1997 AFL season

The 1997 AFL season was the 101st 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 ran from 27 March until 27 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs.

For the 1997 season of the Arena Football League, see 1997 Arena Football League season.
1997 AFL premiership season
Teams16
PremiersAdelaide
1st premiership
Minor premiersSt Kilda
2nd minor premiership
Pre-season cupCarlton
1st pre-season cup win
Brownlow MedallistRobert Harvey (St Kilda)
Leading goalkickerTony Modra (Adelaide)
Attendance
Matches played185
Total attendance6,402,997 (34,611 per match)
Highest99,645 (Grand Final, Adelaide vs. St Kilda)

Before the season, the Port Adelaide Football Club (SANFL) was admitted to the league, increasing the South Australian membership to two clubs. Foundation club Fitzroy, which had gone into administration in 1996, merged with the Brisbane Bears to form a new Queensland-based club known as the Brisbane Lions. The Footscray Football Club changed its name to the Western Bulldogs. With these changes, the league's size remained at sixteen clubs.

The premiership was won by the Adelaide Football Club for the first time, after it defeated St Kilda by 31 points in the 1997 AFL Grand Final.

Premiership season

Round 1
Round 1
Thursday, 27 March (7:40 pm) North Melbourne 7.13 (55) def. by Melbourne 10.10 (70) MCG (crowd: 35,802) Report
Saturday, 29 March (2:10 pm) Collingwood 26.10 (166) def. Port Adelaide 13.9 (87) MCG (crowd: 51,883) Report
Saturday, 29 March (2:10 pm) Western Bulldogs 11.10 (76) def. by Fremantle 10.20 (80) Optus Oval (crowd: 8,664) Report
Saturday, 29 March (7:40 pm) St Kilda 10.11 (71) def. by Hawthorn 11.11 (77) Waverley Park (crowd: 35,732) Report
Saturday, 29 March (6:40 pm) West Coast 12.6 (78) def. Sydney 5.7 (37) Subiaco Oval (crowd: 29,965) Report
Sunday, 30 March (1:40 pm) Adelaide 20.12 (132) def. Brisbane Lions 14.12 (96) Football Park (crowd: 36,602) Report
Sunday, 30 March (2:10 pm) Richmond 15.14 (104) def. Geelong 13.17 (95) MCG (crowd: 48,358) Report
Monday, 31 March (2:10 pm) Essendon 16.10 (106) def. Carlton 15.9 (99) MCG (crowd: 82,363) Report
  • Port Adelaide endured a disappointing AFL debut at the MCG in front of over 50,000 spectators, with Collingwood jumping out to a 22-point lead at quarter time and extending the lead at each change to run out comfortable 79-point winners. Speedy midfielder Paul Williams was considered best-on-ground with 30 touches and 4 goals, while Nathan Buckley (who won a Magarey with Port in the SANFL) racked up 23 kicks and Saverio Rocca made the most of limited opportunities to kick six goals. For Port, Donald Dickie (26 touches), Fabian Francis (20 touches, 2 goals) and eventual Rising Star winner Michael Wilson were among Port's better players.
  • The Easter Monday clash between Essendon and Carlton is best remembered not for its close finish but for what happened after the game. The ongoing feud between Sean Denham and Greg Williams (which had stemmed from the 1993 Grand final) had reached a critical point, with both players engaged in a heated argument before umpire Andrew Coates tried to intervene, only to be pushed away by Williams. Despite the innocuous nature of the contact, the AFL Tribunal suspended Williams for nine matches.[1] The incident was one of football's major talking points that year, leading to a Supreme Court battle between Carlton and the AFL, and eventually the establishment of the AFL Appeals Board.

Ladder

1997 AFL ladder
Pos Team Pld W L D PF PA PP Pts
1 St Kilda 22 15 7 0 2294 1918 119.6 60 Finals
2 Geelong 22 15 7 0 2111 1791 117.9 60
3 Western Bulldogs 22 14 8 0 2100 2062 101.8 56
4 Adelaide (P) 22 13 9 0 2151 1769 121.6 52
5 West Coast 22 13 9 0 1969 1770 111.2 52
6 Sydney 22 12 10 0 2093 1801 116.2 48
7 North Melbourne 22 12 10 0 2051 1835 111.8 48
8 Brisbane Lions 22 10 11 1 2076 1973 105.2 42
9 Port Adelaide 22 10 11 1 1852 2017 91.8 42
10 Collingwood 22 10 12 0 2138 1919 111.4 40
11 Carlton 22 10 12 0 1978 2045 96.7 40
12 Fremantle 22 10 12 0 1748 1902 91.9 40
13 Richmond 22 10 12 0 1883 2253 83.6 40
14 Essendon 22 9 13 0 2004 2170 92.4 36
15 Hawthorn 22 8 14 0 1873 2144 87.4 32
16 Melbourne 22 4 18 0 1477 2429 60.8 16
Source: AFL ladder
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

Ladder progression
  Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 8.
  Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
  Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round.
Team ╲ Round12345678910111213141516171819202122
St Kilda00444812162020242828323236404448525660
Geelong0448121620242428282832364044444848525660
Western Bulldogs04812121620202428323236404040404044485256
Adelaide44448812162024282828323636404448485252
West Coast44812161620202424242828283232364044484852
Sydney004881212121616202428283236404444484848
North Melbourne044481212161620242828282832364044444848
Brisbane Lions044888881216162024283236364040424242
Port Adelaide0048121616162024242832323236404040424242
Collingwood4888121620242424242424242828323232363640
Carlton00488812162020242428282832323236364040
Fremantle4888121216202020202424282832363640404040
Richmond48812121212161616202020202424242828323640
Essendon481212121616161616161620242424242428283236
Hawthorn4488121212121216202428323232323232323232
Melbourne444444444888881212121212121216
Source:

Finals series

Week one
Qualifying finals
QF2: Saturday, 6 September (2:30 pm) Western Bulldogs 18.11 (119) def. Sydney 12.12 (84) MCG (crowd: 62,432) Report
QF1: Sunday, 7 September (2:30 pm) Adelaide 14.15 (99) def. West Coast 9.12 (66) Football Park (crowd: 43,761) Report
QF4: Sunday, 7 September (2:30 pm) St Kilda 20.15 (135) def. Brisbane Lions 13.11 (89) Waverley Park (crowd: 50,035) Report
QF3: Sunday, 7 September (7:00 pm) Geelong 9.7 (61) def. by North Melbourne 11.13 (79) MCG (crowd: 55,561) Report

Week two
Semi-finals
SF1: Saturday, 13 September (2:30 pm) North Melbourne 15.8 (98) def. West Coast 12.13 (85) MCG (crowd: 55,781) Report
SF2: Saturday, 13 September (7:45 pm) Adelaide 11.10 (76) def. Geelong 9.14 (68) Football Park (crowd: 46,319) Report

Week three
Preliminary finals
PF2: Friday, 19 September (7:45 pm) St Kilda 15.14 (104) def. North Melbourne 11.7 (73) MCG (crowd: 77,531) Report
PF1: Saturday, 20 September (2:30 pm) Western Bulldogs 13.13 (91) def. by Adelaide 12.21 (93) MCG (crowd: 70,088) Report

Week four
Main article: 1997 AFL Grand Final
Grand final
Saturday, 27 September (2:45 pm) St Kilda 13.16 (94) def. by Adelaide 19.11 (125) MCG (crowd: 99,645) Report
  • This was the first appearance in a grand final for Adelaide.

Attendance
TeamHostedAverageHighestLowestTotalLast Season+/-
Essendon1152,84883,27125,636581,33049,526+ 3322
Collingwood1148,70878,70423,433535,78944,723+ 3985
Adelaide1140,17347,25636,297441,90539,428+ 745
Port Adelaide1135,82945,49831,757394,11511,017*+ 24812*
Sydney1135,81846,16823,598393,99924,574+ 11244
St Kilda1135,23254,69917,752387,55327,137+ 8095
Richmond1134,51558,81215,461379,67038,624- 4109
Carlton1133,63461,65018,187369,97235,891- 2257
West Coast1132,58239,29421,164358,40132,448+ 134
North Melbourne1132,52054,90113,056357,72534,627- 2107
Hawthorn1132,38051,49415,939356,17923,624+ 8756
Geelong1128,32465,22816,467311,56725,161+ 3163
Melbourne1127,71461,13813,392304,85330,315- 2601
Fremantle1121,98239,71114,721241,80122,473- 491
Brisbane Lions1119,55021,34817,123215,051N/AN/A
Western Bulldogs1119,33535,4388664212,68118,073+ 1262
Totals17633,19783,27186645842,59129,637+ 3560
VenueHostedAverageHighestLowestTotalLast Season+/-
MCG5343,48883,27113,3922,304,86546,114- 2626
Football Park2238,00147,25631,757836,02039,428- 1427
SCG1135,81846,16823,598393,99924,574+ 11,244
Waverley Park2233,80654,69915,939743,73225,545+ 8261
Subiaco Oval1728,37139,71114,721482,31028,289+ 82
Whitten Oval126,70426,70426,70426,70410,482+ 16,222
Victoria Park324,47325,32323,43373,41923,581+ 892
WACA523,57829,83818,198117,89225,253- 1675
Kardinia Park921,26924,09916,467191,41722,670- 1401
Optus Oval2220,78134,9228664457,18215,641+ 5140
Gabba1119,55021,34817,123215,05118,088+ 1462
Totals17633,19783,27186645842,59129,637+ 3560

Notable events
  • The last AFL game at Whitten Oval was played.
  • St Kilda finished on top of the ladder (prior to the finals) to claim the minor premiership, despite losing 7 matches in the home and away season. No team before or since has finished on top with that many losses, which highlights the evenness of the 1997 season. St Kilda would also play in their first preliminary final since 1972 and reach their first grand final since 1971.
  • The first qualifying final between Adelaide and West Coast was rescheduled from Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon to allow the Seven Network to screen the funeral of Princess Diana live across Australia.[2] This meant that it was played at the same time as the fourth qualifying final between minor premiers St Kilda and the Brisbane Lions, who were competing in their first season as a merged entity. The game is also notable for being the first ever final between two non-Victorian teams.
  • Gary Ablett Sr., arguably one of the games best and most well known players, officially announced his retirement during the Preliminary Final weekend. Ablett failed to play a game in 1997 due to a knee injury.

References
  1. "Eight of the longest AFL suspensions". Zero Hanger. 7 August 2018.
  2. Warner, Michael; Ralph, Jon; Wade, Nick (4 July 2015). "Cats game cancelled". Geelong Advertiser. Retrieved 30 October 2015.

See also
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