1997 AFL Grand Final

1997 AFL Grand Final
Home Team	Adelaide
Away Team	St Kilda
Date	27 September 1997
Stadium	MCG
City	Melbourne
TV in Australia
Network	Seven Network
Announcers	Bruce McAvaney, Dennis Cometti and Sandy Roberts
< 1996 • AFL Grand Final • 1998 >

The 1997 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Adelaide Crows and the St. Kilda Saints, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 27 September 1997. It was the 101st annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1997 AFL season. The match, attended by 99,645 spectators, was won by Adelaide by a margin of 31 points, marking that club's first premiership victory.

Background

The 1997 Grand Final saw the Saints playing in their first premiership decider since losing the 1971 VFL Grand Final, whilst the Crows were appearing in their first Grand Final since entering the competition in 1991.

At the conclusion of the home and away season, St. Kilda had finished first on the AFL ladder with 15 wins and 7 losses, winning the McClelland Trophy. They had won their last seven matches. Adelaide, with former Woodville and North Melbourne star Malcolm Blight taking over as coach, had finished fourth (behind Geelong and the Western Bulldogs) with 13 wins and 9 losses. They had made the finals for only the second time in their club history, after losing in a Preliminary Final in 1993 to eventual premiers Essendon. Tony Modra was the club's leading goalkicker for the fifth straight season with a total of 84.

Adelaide won their Qualifying Final encounter against West Coast at Football Park by 33 points, but still needed to play a Semi Final against Geelong which they won by 8 points, again at Football Park. They then progressed to the Preliminary Final against the Western Bulldogs, a match in which they came from behind to snatch victory by just two points. It was, at that time, the greatest victory in the Crows' team history. However, in this game Adelaide lost Modra in the first quarter to an ACL injury, meaning he would not be available for the Grand Final.

St Kilda won their Qualifying Final against the eighth placed Brisbane Lions by 46 points at Waverley Park before a sparse crowd, sending them to a home Preliminary Final against seventh placed North Melbourne at the MCG, which they won by 31 points. The Saints went into the Grand Final as heavy favourites.

St Kilda's Robert Harvey won the Brownlow Medal earlier in the week for having been the best player in the AFL for the 1997 season. Western Bulldogs player Chris Grant polled the highest number of votes, but as he had been suspended for a one match ban - in Round 7 against Hawthorn for striking - he was deemed ineligible for the award.^[1]

Match summary

It was an exciting Grand Final, and despite St Kilda leading by 13 points at half time, Adelaide won by 5 goals, kicking 8 goals in the final quarter. Adelaide became the first team to win four consecutive finals to claim a premiership.

Andrew McLeod won his first Norm Smith Medal for being judged the best player afield. Shane Ellen, typically a defensive player for the Crows, provided a cameo at full-forward in place of Modra with five goals, while Darren Jarman booted five of his six goals in the last quarter to seal the game. Other influential Crows players included Shaun Rehn, Kane Johnson, David Pittman, Troy Bond and Ben Hart.

St Kilda's Austinn Jones kicked the goal of the match, or what could have been goal of the year. In an effort reminiscent of Phil Manassa in the replayed 1977 Grand Final, Jones ran almost the full length of the ground and kicked the goal from the boundary. Saints forward Barry Hall, who kicked three goals, played in a premiership winning team for the Sydney Swans in 2005.

Adelaide went on to win its second consecutive premiership the following year, whilst St Kilda had to wait until 2009 for another shot at the premiership, but again were denied by Geelong in what was one of the closest Grand Finals in recent history.

Teams

Match details

See also

• 1997 AFL season

References

Match Stats

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