Google's talkative smart assistant has footy fever, offering Australians live match scores as the season kicks off this week.

From Thursday night, Aussie footy fans can ask Google Assistant – running on Google Home smart speakers or Android devices – for all the latest AFL, NRL and Australian Rugby news. Fans can also catch up on matches via Google Search results.

Along with up-to-the-minute live scores across the weekend, Google Assistant will offer game times, match results, fixtures and ladders via simple requests such as "Okay Google, when are the Western Bulldogs playing next?"

Google isn't alone in its appreciation of Australian sport, with Amazon's Alexa smart assistant also able to answer the same question. Meanwhile Siri on Apple's HomePod says "Sorry, I don't know about Australian football", even though she clearly knows enough to realise that the Western Bulldogs are an Australian football team.

Fans can also ask Google for news of all 18 AFL clubs during the week, such as "Okay Google, play the Western Bulldogs news", with Google Assistant offering news briefings from ABC Sport, Fox, Rugby and AFL News. These briefings are updated twice daily during the regular season and once a day during the off-season.