Table of contents for 245 Autumn 2025 in Slam Skateboarding

Welcome to the Autumn Edition of Slam, where we celebrate the best in Australian skateboarding. Slam Skater of the Year is our highest honour, and for 2025, that title belongs to none other than Rome Collyer. The fiery-haired, fearless ripper has been on a relentless tear, stacking clips, travelling non-stop, and pushing the limits of what’s possible on a skateboard. At just 19, Rome has already cemented his place as Australia’s Skater of the Year. We break down his whirlwind year, from the surprise SOTY reveal to his endless travels, and of course, the mind-blowing backside 180 reverse nosegrind on this issue’s cover. With locals heckling hard out, green lasers flashing at the cameras, and chaos all around, Rome remained unperturbed, locked in, and delivered one of the gnarliest tricks…

Reef, now 21. has been on one since he moved to Melbourne from the Sunshine Coast a few years back. His New Gen interview ran in March 2024. It featured a bunch of photos of him skating Melbourne spots, including a back Smith on the recognisable indoor rail that older heads may remember from Geoff Campbell’s iconic video Seccy Presh. When his New Gen came out, Reef had only lived in Melbourne for just over a year, but he was already starting to make his mark on the place, skating with the Hoddle and Cons crews. Since then, he’s been skating a lot, shooting many photos and filming two parts - Hoddle’s Still In The Grid and Cons Australia’s, In The Gutter Looking At Stars. Watching Reef’s 2024 output, there…

AGE: 13 LIVES: Belmont, Victoria SPONSORS: Converse, Hardcore and Kick Push “It would be nice to be able to skate like Paddy. At a tender age, he already has so many tricks on lock, with effortless steeze and determination. It seems like he learned to skate a rail before learning to walk. The future is bright for this kid.” - Johnno Halchenko “I don’t know Paddy well, but for a little dude, Paddy is intimidating. I always think he doesn’t like me, but the other day, I said to him that I saw a video of him pushing, and it reminded me so much of his dad [Leif]. He laughed like a little kid, and then I realised he’s not so scary after all. His skating is great, powerful, and…

As Australia’s leading skate historian – admittedly a self-proclaimed title – I have a list of people that I need to interview because they were there from the beginning, before social media, videos, magazines, or even urethane. They’re our primary sources. Stephen Hill has been on that list for a long time. So, there I am, putting my Street Noise collection into archival storage bags at my desk, when I receive an email from Trent, the editor of the publication you’re reading right now, that contains a link and a question: “Would this be of interest to you for a Front Tale?” When I open the link, I’m presented with black-and-white footage of Stephen Hill doing an invert at Collingwood’s Skate City in 1979. I pause it as he re-enters…

NO WHITE FLAG Edited by The Chief, Jamie Thomas, in collaboration with Zero filmer Vinny Dalfio, No White Flag immediately has the look and feel of a classic. In this saturated world of skate media, where new parts drop online every single day, that’s no small feat. And as with most parts that survive the disposable content cycle and make a historical mark, its enduring interest is aided by its soundtrack – Dido’s “White Flag” from 2003, which is the namesake of the part. It’s a tender song about persisting with love, which appears as a total juxtaposition to the scale and sheer terror of Gabbers’ skateboarding. However, the contrast works, showing the labour and determination that clearly went into the filming of this part. We see Gabbers slamming hard,…

Rome Collyer’s SOTY surprise went down at the spot of his 2024 cover shot, the heritage-listed handrail at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne City. The crew hid off to the side of the massive rail, waiting for the moment. Former SOTYs Nick Boserio, Hayley Wilson and Ben Lawrie were all there, adding to the hype. When Rome rolled up, he was met with cheers and solid support from his Melbourne mates. From there, the crew ventured out, and Rome hit a gap to rail, where he handled business in true SOTY form. Shoutout to Conna Mallett for keeping the Love Shack beers flowing, fuelling an unforgettable session.…

The USA may be the birthplace of skateboarding, but Australia has always been at its heels. When the first promodel skateboard, designed by Phil Edwards for Makaha, hit the shelves of American surf shops, it didn’t take long for Sydney surfing innovator, Bernard “Midget” Farrelly to have a whole line of signature skateboards under the feet of Aussies in the mid-’60s. In 1975, when SkateBoarder Magazine was all the rage over in The States, we made Skateboard: Australia’s New Skateboard Magazine a few months later. Even though it was pretty budget, it was the first skate mag to be published outside of the US. However, there’s one thing that Australia definitely can claim, and that’s the first full-length skateboarding film. The Ultimate Flex Machine was released 50 years ago, in…

Fast forward 36 years, and Brett Margaritis is the 2025 inductee to the Slam Hall of Fame. Between then and now, Brett has enjoyed a long and fruitful career as a professional skateboarder and a highly respected leader within the industry, mentoring skaters and founding companies Modus Bearings, Fivefoot4 Distribution and The 4 Skateboard Co. Brett travelled to The US in 1995 and quickly managed to land a spot on the Think team. That sparked opportunities for him to travel and skate internationally, getting coverage in magazines like Transworld, Slap and Thrasher. By 1999, he turned pro for Think and in August 2000, Brett landed one of Slam’s most iconic covers of all time with a frontside ollie in a crazy-looking waterfall. He also had a few covers of Australian…

Whether it’s filling cracks in a crusty ledge, patching up a weathered bank, or smoothing out a run-up with quick-set ’crete, spot maintenance has become a common practice of street skating. This bizarre-looking concrete lump is in Riverwood, way out in the ’burbs of Southwestern Sydney. While the spot has existed for years, the huge cracks on the lump mean that it’s unlikely anyone has ever managed to skate it. But a little maintenance goes a long way. Street skating has always been about making something out of nothing – turning ordinary street infrastructure into skateable spots. Sometimes, this only requires a good eye and a bit of imagination. In this case, the spot’s potential was immediately obvious, but it needed actual work. Some Bondo and a bit of elbow…