The 1996 AFL season was the 100th season of the
Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior
Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixteen clubs and ran from 29 March until 28 September. It comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs, as well as several celebrations of the league's centenary.
Note: The opening four matches of this round replicated the opening round of the inaugural
1897 VFL season, with Essendon and Geelong playing each other on the day of the 99th anniversary.
Note: Ben Hart took the mark of the year in Adelaide's win over St Kilda.
Note: Fitzroy's victory was the last win they had in the AFL before departing.
NOTE: St Kilda vs Essendon match on Saturday night was disrupted by a power failure during the third quarter, resulting the match being completed the following week on the Tuesday night with 2 12-minutes halves.
Note: The SCG match was the Swans' first finals win since the
1945 second semi-final, when they were known as South Melbourne. This is the longest period for any club in VFL/AFL history without winning a final.
Note: West Coast Eagles played its home final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground despite being ranked above Essendon, due to the agreement then in place with the
Melbourne Cricket Club that at least one game each week of the finals be played at the ground.
Note: Last game of Brisbane Bears before merger with Fitzroy Lions to become Brisbane Lions.
Note: Tony Lockett kicked a behind after the siren to send the Swans to the grand final for the first time since South Melbourne's last appearance in 1945.
Note: Essendon became the first team in VFL/AFL history to lose two finals in the same season by one point.
North Melbourne's
Corey McKernan received the same number of
Brownlow Medal votes as the joint-winners James Hird and Michael Voss, but was ineligible to receive a medal as McKernan was suspended for one match during the season for kneeing. McKernan went on to win the
AFL Players Association MVP, which is not subject to the same eligibility criteria.
The Round 10 game between
St Kilda and
Essendon was interrupted at the twenty-minute mark of the third quarter when
Waverley Park lost power, causing the floodlights to go off. The remaining 24 minutes was played three nights later on Tuesday, 11 June.[1]
Subsequently, the AFL introduced contingencies that a game could be abandoned, with the progress result accepted as final at any point beyond half time, at the agreement of the captains when (a) any unexpected incident delays a game by an hour, or (b) if dangerous weather conditions, most typically lightning, prevail.
Footscray's 1996 season became the subject of the sports film, Year of the Dogs, which was released theatrically the following year.
After their round 17 loss to Collingwood, caretaker coach
Terry Wallace infamously sprayed the players during his post-match address.[2]
North Melbourne received a special gold-coloured premiership cup, instead of the typical silver, to signify what the AFL had represented as its Centenary Season throughout 1996. (Note: 1996 was the VFL/AFL's hundredth season, which by strictest definition is not the same as the centenary year, which would have been in 1997).
Sydney recorded its first finals win since 1945 in the qualifying final against Hawthorn, and reached its first grand final since the same season (as South Melbourne).
The season is perhaps best remembered for its preliminary final between minor premiers
Sydney and sixth-placed
Essendon. With scores level on 10.9 (69), Sydney's
Tony Lockett scored a behind with a kick after the siren to win the game, and sent the Swans into their first Grand Final since 1945.
Lockett had been under an injury cloud with a groin problem during the preceding week, and there was some doubt whether he would play.
The 1996 AFL season was the 100th season of the
Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior
Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixteen clubs and ran from 29 March until 28 September. It comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs, as well as several celebrations of the league's centenary.
Note: The opening four matches of this round replicated the opening round of the inaugural
1897 VFL season, with Essendon and Geelong playing each other on the day of the 99th anniversary.
Note: Ben Hart took the mark of the year in Adelaide's win over St Kilda.
Note: Fitzroy's victory was the last win they had in the AFL before departing.
NOTE: St Kilda vs Essendon match on Saturday night was disrupted by a power failure during the third quarter, resulting the match being completed the following week on the Tuesday night with 2 12-minutes halves.
Note: The SCG match was the Swans' first finals win since the
1945 second semi-final, when they were known as South Melbourne. This is the longest period for any club in VFL/AFL history without winning a final.
Note: West Coast Eagles played its home final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground despite being ranked above Essendon, due to the agreement then in place with the
Melbourne Cricket Club that at least one game each week of the finals be played at the ground.
Note: Last game of Brisbane Bears before merger with Fitzroy Lions to become Brisbane Lions.
Note: Tony Lockett kicked a behind after the siren to send the Swans to the grand final for the first time since South Melbourne's last appearance in 1945.
Note: Essendon became the first team in VFL/AFL history to lose two finals in the same season by one point.
North Melbourne's
Corey McKernan received the same number of
Brownlow Medal votes as the joint-winners James Hird and Michael Voss, but was ineligible to receive a medal as McKernan was suspended for one match during the season for kneeing. McKernan went on to win the
AFL Players Association MVP, which is not subject to the same eligibility criteria.
The Round 10 game between
St Kilda and
Essendon was interrupted at the twenty-minute mark of the third quarter when
Waverley Park lost power, causing the floodlights to go off. The remaining 24 minutes was played three nights later on Tuesday, 11 June.[1]
Subsequently, the AFL introduced contingencies that a game could be abandoned, with the progress result accepted as final at any point beyond half time, at the agreement of the captains when (a) any unexpected incident delays a game by an hour, or (b) if dangerous weather conditions, most typically lightning, prevail.
Footscray's 1996 season became the subject of the sports film, Year of the Dogs, which was released theatrically the following year.
After their round 17 loss to Collingwood, caretaker coach
Terry Wallace infamously sprayed the players during his post-match address.[2]
North Melbourne received a special gold-coloured premiership cup, instead of the typical silver, to signify what the AFL had represented as its Centenary Season throughout 1996. (Note: 1996 was the VFL/AFL's hundredth season, which by strictest definition is not the same as the centenary year, which would have been in 1997).
Sydney recorded its first finals win since 1945 in the qualifying final against Hawthorn, and reached its first grand final since the same season (as South Melbourne).
The season is perhaps best remembered for its preliminary final between minor premiers
Sydney and sixth-placed
Essendon. With scores level on 10.9 (69), Sydney's
Tony Lockett scored a behind with a kick after the siren to win the game, and sent the Swans into their first Grand Final since 1945.
Lockett had been under an injury cloud with a groin problem during the preceding week, and there was some doubt whether he would play.