (to support.)” 

Vinnie is “super proud” of Maddy’s career on the Gold Coast and has even found himself writing into Gerard Whately on SEN, asking the station to extend its AFLW segments with Rana Hussein to include more interstate team coverage. 

“This morning it’s just been eating at me for the last 24 hours since yesterday. And I got on; I wrote an email to Gerard Whately,” Vinnie said.  

“I said, ‘I love the segment, two things: It doesn't go long enough. And secondly, you talk about four, five, six teams and do you realise it's an 18-team competition? 

“If this is the men's comp…you review the week before and you preview the next week. Whereas this only goes for five minutes and you can't cover all that. You need a longer segment’. 

“I don't know if they’ll see (the email), I don’t care either way but I’m sure someone will see it.” 

Whether someone reads an email, or goes to a game or not, Ruby just loves hearing her dad and Vinnie talk about AFLW. Knowing that their love of the game has gone far beyond being there for their respective daughters, Ruby’s pride in her dad’s support is palpable. 

“I think the reason you guys are so great to be here and talking about it is because people your age, and a lot of males, don't engage in a lot of it,” Ruby said. 

“And it's just having people like you to start the conversation and that's what I feel like it is in the market, you guys do just start those conversations and look how it's happened. There’re so many people in there that who would never have probably even thought about the AFLW but now they do.” 

And the pride is mutual. Seeing Ruby’s journey from the Western Jets to two-time premiership player, Joe is almost at a loss for words reflecting on his daughter’s career.  

“It is sort of hard to put into words because and we've been extremely fortunate, you know, speaking from Rubes' journey to here. And that is the success of the team that she's been a part of,” Joe said. 

“It's been incredible, and for Ruby to play a part in it, and to be a valued member of it. Yeah, words really fail you.” 

Reflecting on her dad’s support ahead of Father’s Day, whether he’s providing fresh produce to the club throughout the week, or loudly cheering on all her teammates at the games, Ruby knows how grateful she is to have Joe in her corner. 

“My dad has just a really, amazing way of making you feel special. And I think he does that for lots of people,” Ruby said. 

“I know a lot of the girls my team, he just loves them, getting around all the friends and family, too. He is such a people person he just has a really nice way of making people feel special.”