A club that started in the suburban leagues of Sydney in 1973 and from humble beginnings has gone on to dominate the AFL, winning 15 premierships – one flag for every  album, with the sweetest being the back-to-back triumphs of Highway to Hell in 1979 and Back in Black the following year.

For us supporters of AC/DC, Friday marks the start of a new season – the release of the club’s new album, Rock or Bust – and just like any footy fan, with it comes tremendous excitement, anticipation and questions to ponder of what the new season may hold.

Despite an ageing list – the average age of the Rock or Bust line-up is 61 - can we improve on last season (2008’s Black Ice album), how will our new 57-year-old draftee (Stevie Young on rhythm guitar) perform on debut, and who exactly will be in the team (will Phil Rudd be playing drums on the upcoming tour)?

While Essendon supporters are asking how will 39-year-old Dustin Fletcher’s body hold up in his 23rd season next year, AC/DC fans are wondering the same of 67-year-old centreman Brian Johnson’s jackhammer voice.

And now aged 59, can rover Angus Young with his SG Gibson guitar still run around unchanged on the ball for four quarters, duck-walking, riffing and soloing his way to the three votes like he did when he was BOG every night on the club’s last 168-game Black Ice tour once it’s time to hit the road again?

One thing we fans can be sure of is the simple AC/DC gameplan of straight-ahead, toe-tapping, rock n roll that has served the club so well since its debut game on New Year’s Eve, 1973, and included a match in Bendigo in 1976, won’t be strayed from on this album.

A footy supporter’s sense of anticipation is built around a six-month marathon of 22 home and away games, and finals, but for fans of AC/DC, this season’s excitement is centred around a mere 35 minutes of music and 11 new songs. 

For this AC/DC No.1 ticket-holder, Friday’s first game of the Rock or Bust season to be blasted on his stereo at maximum volume is arguably the most anticipated 35 minutes of the past six years.

Especially given the fact the mighty AC/DC has been under siege this year, starting in April when reports spread that the club was about to fold and had played its last game.

But AC/DC is playing on for another season - just as it did in 1980 following the death of larrikin club legend Bon Scott - despite it later being confirmed that captain-coach Malcolm Young has been forced to hang up his white Gretsch Falcon and retire at the age of 61 with dementia.

Malcolm Young would never win a Brownlow Medal – he’s not that eye-catching type of player who attracts the umpire’s votes – but his work in laying the foundation from the back pocket with his driving rhythm guitar has been central to the club winning as many games as it has over more than 40 years.

The club took a third knock earlier this month when another of AC/DC’s in-and-under workhorses, drummer Phil Rudd – who like Malcolm Young and team-mate Cliff Williams on bass lays a dozen tackles and smothers a game and feed the ball from out of the packs to the outside runners of Angus Young and Brian Johnson (both pictured in 2008) - made headline news when he faced “murder for hire” charges.

Those charges were dropped a day later, but none the less, it put the club back in the news for all the wrong reasons during what has been a tumultuous off-season for AC/DC and has cast doubt over Rudd’s place at full-back in the team with other charges still pending.

But with the hard yards done sweating it out on the training track (the studio) and the new season here at last on Friday, AC/DC finally gets the opportunity to do what they do best – and that’s let their music do the talking.

Here’s to what’s sure to be another premiership-winning album from this legendary Aussie club.