1996 AFL season

For the 1996 season of the Arena Football League, see 1996 Arena Football League season.

The 1996 AFL season was the 100th 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 featured sixteen clubs and ran from 29 March until 28 September. It comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs, as well as several celebrations of the league's centenary.

1996 AFL premiership season
Teams	16
Premiers	North Melbourne 3rd premiership
Minor premiers	Sydney 7th minor premiership
Pre-season cup	St Kilda 1st pre-season cup win
Brownlow Medallist	James Hird (Essendon) Michael Voss (Brisbane Bears)
Coleman Medallist	Tony Lockett (Sydney)
Attendance
Matches played	185
Total attendance	5,694,921 (30,783 per match)
Highest	93,102 (Grand Final, North Melbourne vs. Sydney)

The premiership was won by the North Melbourne Football Club for the third time, after it defeated Sydney by 43 points in the 1996 AFL Grand Final.

AFL Draft

See 1996 AFL Draft.

Lightning Premiership

Main article: 1996 AFL Lightning Premiership

In the 1996 AFL Lightning Premiership final, Essendon defeated the Brisbane Bears 6.2 (38) to 2.9 (21) at Waverley Park.

Ansett Australia Cup

Main article: 1996 Ansett Australia Cup

In the 1996 Ansett Australia Cup final, St Kilda defeated Carlton 20.10 (130) to 10.12 (72) at Waverley Park.

Home-and-away season

Round 7

Note: The opening four matches of this round replicated the opening round of the inaugural 1897 VFL season, with Essendon and Geelong playing each other on the day of the 99th anniversary.

Round 8

Note: Ben Hart took the mark of the year in Adelaide's win over St Kilda.
Note: Fitzroy's victory was the last win they had in the AFL before departing.

Round 10

NOTE: St Kilda vs Essendon match on Saturday night was disrupted by a power failure during the third quarter, resulting the match being completed the following week on the Tuesday night with 2 12-minutes halves.

Round 22

Note: Last game of Fitzroy Lions before merger with Brisbane Bears to become Brisbane Lions.

Ladder

(P)	Premiers
	Qualified for finals

#	Team	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	%	Pts
1	Sydney	22	16	5	1	2152	1737	123.9	66
2	North Melbourne (P)	22	16	6	0	2526	1982	127.4	64
3	Brisbane Bears	22	15	6	1	2174	1731	125.6	62
4	West Coast	22	15	7	0	2201	1758	125.2	60
5	Carlton	22	15	7	0	2116	1909	110.8	60
6	Essendon	22	14	7	1	2209	2023	109.2	58
7	Geelong	22	13	8	1	2353	2047	114.9	54
8	Hawthorn	22	11	10	1	1893	1921	98.5	46
9	Richmond	22	11	11	0	2282	1944	117.4	44
10	St Kilda	22	10	12	0	2053	2033	101.0	40
11	Collingwood	22	9	13	0	2203	2142	102.8	36
12	Adelaide	22	8	14	0	2233	2327	96.0	32
13	Fremantle	22	7	15	0	1830	1983	92.3	28
14	Melbourne	22	7	15	0	1743	2463	70.8	28
15	Footscray	22	5	16	1	1654	2139	77.3	22
16	Fitzroy	22	1	21	0	1452	2935	49.5	4

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 94.0
Source: AFL Tables

Progression by round

  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 ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Sydney	0	0	4	8	12	14	18	18	22	26	30	34	38	42	46	50	50	54	58	62	62	66
North Melbourne (P)	4	8	12	12	16	20	20	24	28	32	32	36	40	44	44	48	52	56	56	60	60	64
Brisbane Bears	4	8	8	12	16	20	24	28	28	30	30	34	34	34	38	42	46	50	54	58	62	62
West Coast Eagles	4	4	4	4	4	8	12	16	20	24	28	32	36	40	44	48	48	52	52	56	60	60
Carlton	4	8	8	12	16	20	24	24	28	32	36	40	40	40	44	44	48	52	52	52	56	60
Essendon	4	4	8	8	8	10	14	18	22	26	30	30	34	38	38	42	42	42	46	50	54	58
Geelong	4	8	8	12	16	16	16	20	24	26	30	34	38	38	38	42	42	46	50	50	54	54
Hawthorn	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	10	10	14	18	22	22	26	30	34	34	34	38	38	42	46
Richmond	0	4	8	8	8	12	16	16	16	16	20	24	28	28	32	32	36	36	36	40	44	44
St Kilda	0	0	0	4	8	12	16	16	16	16	16	16	20	24	24	24	28	32	36	36	36	40
Collingwood	0	4	4	8	12	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	20	24	28	28	28	28	32	36
Adelaide	4	8	12	16	16	16	20	24	24	24	24	24	24	28	28	28	32	32	32	32	32	32
Fremantle	0	4	8	8	12	12	12	12	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	20	20	24	24	24	28
Melbourne	0	0	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	8	12	12	16	20	20	20	20	20	24	28	28	28
Footscray	0	0	4	6	6	6	6	6	10	10	10	10	10	10	14	14	14	18	18	22	22	22
Fitzroy	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

Source:

Finals

Grand Final

Main article: 1996 AFL Grand Final

Attendance

Team	Hosted	Average	Highest	Lowest	Total
Essendon	11	49,526	87,549	15,794	544,789
Collingwood	11	44,723	71,663	21,126	491,953
Adelaide	11	39,428	45,266	31,880	433,713
Richmond	11	38,624	61,740	17,157	424,859
Carlton	11	35,891	70,152	15,277	394,802
North Melbourne	11	34,627	68,537	15,453	380,899
West Coast	11	32,448	40,085	22,044	356,932
Melbourne	11	30,315	63,196	8747	333,465
St Kilda	11	27,137	43,925	13,824	298,512
Geelong	11	25,161	50,074	17,538	276,775
Sydney	11	24,574	44,047	10,965	270,309
Hawthorn	11	23,624	38,263	14,286	259,868
Fremantle	11	22,473	33,041	17,513	247,204
Brisbane	11	18,088	21,644	14,222	198,968
Footscray	11	18,073	36,766	7677	198,800
Fitzroy	11	9482	13,497	5083	104,300
Totals	176	29,637	87,549	5083	5,216,148

Venue	Hosted	Average	Highest	Lowest	Total
MCG	51	46,114	87,549	15,494	2351,808
Football Park	11	39,428	45,266	31,880	433,713
Subiaco Oval	16	28,289	40,085	17,513	452,616
Waverley Park	24	25,545	43,925	13,824	613,079
WACA	6	25,253	31,411	19,360	151,520
SCG	11	24,574	44,047	10,965	270,309
Victoria Park	4	23,581	26,459	21,126	94,322
Kardinia Park	10	22,670	27,659	17,538	226,701
Gabba	11	18,088	21,644	14,222	198,968
Optus Oval	17	15,641	21,674	6469	265,892
Whitten Oval	15	10,482	16,804	5083	157,224
Totals	176	29,637	87,549	5083	5,216,148

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Michael Voss of Brisbane Bears and James Hird of Essendon.
• The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Corey McKernan of North Melbourne.
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Tony Lockett of Sydney.
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Glenn Archer of North Melbourne.
• The AFL Rising Star award was awarded to Ben Cousins of West Coast.
• The Wooden Spoon was "awarded" to Fitzroy in their final season before the club merged with the Brisbane Bears.
• The reserves premiership was won by North Melbourne
• The seniors premiership was won by North Melbourne

Notes

• North Melbourne's Corey McKernan received the same number of Brownlow Medal votes as the joint-winners James Hird and Michael Voss, but was ineligible to receive a medal as McKernan was suspended for one match during the season for kneeing. McKernan went on to win the AFL Players Association MVP, which is not subject to the same eligibility criteria.
• The Round 10 game between St Kilda and Essendon was interrupted at the twenty-minute mark of the third quarter when Waverley Park lost power, causing the floodlights to go off. The remaining 24 minutes was played three nights later on Tuesday, 11 June.
  • Subsequently, the AFL introduced contingencies that a game could be abandoned, with the progress result accepted as final at any point beyond half time, at the agreement of the captains when (a) any unexpected incident delays a game by an hour, or (b) if dangerous weather conditions, most typically lightning, prevail.
• Footscray's 1996 season became the subject of the sports film, Year of the Dogs, which was released theatrically the following year.
  • After their round 17 loss to Collingwood, caretaker coach Terry Wallace infamously sprayed the players during his post-match address.
• North Melbourne received a special gold-coloured premiership cup, instead of the typical silver, to signify what the AFL had represented as its Centenary Season throughout 1996. (Note: 1996 was the VFL/AFL's hundredth season, which by strictest definition is not the same as the centenary year, which would have been in 1997).
• Sydney recorded its first finals win since 1945 in the qualifying final against Hawthorn, and reached its first grand final since the same season (as South Melbourne).
• The season is perhaps best remembered for its preliminary final between minor premiers Sydney and sixth-placed Essendon. With scores level on 10.9 (69), Sydney's Tony Lockett scored a behind with a kick after the siren to win the game, and sent the Swans into their first Grand Final since 1945.
  • Lockett had been under an injury cloud with a groin problem during the preceding week, and there was some doubt whether he would play.

Sources

• 1996 AFL season at AFL Tables
• 1996 AFL season at Australian Football