Former 'Hulk' actor compares Bills to legendary Aussie Rules Football Club

What are the similarities between the St. Kilda Football Club and the Buffalo Bills? Former 'Hulk' actor Eric Bana gives his take on the matter.

Dec 31, 2023; Orchard Park, New York, USA; A young Buffalo Bills fans hold up a sign referring to / Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Australian actor Eric Bana made an appearance on the May 7th episode of The Rich Eisen Show, where he made some interesting comments regarding the Buffalo Bills. 

You may know Bana from his work on films like Black Hawk Down, The Hulk, Star Trek, and being the titular star of the television series Dirty John. Outside of being one of Australia’s most famous actors, he’s also a massive supporter of the St. Kilda Football Club, one of the founding members of the Australian Rules Football League. The Saints, as they're colloquially called by supporters,  were formed in 1873, making them not only one of the oldest clubs in the AFL, but one of the oldest continuous sporting institutions in the world.

St. Kilda’s rich history, which was alluded to by Bana during his time with Eisen, has been that of very little success and mostly failures. St. Kilda has appeared in seven AFL Grand Finals (the AFL equivalent of the Super Bowl), and has won just once, in 1966. They’re also the team with the most wooden spoons in AFL history, which is awarded to the team with the most losses throughout the course of an AFL season. The Saints also pride themselves on having one of the most passionate fanbases in the AFL, where they regularly sell out the Docklands Stadium, which seats over 50,000 people. 

Bana shared a few moments of misery of being a Saints supporter, “I’ve been to three, four, Grand Finals in my life, one of which is a draw.” Bana continues the commiserating where he explains the draw, “In those days, you come back seven days later and play the game again, this is a special brand of torture only for Australians. And then we got blown away the following week.” 

That is objectively a horrible way to lose any sort of championship game. 

He also said “The wins are never relaxing.”  This is all starting to sound a little familiar. 

I’ve been in a 40-year relationship with the St Kilda Football Club. To the outsider, it seems insane. One flag in 150 years. A record amount of wooden spoons. A knack for being involved in some of the weirdest moments in footy. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/H9QW88tUVe

— Charlie Clausen (@CXClausen) March 30, 2023

The parallels between St. Kilda Football Club and the Buffalo Bills are eerie, to say the least, something Bana mentioned. “I always try to find a kinship team in each code, so that I can kind of like have the same torturous experience no matter what sport I’m watching, is it not the Buffalo Bills?” 

The reaction of Bana when he learns that the Bills made four Super Bowls in a row, and lost them all, isn’t of shock or horror, it’s that of a person who has seen their own team draw a Grand Final, only to get blown out the following week. Numbness. 

The segment concludes with Eisen, Bana, and their producers eventually trying to find other teams in which Bana could support, but it eventually ends with Bana solidifying his commitment to the Buffalo Bills. 

Somebody please Photoshop an image of The Hulk going through a table at a Buffalo tailgate.

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