| 1978 VFL Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 30 September 1978 | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground,Melbourne,Australia | |||||||||||||||
| Broadcast in Australia | ||||||||||||||||
| Network | Seven Network | |||||||||||||||
| Commentators | Lou Richards Peter Landy | |||||||||||||||
The1978 VFL grand final was anAustralian rules football game contested between theHawthorn Football Club andNorth Melbourne Football Club at theMelbourne Cricket Ground on 30 September 1978. It was the 82nd annualGrand Final of theVictorian Football League, staged to determine thepremiers for the1978 VFL season. The match, attended by 101,704 spectators, was won by Hawthorn by a margin of 18 points, marking that club's fourth premiership victory.
It was the third time in four seasons that these two sides met in the grand final, and it was North Melbourne's fifth successive grand final. North Melbourne was the reigning premier, having defeatedCollingwood in the1977 VFL grand final.
At the conclusion of thehome-and-away season, North Melbourne had finished on top of the ladder with 16 wins and 6 losses. Hawthorn had finished second, also with 16 wins but with an inferior percentage.
In the finals series leading up to the grand final, Hawthorn comfortably defeated Collingwood in the qualifying final by 56 points, before beating North Melbourne by 10 points in the second semi-final to progress to the grand final. North Melbourne, after the second semi-final loss, defeated Collingwood by 12 points in the preliminary final to progress to the grand final.
In the week leading up to the grand final, North Melbourne'sMalcolm Blight was awarded theBrownlow Medal.
North Melbourne went into the game without a number of players from the previous season's premiership victory – star full-backDavid Dench, who had injured his knee in round 3, ruckmanPeter Keenan, who had received a two-match suspension for striking Hawthorn captainDon Scott in the last quarter of the semi-final,[1] and injured utilitiesSteven Icke andBrent Crosswell.[2]
Hawthorn got off to a fast start, with forwardMichael Moncrieff kicking three goals (including two goals in the first two minutes of the game), and they led by nineteen points at quarter time.
North Melbourne had the better of the second quarter, withPhil Baker becoming the focal point of the North Melbourne attack and taking themark of the year overIan Paton. He helped North Melbourne kick five goals to two to lead by four points at half time.
Hawthorn had a strong third quarter which saw them kick seven goals whilst keeping North Melbourne to only three. A key shift in momentum occurred when two North Melbourne players spoiled each other in the goal square at the 6-minute mark, when a mark and a goal could have put them 17 points up. The Hawks went on to dominate play after this incident, kicking 6.3 to North's one behind in the next 12 minutes.
The teams traded goals in the fourth quarter, and North Melbourne was not able to significantly reduce the margin. After being flattened off the ball,Peter Knights was moved forward, kicking two goals then taking a spectacular mark beside the behind post.
For Hawthorn,Leigh Matthews was considered best on ground with 28 disposals and four goals, lifting his game when the result was on the line.[3] Also important wasRobert DiPierdomenico, who gave Hawthorn considerable attacking drive off half back and kept his opponentArnold Briedis, considered by Hawthorn to be North Melbourne's most dangerous forward, quiet for most of the match. First year playerTerry Wallace was prominent in the midfield, gathering 21 kicks.
Besides the loss of Keenan, Icke and Crosswell before the match, North Melbourne lostMalcolm Blight early with a torn groin muscle after just five minutes, andStan Alves also limped off in the second quarter.
The win was the first forDavid Parkin as coach. He had previously captained Hawthorn to the1971 VFL grand final victory, and later went on to coach Carlton to premierships in the 1980s and 1990s.
Hawthorn's next premiership came five years later, when they won the1983 VFL grand final against Essendon. It would take another 18 years for North Melbourne to appear in another premiership decider, when it defeated theSydney Swans in the1996.
      Hawthorn |   North Melbourne |
| Grand final | |||||
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| Saturday, 30 September (2:32 pm) | North Melbourne | def. by | Hawthorn | Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 101,704) | Report |
| 2.2 (14) 7.8 (50) 10.12 (72) 15.13 (103) | Q1 Q2 Q3 Final | 5.3 (33) 7.4 (46) 14.10 (94) 18.13 (121) | Umpires:Deller,Robinson Television broadcast:Seven Network | ||
| Baker 6 Briedis,Huppatz,Boyse,Smith 2 Melrose 1 | Goals | 4Moncrieff,Matthews 3Scott 2Knights 1Ablett,Martello,Hendrie,Eade,Murnane | |||
| Schimmelbusch,Huppatz,Baker,Sutton,Henshaw,Glendinning,Nolan,Byrne | Best | DiPierdomenico,Matthews,Moore,Wallace,Scott,Tuck,Eade,Ablett | |||
| Blight (groin),Alves (hamstring) | Injuries | Knights (slight concussion),DiPierdomenico (bruised leg) | |||
| Nil | Reports | Nil | |||
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