2001 AFL season

The 2001 AFL season was the 105th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured sixteen clubs, ran from 30 March until 29 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs.

For the 2001 season of the Arena Football League, see 2001 Arena Football League season.

2001 AFL premiership season
Teams16
PremiersBrisbane Lions
1st premiership
Minor premiersEssendon
17th minor premiership
Pre-season cupPort Adelaide
1st pre-season cup win
Brownlow MedallistJason Akermanis (Brisbane Lions)
Leading goalkickerMatthew Lloyd (Essendon)
Attendance
Matches played185
Total attendance6,447,560 (34,852 per match)
Highest91,482 (Grand Final, Brisbane Lions vs. Essendon)

The premiership was won by the Brisbane Lions for the first time, after it defeated Essendon by 26 points in the AFL Grand Final.

AFL Draft

See 2001 AFL Draft.

Ansett Australia Cup
Main article: 2001 Ansett Australia Cup

Port Adelaide defeated the Brisbane Lions 17.9 (111) to 3.8 (26) in the grand final.

Premiership season

Round 16
See also: Essendon vs Kangaroos match in the 2001 AFL season

Round 18

Fremantle claimed their first win of the season in their match against Hawthorn.

Ladder

All teams played 22 games during the home-and-away season, for a total of 176. An additional nine games were played during the finals series.

2001 AFL ladder
Pos Team Pld W L D PF PA PP Pts
1 Essendon 22 17 5 0 2548 1895 134.5 68 Finals series
2 Brisbane Lions (P) 22 17 5 0 2538 1989 127.6 68
3 Port Adelaide 22 16 6 0 2473 1918 128.9 64
4 Richmond 22 15 7 0 2126 1973 107.8 60
5 Carlton 22 14 8 0 2311 1797 128.6 56
6 Hawthorn 22 13 9 0 2149 2041 105.3 52
7 Sydney 22 12 10 0 2121 1833 115.7 48
8 Adelaide 22 12 10 0 2085 2026 102.9 48
9 Collingwood 22 11 11 0 2232 2088 106.9 44
10 Western Bulldogs 22 10 12 0 2305 2458 93.8 40
11 Melbourne 22 10 12 0 2136 2364 90.4 40
12 Geelong 22 9 13 0 1926 2054 93.8 36
13 Kangaroos 22 9 13 0 2161 2371 91.1 36
14 West Coast 22 5 17 0 1708 2590 65.9 20
15 St Kilda 22 4 18 0 1917 2642 72.6 16
16 Fremantle 22 2 20 0 1794 2491 72.0 8
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
Essendon48812162024283232364044485256565660646868
Brisbane Lions044481216161620242832364044485256606468
Port Adelaide44812162024242832323232364040444852566064
Richmond44812162020202024283236363640444848525660
Carlton4488121216202428283236363640404444485256
Hawthorn481216202428323232323636404044484852525252
Sydney481212121212121620242424283236404444444848
Adelaide00048812162024242424283232363640444848
Collingwood048881212162020242832323232363640404044
Western Bulldogs04488812162020242828283236363636404040
Melbourne0488121616161620202020202424242828323640
Geelong4888888121616202024282832363636363636
Kangaroos0004448121216202024283232323236363636
West Coast00488888888812121212121620202020
St Kilda444448888881212121212121212121216
Fremantle0000000000000000044448
Source:

Finals series
Qualifying and elimination finalsSemi-finalsPreliminary finalsGrand Final
7 Sep, MCG
1Essendon17.11 (113)
4Richmond5.13 (43)15 Sep, MCG
Richmond10.7 (67)
8 Sep, MCGCarlton7.14 (56)22 Sep, MCG
5Carlton17.16 (118)Essendon11.10 (76)
8Adelaide6.14 (50)Hawthorn9.13 (67)29 Sep, MCG
Essendon12.10 (82)
9 Sep, Colonial Stadium22 Sep, The GabbaBrisbane Lions15.18 (108)
6Hawthorn19.11 (125)Brisbane Lions20.16 (136)
7Sydney11.8 (74)15 Sep, Football ParkRichmond10.8 (68)
Port Adelaide10.9 (69)
8 Sep, The GabbaHawthorn10.12 (72)
2Brisbane Lions12.16 (88)
3Port Adelaide8.8 (56)

Week one
Qualifying Finals
Friday 7 September (7:45 pm) Essendon 17.11 (113) def. Richmond 5.13 (43) MCG (crowd: 78,253)
Saturday 8 September (7:40 pm) Brisbane Lions 12.16 (88) def. Port Adelaide 8.8 (56) The Gabba (crowd: 32,380)
Elimination Finals
Saturday 8 September (2:30 pm) Carlton 17.16 (118) def. Adelaide 6.14 (50) MCG (crowd: 53,982)
Sunday 9 September (2:30 pm) Hawthorn 19.15 (129) def. Sydney 11.8 (74) Colonial Stadium (crowd: 32,910)

Week two
Semi-finals
Saturday 15 September (2:30 pm) Richmond 10.7 (67) def. Carlton 7.14 (56) MCG (crowd: 83,323)
Saturday 15 September (7:15 pm) Port Adelaide 10.9 (69) def. by Hawthorn 10.12 (72) Football Park (crowd: 30,613)

Week three
Preliminary Finals
Saturday 22 September (2:30 pm) Essendon 11.10 (76) def. Hawthorn 9.13 (67) MCG (crowd: 86,468)
Saturday 22 September (7:45 pm) Brisbane Lions 20.16 (136) def. Richmond 10.8 (68) The Gabba (crowd: 37,032)

Week four
Main article: 2001 AFL Grand Final
Grand Final
Saturday 29 September (2:30 pm) Essendon def. by Brisbane Lions MCG (crowd: 91,482)
3.2 (20)
8.6 (54)
9.8 (62)
 12.10 (82)		 Q1
Q2
Q3
 Final		 3.7 (25)
5.10 (40)
11.12 (78)
 15.18 (108)		 Umpires: McLaren , Ellis, James
Norm Smith Medal: Shaun Hart (Brisbane Lions)
Television broadcast: Seven Network
National anthem: Julie Anthony
Lloyd 5, Lucas 4, Caracella, Johnson, Moorcroft Goals Power 3, Akermanis 2, Brown 2, Lappin 2, Lynch 2, Ashcroft, Notting, Pike, Voss
Lloyd, Lucas, J. Johnson Best Hart, Johnson, Voss, Lappin, Power

Match attendance
TeamHostedAverageHighestLowestTotalLast YearUp/Down
Essendon1151,79083,90529,528569,68548,353+ 3437
Collingwood1149,97778,63826,067549,75145,012+ 4965
Richmond1146,12977,57625,856507,41644,012+ 2117
Adelaide1139,62746,85231,534435,89738,470+ 1157
Melbourne1134,06062,76112,566374,66537,599– 3499
West Coast Eagles1132,66941,28525,588359,36033,136– 467
Hawthorn1131,44952,47216,595346,49034,417– 2918
Carlton1131,26370,05115,622343,88934,414– 3151
Port Adelaide1130,78949,84622,423338,68326,377+ 4412
St Kilda1129,85040,78314,018328,35524,422+ 5428
Western Bulldogs1129,66048,72815,111326,26330,572– 912
Sydney1127,98240,13120,611307,80025,563+ 2419
Brisbane Lions1127,63836,14920,059304,01427,406+ 232
Geelong1127,09350,16014,298298,02427,729– 636
Kangaroos1126,99856,02810,030296,98322,092+ 4906
Fremantle1121,25838,80415,136233,84222,357– 1099
Totals17633,64383,90510,0305,921,11732,618+ 1025
VenueHostedAverageHighestLowestTotalLast YearUp/Down
MCG4447,42583,90517,5662086,71246,141+ 1284
Football Park2235,20849,84622,423774,58032,424+ 2784
Colonial Stadium4331,93950,70112,5661373,37130,524+ 1415
Gabba1227,31336,14920,059327,75427,406– 93
SCG1327,15940,13120,611353,06922,390+ 4769
Subiaco Oval2226,96441,28515,136593,20230,326– 3362
Optus Oval923,41730,06715,622210,75024,656– 1239
Shell Stadium721,44527,42114,298150,11422,108– 663
York Park117,46017,46017,46017,460N/AN/A
Manuka Oval311,36813,11710,03034,105N/AN/A
Totals17633,64383,90510,0305,921,11732,618+ 1025

Awards

Notable events
  • In their Round 16 match, Essendon trailed by 69 points 12 minutes into the second quarter against the Kangaroos, but recovered to record a high-scoring 12-point win. This presently stands as the largest ever comeback in a VFL/AFL game.
  • Melbourne and Collingwood began its annual tradition of playing each other at the M.C.G. in a Melbourne home game on Queen's Birthday Holiday, as the only AFL match of the day. The teams had met on the King's or Queen's Birthday Holiday sporadically in the past (1950, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1983, 1993, 1996 and 1999) as one of several games played on the day, with the 1958 game's attendance of 99,256 still enduring as the highest crowd for a non-final, but this was the first season that the fixture became annual, and the second time (after 1996) that the game was the only one played on the day.
  • The longest recorded quarter occurred during the Round 5 match between Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs. The second quarter went for 40 minutes and 39 seconds.
  • Fremantle lost their first 17 matches of the season in succession; having lost in the final round of the 2000 season, this took the Dockers' losing streak to 18, the longest drought since Sydney's 26 consecutive losses in 1992 and 1993.
  • During the season, it came to the attention of the AFL that in 2000 and 2001, the Brisbane Lions had been using a controversial but then-legal practice of rehydrating its players by use of intravenous saline drip during half-time and between matches. The half-time drips were administered through stents which were inserted into the players' elbows prior to the game and covered with tape during the game. The AFL was concerned about negative perceptions of the practice, and the Lions agreed in early September to immediately cease intravenous rehydration. The league banned the practice in the 2002 pre-season,[1][2] and the World Anti Doping Agency later banned the practice in 2007.[3]

References
  1. "2001 review". Footystats. Archived from the original on 27 June 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  2. "Football's bad medicine". The Australian. Melbourne, VIC. 7 February 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  3. Jacquelin Magnay (16 November 2007). "WADA tackles unsightliness with IV ban". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, NSW. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
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