Footy mad Wagga five-year-old's creation catches Tassie Devils' attention

Ned Librando isn't quite sure who his favourite AFL team is, but he can tell you exactly which one is his second favourite.

The five-year-old caught eyes across the Bass Strait when a picture of his homemade Tasmania Devils guernsey was posted to the club's social media.

Fans soaked up the AFL grand final at live sites in Brisbane and Sydney, as well as at the MCG. Video by AAP.

An avid football fan, the Wagga local has been making guernseys alongside older brother Gus, seven, for quite some time now.

Ned, 5, and Gus Librando, 7, with their collection of homemade AFL guernseys. Picture by Tahlia Sinclair

But it was North Wagga Public School school learning support officer Tom Clark that got into young Ned's ear about the incoming team.

Add in a bit of his favourite colour and Ned may just be Wagga's biggest Devils fan.

Mum and dad Lauren and Sean Librando said they never expected so many people to resonate with their boy's favourite craft activity.

Geelong and Hawthorn supporters respectively, Ned has a habit of saying his favourite team is the one of whichever parent is asking the question.

"Whoever Ned's company is, is who Ned goes for, he is the peace keeper," Mrs Librando said.

Showing off his most famous creation yet, no detail has been missed by the young artist.

"This is my Tasmania Devils guernsey, I made it," Ned said.

"I made it, I got a white singlet and I drew on it with textas, Mum helped me.

"I looked at a photo of a real Tasmania devils guernsey to do it."

As the Librando's collection has grown, they've started to tweak their design process.

Colouring in plain white singlets, the boys find pictures of the guernsey they want to wear online and spend hours matching every detail. Numbers, club logos, even sponsors are included.

Their bespoke Sydney Swans piece received a bit of a beating after the recent AFL grand final, while the Brisbane Lions one has recently received an update, freshly coloured after fading.

But perhaps none have been as tedious to make as the Devils, which required not one but two green markers to be used at once to get the job finished.

When asked why the Devils, a team who won't debut in the AFL until 2028, had skyrocketed so quickly up his list of favourite clubs, Ned had a simple answer.

Gus, 7, and Ned Librando, 5, in their homemade guernseys with the fresh footballs gifted to them by Tasmania Football Club. Picture by Tahlia Sinclair

"My teacher Tom is from Tasmania and I really like green," he said.

"[It took] maybe half an hour to make."

"Plus some," Mrs Librando quickly added.

"He chose like the hardest guernsey of them all, any one with white would have been a win."

After showing off his creation to Mr Clark at school one day, Ned's photo made it back to the club, through a friend who worked there.

With permission from the Librando's Ned soon made it to the Tasmania Football Club social pages, and they were flooded with messages from friends and family.

Gus Librando, 7, in the original homemade guernsey for his favourite team Hawthorn Hawks. Picture by Tahlia Sinclair

They didn't expect it to get so much traction.

"People were taking snap shots of it and saying 'this is your Ned, this is so cool, but when did he start going for the Devils?'," Mrs Librando said.

"I asked Ned if Tom could share the picture with Tassie Devils, and he was like 'yeah' because kids these days, they know what Instagram and Facebook are so they think that's pretty cool exposure."

But the credit can't go all to Ned, because it was in fact Gus who first got their homemade guernsey factory established.

A football fanatic just like his younger brother, he said making their own shirts means he gets to enjoy the game and also be creative.

Gus Librando, 7, in the original homemade guernsey for his favourite team Hawthorn Hawks. Picture by Tahlia Sinclair

"I like being creative and I really like AFL and mum and dad don't have enough money to buy real guernseys for every team," Gus said.

While early editions were only for Hawks and Cats, the boys quickly began to branch out to more teams.

It's easier to replicate the games on the TV when they look the part.

"It really came down to when they play outside, they want to be opponents and they're always cats verse hawks and then they started wanting to do whatever was on live television, so they would go and make a guernsey and be those opponents," Mrs Librando said.

Not only do the boys wear their shirts religiously to play in the yard, they've been known to create their own merchandise stalls too so the whole family can deck themselves out in the homemade gear.

Despite his youth, Gus is a hardened Hawthorn supporter, but the jury is still out on if the Devils may just pip mum and dad's teams at the post.

"That's the worry at the moment, I've worked so hard to ensure he jumps on the Hawks wagon, that I'm worried he might get swept away at this young impressionable age," Mr Librando said.