1945 VFL season

Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1945.

Premiership season

In 1945, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus one substitute player, known as the 19th man. A player could be substituted for any reason; however, once substituted, a player could not return to the field of play under any circumstances.

Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 20 rounds; matches 12 to 20 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 9.

The determination of the 1945 season's fixtures were greatly complicated by the fact that both the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the Lake Oval were appropriated for military use and, because of this, Melbourne shared the Punt Road Oval with Richmond as their home ground, and South Melbourne shared the Junction Oval with St Kilda as their home ground.

Once the 20 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1945 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the "Page-McIntyre system".

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Ladder

Finals

Semi finals

Preliminary Final

Grand final

Carlton defeated South Melbourne 15.13 (103) to 10.15 (75), in front of a crowd of 62,986 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Awards

• The 1945 VFL Premiership team was Carlton.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Fred Fanning of Melbourne with 67 goals.
• No Brownlow Medal was awarded in 1945.
• St Kilda took the "wooden spoon" in 1945.

Notable events

• The home-and-away season is expanded to 20 rounds.
• In round 1 and round 3, Essendon thrashes Hawthorn and Carlton by 71 and 100 points respectively whilst kicking precisely the same score: 22.18 (150).
• South Melbourne's captain and Brownlow Medal winner Herbie Matthews and South Melbourne forward Keith Smith were dropped from the round 13 match by their club for refusing to play in the positions they were directed to play in.
• The Grand Final between South Melbourne and Carlton was marred by extreme on-field violence and brawling from both teams. (see 1945 VFL Grand Final).
• After its round 14 loss to Essendon, Carlton won its next nine consecutive matches (including the Grand Final).
• Carlton's 1945 premiership win was the first time since the "Page-McIntyre system" had been adopted in 1931 that a team from fourth place on the home-and-away ladder (i.e., a team that had no "double chance") had won the Grand Final.

References

• Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897-1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998. ISBN 0-670-90809-6
• Ross, J. (ed), 100 Years of Australian Football 1897-1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported, Viking, (Ringwood), 1996. ISBN 0-670-86814-0

External links

• 1945 Season - AFL Tables