The 2006 AFL season was the 110th 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, ran from 30 March until 30 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a
finals series featuring the top eight clubs.
The
AFL siren controversy occurred in this round between
St Kilda and
Fremantle. Play had continued on for 10 seconds after the final siren as St Kilda had kicked a behind and scores were level due to umpires unable to hear the siren. Three days later, the
AFL Commission had determined that the match officially ended on the final siren and therefore reversed the result. Fremantle got rewarded with the win and 4 points on the ladder as St Kilda had their 2 points stripped from the ladder.
West Coast came back from 54 points down during the third quarter of its game vs
Geelong to win by three, it is the biggest comeback to win a game in the Eagles history.
This round was marketed as
Heritage Round with clubs wearing heritage style jumpers.
Port Adelaide were the only club that didn't wear a Heritage Round jumper due to not being able to wear their "Prison bar" SANFL jumper.
The match between
Essendon and
Carlton was in the lead dubbed the "
Bryce Gibbs Cup" with both teams in the lead up with Gibbs the favourite (and ending up being) to be the number 1 pick of that years draft. Ultimately the match ended as a draw.
The
Collingwood v
North Melbourne match was the last game that was broadcast on
Nine Network. The following season the
Seven Network would replace Nine as the AFL free-to-air rights with
Network Ten. The game between
Hawthorn and
Geelong was ultimately the last game broadcast on the
Fox Footy Channel. It was also meant to be the last on
Foxtel, but early the following year it was announced it would retain the rights as subscription rights holder. However, the Fox Footy Channel did not return.
The
Coleman Medal was awarded to
Brendan Fevola from
Carlton. It was the first time since
1965 that the season's leading goalkicker came from the wooden spoon side, and the fourth (and, as of 2022, most recent) time overall.[2]
The
Melbourne Cricket Ground was unavailable until round 4, due to its use as the main athletics stadium at the
2006 Commonwealth Games, which concluded just four days prior to the season starting.
Matthew Lloyd, in only his third game as
Essendon captain, injured his hamstring against the
Western Bulldogs, ending his season.[4][5] This marked the Bulldogs' first victory over Essendon since inflicting their
only defeat of the2000 season. Despite a first round thrashing of reigning premiers
Sydney, in which Lloyd kicked eight goals on
Leo Barry,[6][7] Essendon would suffer its worst season since
1933, winning only two further matches and drawing one against
Carlton, and just avoiding the
wooden spoon to the Blues on percentage.[8]
In Round 5,
Fremantle and
St Kilda's game ended in
controversy after the final siren was not heard by umpires, with the extra time allowing St Kilda to level the scores – the result was changed by the AFL commission later in the week on the basis that the timekeeper had failed to perform his duties.
The amended result proved crucial to the end-of-season ladder standings, because had the draw stood, St Kilda would have finished in the top four at the expense of reigning premiers Sydney, which would've finished fifth and therefore missed out on the double chance in the finals.[9]
Richmond suffered three 100-point losses in season 2006, against the
Western Bulldogs in round 1 (115 points),
Sydney in round 7 (118 points) and
St Kilda in round 17 (103 points).
A struggling Richmond team defeated league-leaders Adelaide in round 8 in an often-discussed game. To counteract Adelaide's strong flood, Richmond slowly built up a lead by patiently controlling the football without ever kicking to a contest, a move described as both boring and brilliant. In the final quarter, Adelaide were forced to switch to man-on-man tactics, almost erasing the deficit, but falling three points short. In executing this plan, Richmond took 181 marks, which is the highest amount ever (recorded since 1987).
In round 8,
Brendan Fevola became the first player to kick all of his team's goals in a game since
Mark Arceri in 1991 (also while playing for Carlton, kicking their only goal). Of Carlton's 4.10 (34), Fevola contributed 4.5 (29),
Simon Wiggins scored two behinds, and three behinds were rushed. He also became the first player in 41 years to win a
Coleman Medal from the wooden spoon winning side.
St Kilda broke two long winning droughts at the SCG and the Gabba by beating Sydney and Brisbane in rounds 11 and 22 respectively. The latter match was
Michael Voss' final game for the Lions.
For the first time in VFL/AFL history, four non-Victorian teams filled the top four with
West Coast,
Adelaide,
Fremantle and
Sydney all earning the double chance. The remainder of the top eight were filled by teams based in Victoria.
Bottom teams
Essendon and
Carlton had a draw in round 16, 2006. Carlton's
Eddie Betts scored the match-tying goal with under one minute remaining to deny Essendon what would have been just their second win for the season. Essendon would eventually achieve that the following week. This match was dubbed the "
Bryce Gibbs Cup", named after the young
Glenelg midfielder who was expected to be, and ultimately was, drafted with the first pick at the end of the year, by the media as both teams were firmly rooted to the bottom of the ladder leading into their match.
In the second Qualifying Final,
Sydney beat minor premiers
West Coast by a solitary point, the final scores reading 85 to 84. When the teams met again in the grand final, the final scores were also 85 to 84, but it was West Coast that claimed the victory.
A major flaw of the fixture was that the previous season's Grand Finalists, West Coast and Sydney, did not meet until round 15 of the regular season.[10] The 294-day wait between the
2005 Grand Final and their round 15 rematch on July 15 set a record for the longest wait between a Grand Final and the rematch, until this was surpassed in 2020 (a 300-day wait for
Richmond and
Greater Western Sydney between their meeting in the
2019 Grand Final and their rematch in
Round 8 of the COVID-19-affected 2020 season).[11]
The 2006 AFL season was the 110th 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, ran from 30 March until 30 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a
finals series featuring the top eight clubs.
The
AFL siren controversy occurred in this round between
St Kilda and
Fremantle. Play had continued on for 10 seconds after the final siren as St Kilda had kicked a behind and scores were level due to umpires unable to hear the siren. Three days later, the
AFL Commission had determined that the match officially ended on the final siren and therefore reversed the result. Fremantle got rewarded with the win and 4 points on the ladder as St Kilda had their 2 points stripped from the ladder.
West Coast came back from 54 points down during the third quarter of its game vs
Geelong to win by three, it is the biggest comeback to win a game in the Eagles history.
This round was marketed as
Heritage Round with clubs wearing heritage style jumpers.
Port Adelaide were the only club that didn't wear a Heritage Round jumper due to not being able to wear their "Prison bar" SANFL jumper.
The match between
Essendon and
Carlton was in the lead dubbed the "
Bryce Gibbs Cup" with both teams in the lead up with Gibbs the favourite (and ending up being) to be the number 1 pick of that years draft. Ultimately the match ended as a draw.
The
Collingwood v
North Melbourne match was the last game that was broadcast on
Nine Network. The following season the
Seven Network would replace Nine as the AFL free-to-air rights with
Network Ten. The game between
Hawthorn and
Geelong was ultimately the last game broadcast on the
Fox Footy Channel. It was also meant to be the last on
Foxtel, but early the following year it was announced it would retain the rights as subscription rights holder. However, the Fox Footy Channel did not return.
The
Coleman Medal was awarded to
Brendan Fevola from
Carlton. It was the first time since
1965 that the season's leading goalkicker came from the wooden spoon side, and the fourth (and, as of 2022, most recent) time overall.[2]
The
Melbourne Cricket Ground was unavailable until round 4, due to its use as the main athletics stadium at the
2006 Commonwealth Games, which concluded just four days prior to the season starting.
Matthew Lloyd, in only his third game as
Essendon captain, injured his hamstring against the
Western Bulldogs, ending his season.[4][5] This marked the Bulldogs' first victory over Essendon since inflicting their
only defeat of the2000 season. Despite a first round thrashing of reigning premiers
Sydney, in which Lloyd kicked eight goals on
Leo Barry,[6][7] Essendon would suffer its worst season since
1933, winning only two further matches and drawing one against
Carlton, and just avoiding the
wooden spoon to the Blues on percentage.[8]
In Round 5,
Fremantle and
St Kilda's game ended in
controversy after the final siren was not heard by umpires, with the extra time allowing St Kilda to level the scores – the result was changed by the AFL commission later in the week on the basis that the timekeeper had failed to perform his duties.
The amended result proved crucial to the end-of-season ladder standings, because had the draw stood, St Kilda would have finished in the top four at the expense of reigning premiers Sydney, which would've finished fifth and therefore missed out on the double chance in the finals.[9]
Richmond suffered three 100-point losses in season 2006, against the
Western Bulldogs in round 1 (115 points),
Sydney in round 7 (118 points) and
St Kilda in round 17 (103 points).
A struggling Richmond team defeated league-leaders Adelaide in round 8 in an often-discussed game. To counteract Adelaide's strong flood, Richmond slowly built up a lead by patiently controlling the football without ever kicking to a contest, a move described as both boring and brilliant. In the final quarter, Adelaide were forced to switch to man-on-man tactics, almost erasing the deficit, but falling three points short. In executing this plan, Richmond took 181 marks, which is the highest amount ever (recorded since 1987).
In round 8,
Brendan Fevola became the first player to kick all of his team's goals in a game since
Mark Arceri in 1991 (also while playing for Carlton, kicking their only goal). Of Carlton's 4.10 (34), Fevola contributed 4.5 (29),
Simon Wiggins scored two behinds, and three behinds were rushed. He also became the first player in 41 years to win a
Coleman Medal from the wooden spoon winning side.
St Kilda broke two long winning droughts at the SCG and the Gabba by beating Sydney and Brisbane in rounds 11 and 22 respectively. The latter match was
Michael Voss' final game for the Lions.
For the first time in VFL/AFL history, four non-Victorian teams filled the top four with
West Coast,
Adelaide,
Fremantle and
Sydney all earning the double chance. The remainder of the top eight were filled by teams based in Victoria.
Bottom teams
Essendon and
Carlton had a draw in round 16, 2006. Carlton's
Eddie Betts scored the match-tying goal with under one minute remaining to deny Essendon what would have been just their second win for the season. Essendon would eventually achieve that the following week. This match was dubbed the "
Bryce Gibbs Cup", named after the young
Glenelg midfielder who was expected to be, and ultimately was, drafted with the first pick at the end of the year, by the media as both teams were firmly rooted to the bottom of the ladder leading into their match.
In the second Qualifying Final,
Sydney beat minor premiers
West Coast by a solitary point, the final scores reading 85 to 84. When the teams met again in the grand final, the final scores were also 85 to 84, but it was West Coast that claimed the victory.
A major flaw of the fixture was that the previous season's Grand Finalists, West Coast and Sydney, did not meet until round 15 of the regular season.[10] The 294-day wait between the
2005 Grand Final and their round 15 rematch on July 15 set a record for the longest wait between a Grand Final and the rematch, until this was surpassed in 2020 (a 300-day wait for
Richmond and
Greater Western Sydney between their meeting in the
2019 Grand Final and their rematch in
Round 8 of the COVID-19-affected 2020 season).[11]