1984 VFL Grand Final

The 1984 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Essendon Football Club and Hawthorn Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 29 September 1984. It was the 88th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1984 VFL season. The match, attended by 92,685 spectators, was won by Essendon by a margin of 24 points, marking that club's 13th premiership victory.

Background

It was a Grand Final rematch of the previous season's Grand Final in which Hawthorn defeated Essendon by a then record 83 points. Essendon topped the home and away season ladder—a game clear of their Grand Final opponents; however, Hawthorn won both home and away contests between the two teams. Despite winning 12 previous grand finals, Essendon came into the match without a premiership since their 1965 victory over St Kilda, who were coached by current Hawthorn coach Allan Jeans.^[1]

In the finals series leading up to the Grand Final, the Hawks defeated Carlton by 30 points in the Qualifying Final before meeting the Bombers in the Second Semi-Final, which Hawthorn won by 8 points to advance to the Grand Final. After their loss in the Second Semi-Final, the Bombers obliterated Collingwood in the Preliminary Final by 133 points on the back of a 28 goal performance to advance to the Grand Final.

Match summary

Hawthorn dominated the game early and kicked the first four goals on an unseasonably cool day. Leon Baker got one back for Essendon but Hawthorn continued to apply scoreboard pressure and 11 minutes into the second quarter they extend their lead to 33 points. Essendon, despite getting more possession, made little impact in front of goals, but when Bombers kicked their second for the match, by Billy Duckworth, they remained in touch and trailed by 25 points at the half time break.

The third quarter was a low scoring affair, more notable for the changes to field positions that Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy applied in an attempt to stem the flow of Hawthorn goals. While common today, at the time it was very unusual for a coach to make such radical changes as shifting backline players to the forward line and vice-versa. Paul Weston was shifted from defence to centre half forward, captain Terry Daniher was moved to defence, while another defender, Peter Bradbury, was moved to half-forward. With these positional changes, Essendon managed to get within three goals of the lead, but Dermott Brereton kicked a late goal for Hawthorn to give them a 23 point lead going into the final term.

Baker goaled for Essendon in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter from a scintillating blind turn, giving the Bombers the early momentum, and minutes later Bradbury kicked a goal from the back of a pack. Essendon's charge continued when the ball made its way to Duckworth at half forward who passed it to an unmanned Mark Thompson who put it through, 40 metres out and directly in front. The Bombers won the ball from the following centre bounce and Darren Williams kicked towards the right half forward flank where it bounced favourably for Baker who evaded Hawks defender David O'Halloran to goal and give Essendon the lead eight minutes into the quarter.

Hawthorn were back in front when Peter Curran goaled from a 15 metre penalty but Essendon soon regained their advantage when Roger Merrett took a pack mark in the goal square before converting. Weston extended Essendon's lead to 11 points minutes later and then Tim Watson goaled twice to seal the comeback win for Essendon. The Bombers kicked 9.6 in the final term to break free from the Hawks. It would not be until 2009 that another team would win the Grand Final from a three-quarter time deficit.

The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Duckworth for being judged the best player afield. Watson, Baker,Mark Harvey, Shane Heard and Neil Clarke were also prominent for the Bombers, while Richard Loveridge, Gary Ayres, Peter Schwab, Terry Wallace and Chris Mew were the best for Hawthorn.

Essendon's win ended a 17-year streak during which only Hawthorn, Richmond, Carlton and North Melbourne had won the premiership.

The attendance of 92,685 was the smallest at an MCG Grand Final for 29 years. Space for 44,000 MCC and VFL Park members was taken by only 31,000. The breezy and cool conditions in the wake of a heavy overnight hailstorm was seen to discourage many spectators from attending.

Ten players from this game later went on to become senior VFL/AFL coaches.

Teams

Goalkickers

Notes

References

• Main, Jim (2001). More than a century of AFL Grand Finals. Pennon Publishing. ISBN 1-877029-00-9. 
• The Official statistical history of the AFL 2004
• 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

See also

• 1984 VFL season