| 1948 VFL Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 2 October 1948 | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 86,198 | |||||||||||||||
| 1948 VFL Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 9 October 1948(Replay) | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 52,226 | |||||||||||||||
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The1948 VFL grand final andgrand final replay were a pair ofAustralian rules football games contested between theMelbourne Football Club andEssendon Football Club, held at theMelbourne Cricket Ground in October 1948. They were the 50th and 51stgrand finals of theVictorian Football League, staged to determine thepremiers for the1948 VFL season.
The grand final match, attended by 86,198 spectators on 2 October 1948, ended in a draw, the first time that a VFL grand final resulted in a draw. A replay was staged on 9 October 1948, attended by 52,226 spectators, in which Melbourne easily defeated Essendon by 39 points, marking that club's sixth VFL premiership.
Essendon had been the dominant-performing club in 1948, finishing as minor premiers with a 16–2–1 record and a 14-point lead over its nearest rivals. Melbourne finished second with a 13–6 record, aboveCollingwood on percentage and one win ahead ofFootscray in fourth. Essendon 13.16 (94) defeated Melbourne 8.10 (58) in the second semi-final to progress to the grand final; Melbourne then facedCollingwood in the preliminary final, and they won 25.16 (166) d. 15.11 (101) to qualify. Entering the grand final, Essendon had won twelve games in a row.
Melbourne had sprung a series of surprise selections during the 1948 finals series. After he had spent most of the season as playing coach of the reserves team, 33-year-old forwardJack Mueller was recalled for the preliminary final againstCollingwood and kicked eight goals. Centre half-backAlan McGowan was reported during the preliminary final and suspended; his place in the side was taken by leading amateur player andUniversity Blacks captainDenis Cordner – and brother of club captainDon Cordner – whose only previous senior game VFL game had occurred while on leave from the navy in 1943.[1] Essendon made one change to its winning second semi-final team, veteranWally Buttsworth returning from injury,Wally May dropped to the bench as reserve, andHarry Equid dropped to emergency.[2] Shortly before the match began, Melbourne lostBob McKenzie to injury; emergencyDoug Heywood – also now a University Blacks amateur player whose first VFL game for the season had been the preliminary final – came into the team to replace him.
The game opened with several rough encounters,[3] Essendon attacked first and had a couple of behinds on the board before Melbourne kicked the game's first goal with a kick overJack Mueller's head which was crumbed byEddie Craddock.[3] Soon after, Melbourne kicked its second goal, whenNorm Smith received a free kick for a high fend-off fromPerc Bushby at the goal face.[3] Essendon continued to attack but were repeatedly repelled, with late selectionDenis Cordner playing a strong marking game at centre half-back for Melbourne. Mueller scored his first goal for the game later in the quarter, and at this stage Melbourne led by 15 points.[3] Essendon continued attacking, but failed to score a goal for the quarter. The score at quarter time was Melbourne 3.0 (18), Essendon 0.6 (6).
Essendon ultimately trailed by 12 points at quarter time, despite six scoring shots to three kicking with the aid of the breeze.[3] Essendon put substantial defensive focus into countering Mueller's effectiveness, with usual ruck-roverPerc Bushby serving as his main defender, and Melbourne had adopted a strategy of handball and wide play along the wings and flanks.Bob McClure was strong in both the ruck and defense for Essendon through the quarter.[4]
Essendon scored the first behind of the second quarter, before Melbourne rebounded and launched a sustained period of attack, in large part from a purple patch by centremanGeorge Bickford.[4] Over repeated forward entries, Melbourne peppered the goals for five successive behinds and several other shots missing out of bounds, before Mueller kicked his second goal from a set shot after 13 minutes to extend Melbourne's advantage to 22 points: 4.5 (29) leading 0.7 (7).[4][3] The game throughout this period was somewhat of an arm wrestle, and through the early period it was Melbourne's stronger marking which gave it the advantage.[3]
Essendon finally kicked its first goal of the game after roughly twenty minutes had elapsed,Bill Hutchison scoring with a snap shot; and as Essendon's marked more strongly and captain-coachDick Reynolds began to dominate in the midfield over the following ten minutes, the Bombers mounted a comeback. However, over this period of dominance, Essendon managed only one more goal, toKeith Rawle; Essendon's other advances resulted in eight behinds – five of them consecutively to end the half.[3] At half time, Melbourne led by only two points: 4.5 (29) leading 2.15 (27).
The tight struggle continued into the third quarter. Early in the third quarter,Bill Brittingham (Essendon) kicked a goal from a set shot to give Essendon a five point lead, its first lead since the opening quarter. Melbourne responded quickly, Mueller kicking two goals in quick succession to regain a six point lead for Melbourne. Soon afterwards, Essendon levelled the scores again with a goal from a 50yd running kick fromBob Bradley.[3] In the latter part of the quarter, both clubs had several chances to attack; but it was Essendon, particularly after shiftingPerc Bushby into the ruck, who began to control play. Two goals late in the quarter to Essendon – Hutchison from a set shot, followed by Rawle from general play – gave Essendon its game-high 13-point lead at three quarter time.[3] Essendon 6.21 (57) led Melbourne 6.8 (44).
Essendon began strongly with two behinds, before Mueller kicked Melbourne's opening goal of the final quarter to narrow the margin to nine points. Both teams attacked strongly over the following minutes, missing with several shots at goal. Melbourne was next to score a goal,Lance Arnold kicking his first to reduce the margin to six points.[3] Brittingham responded with his second from a broken marking contest. With the game entering time-on, Essendon led by twelve points.
Melbourne then kicked two goals in quick succession to level the scores: Mueller kicking his sixth from a set shot, andAdrian Dullard marking and kicking his first for the game. With scores level, it was Melbourne who finished the game in attack and missed two opportunities to break the tie:Norm Smith marked and took a 45m running shot in the final minute which went out of bounds; and from the ensuing throw-in, he gained clean possession then fumbled due to interference from team-mateDon Cordner.[5] The bell rang and the game was drawn, Essendon 7.27 (69) vs Melbourne 10.9 (69).
According tothe Sporting Globe newspaper, Melbourne forwardNorm Smith was the best player on the ground. Although he himself kicked only one goal, he regularly launched the Melbourne attacks and assisted on many of Mueller's six goals.Dick Reynolds was best for Essendon, his strong midfield play bringing the Bombers back into the game at key times.[3] Reflecting on the game in his column forThe Argus, Reynolds heralded Melbourne ruckmanDon Cordner as the best on ground, his ruckwork and defensive work proving to be Essendon's biggest challenge on the day.[6]
Other players considered among the best for Melbourne were roverAlby Rodda and amateur centre half-backDenis Cordner – although the latter tired as the game went on.Bob McClure was Essendon's top key position player, and half-forwardTed Leehane became prominent once he broke away from Denis Cordner in the second half.[3][7] Mueller's six goals proved important for Melbourne, and Essendon was criticised for using the too-slow Perc Bushby to defend him.[4][7]
Essendon's inaccurate goalkicking proved to be its downfall, failing to win despite registering fifteen more scoring shots than Melbourne. As of 2023, this remains an equal record for any VFL/AFL game.[8][9]The Age writerPercy Beames was particularly scathing of the Bombers' forward play, noting that "position play was completely ignored, and forward work resulted in a hopeless jumble of self-seeking glorification".[7] It was the second straight year that the Bombers were left to lament their poor kicking in the grand final, having lost 11.19 (85) to 13.8 (86) in1947.
Overall, scribes considered general play to have been relatively even, despite Essendon's advantage in scoring shots, and considered that Melbourne's structure and teamwork was superior to Essendon's.[7][4]
| Grand final | |||||
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| Saturday, 2 October (2:15 pm) | Essendon | drew with | Melbourne | Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 86,198) | |
| 0.6 (6) 2.15 (27) 6.21 (57) 7.27 (69) | Q1 Q2 Q3 Final | 3.0 (18) 4.5 (29) 6.8 (44) 10.9 (69) | Umpires:Jack McMurray, Jr. | ||
| Brittingham,Hutchison,Rawle 2 Bradley 1 | Goals | 6Mueller 1Arnold,Craddock,Dullard,Smith | |||
| D. Reynolds, McCLure, McDonald, H. Lambert, C. Lambert, Leehane | Best | Rodda, Smith, Collins, Mueller, Bickford, McGrath | |||
Both teams made changes to their grand final teams. Melbourne brought backBob McKenzie, who had been forced out on the morning of the grand final with injury, and droppedDoug Heywood back to emergency. Essendon made three published changes:Wally May,Les Gardiner andHarry Equid all came into the starting 18 forBob Syme (who was dropped to reserve),Doug Bigelow (omitted from the 20) andHarold Lambert (injured).[10] On the morning of the match, Essendon lostWally Buttsworth after a training incident caused a recurrence of the knee injury which had kept him out of the semi-final; andBob Syme returned to the starting 18 to replace him, and emergencyRon McEwin stripped as reserve.[11]
Essendon won the coin toss for choice of dressing rooms, choosing Melbourne's larger home rooms and forcing Melbourne to use the visitors' rooms.[12] The replay was played in wet conditions, and a substantially smaller crowd of 52,226 turned out to the match.
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Umpire –Jack McMurray
Melbourne
In | Out |
Essendon
In | Out |
The frantic opening minutes saw Essendon kick the first two behinds of the game, before Melbourne began to dominate play, winning in the ruck, winning the physical contests, and preventing Essendon from winning through the centreline.Adrian Dullard kicked the opening goal from a set shot after five minutes of play. Three more goals quickly followed over a four-minute period, toJack Mueller,Noel McMahen, and Mueller again.[11] As in the first grand final,Dick Reynolds went to the ruck to try to turn the game, but Melbourne continued to attack andLance Arnold scored their fifth goal from a snap shot out the back of a pack. Mueller kicked his third goal for the quarter, and the quarter time score showed Melbourne 6.2 (38) leading Essendon 0.3 (3) by 35 points.[13]
Essendon's position improved through the second quarter, andBill Hutchison kicked their opening goal early in the quarter; but Melbourne responded quickly with goals toGeorge Bickford and Arnold, extending the margin to a game-high 40 points. Essendon responded with the next four goals: led byPerc Bushby in the ruck, Essendon kicked the next two goals, first toJack Jones, thenBill Brittingham from a mark in the goal square; two more goals toBob Syme and Brittingham following, narrowing the margin to 16 points and giving Essendon a chance. There was a short incident when Mueller dropped Essendon defenderNorm McDonald and Essendon'sCec Ruddell remonstrated, and soon afterwardsNorm Smith kicked Melbourne's ninth goal.[13] At half time Melbourne 9.3 (57) led Essendon 5.5 (35) by 22 points.[11]
A positional chance saw Essendon forward Brittingham moved to centre half-back with good success, and Reynolds kicked the first goal for the quarter to Essendon to narrow the margin to only 16 points – it having previously been as high as 40. However, this was as close as Essendon could get. Mueller kicked his fifth goal shortly afterwards, then after ten minutes of wild play,Alby Rodda kicked a goal from a set shot. Melbourne's defense offered Essendon few other chances, and at three quarter time the Demons held a five goal lead, Melbourne 11.6 (72) vs Essendon 6.6 (42).[13]
A defensive, rough, wet-weather opening to the final quarter yielded little in the way of scoring, allowing Melbourne to comfortably defend its five goal lead. Goals were eventually scored by Mueller (his sixth for the game) for Melbourne, Syme for Essendon and Rodda for Melbourne before the game was brought to a close. Melbourne 13.11 (89) ultimately defeated Essendon 7.8 (50) by 39 points.[13][11]
Chief football writersHector de Lacy ofThe Sporting Globe andAlf Brown ofThe Herald both consideredNorm Smith the best on ground for his work in leading the Melbourne forward line,[13] withThe Herald calling it one of the greatest games of his career.[11]
Other players highlighted for their efforts were Melbourne full-forwardJack Mueller and centre half-forwardLance Arnold, centremanGeorge Bickford and wingmanMax Spittle. Essendon's best wereBob McClure andNorm McDonald.[13]
| Grand final replay | |||||
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| Saturday, 9 October (2:15 pm) | Essendon | def. by | Melbourne | Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 52,226) | |
| 0.3 (3) 5.5 (35) 6.6 (42) 7.8 (50) | Q1 Q2 Q3 Final | 6.2 (38) 9.3 (57) 11.6 (72) 13.11 (89) | Umpires:Jack McMurray, Jr. | ||
| Brittingham,Syme 2 Hutchison,Jones,Reynolds 1 | Goals | 6Mueller 2Arnold,Rodda 1Dullard,McMahen,Smith | |||
| McDonald, McClure, Bushby, Syme, Hassell, C. Lambert | Best | Mueller,Smith, McGrath, Spittle, Bickford,Arnold | |||
| Ruddell, for elbowingMueller in the second quarter Lambert, for hackingCraddock in the second quarter | Reports | ||||
