Tonight is the start of the Australian Football League (AFL) season, with the opening game of the first round between the Richmond Tigers and the Carlton Blues.

Essential to any start to a new football season is getting your footy tips in before the ball is bounced. You can join a tipping competition with your mates or work by pitching in the entry fee, usually about twenty bucks.

Footy tipping is straight forward. All you have to do is select who you think will be the winning team in all nine games for each round. Under no circumstances can tips be entered once a game has commenced. The tipster who picks the highest number of winners for the round is the round winner. The tipster who picks the highest number of winners across the whole season wins the cash booty.

The final rule for footy tipping is that if you win the cash booty, you have to use your winnings to buy your colleagues some cakes for morning tea or shout them lunch.

The tipping season is off to a great start with the Richmonds Tigers, my tip, winning the first game. I have tipped the Bulldogs, Demons, Cats, Hawks, Lions, Power, Giants and Eagles to win in the rest of round one.

Wish me luck.