Abbott fails to kick a goal at AFL | National News | Breaking National News in Australia

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has tried to kick a goal with Melbourne voters by trying out AFL.

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OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott has tried to kick a goal with Melbourne voters by trying out AFL.

The rugby-loving Sydneysider was happy to take a crash course from the Essendon Bombers at their Windy Hill HQ, despite his obvious struggle with the code.

The team is looking for fresh talent but Mr Abbott won't be offered a red and black jersey any time soon.

He handballed clumsily, dropped the ball, and ran away with it like a typical rugby man.

"I was a sort of football player," Mr Abbott told the Bombers' senior players who patiently handballed him the Sherrin.

"What's the thing when you bounce the ball?" he asked captain Jobe Watson, who told AAP Mr Abbott "may have been better to start at a younger age".

One reporter compared his performance to former prime minister John Howard's attempt to play cricket, a comparison Mr Abbott admitted he had been expecting.

The party leaders have been campaigning largely in Queensland, NSW and Western Australia, where most of the marginal seats are, so Mr Abbott made the most of his Victorian stopover.

He focused on street crime and knives - a sensitive issue in Melbourne - and announced a policy for a national crackdown on gangs.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard chose the same city and the same topic, with Labor promising to restrict the import of weapons.

Mr Abbott later found himself an unwilling participant in Melbourne's thriving artistic scene, when two comedians staged a ladylike protest outside his hotel.

The women, called "Tony Abbott's Iron Ladies" in homage to his participation in an iron man race, were dressed in pink frocks and clasped a pair of budgie smugglers and a toy budgie.

Mr Abbott is well known for wearing speedos in the surf but has not been seen near a pair in the election campaign.

"You've left behind your policy briefs," one sang out.

The budgie was made to parrot "great big tax" and "stop the boats", although Mr Abbott was asked not to stop the ladies' yacht.

The genteel protesters took a dim view of Ms Gillard, saying she "should be at home cooking Tim's breakfast", in reference to Ms Gillard's partner Tim Mathieson.

However, the Labor party machine was praised for its work on the prime ministerial hair, for "getting rid of all her working class roots".

Mr Abbott did not find the protest amusing - security guards kept his iron ladies at bay as he swept past.