| 1984 VFL Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| Date | 29 September 1984 | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground,Melbourne,Australia | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 92,685 | |||||||||||||||
| Broadcast in Australia | ||||||||||||||||
| Network | Seven Network | |||||||||||||||
| Commentators | Peter Landy,Lou Richards,Bob Skilton | |||||||||||||||
The1984 VFL Grand Final was anAustralian rules football game contested between theEssendon Football Club andHawthorn Football Club, held at theMelbourne Cricket Ground inMelbourne on 29 September 1984. It was the 88th annualgrand final of theVictorian Football League, staged to determine thepremiers for the1984 VFL season. The match, attended by 92,685 spectators, was won by Essendon by a margin of 24 points, marking that club's 13th premiership victory.
It was a grand final rematch of theprevious season's grand final in which Hawthorn defeated Essendon by a then record 83 points.
Essendon topped the home and away season ladder a game clear of their grand final opponents; however, Hawthorn won both home and away contests between the two teams. Despite having won 12 premierships, Essendon's most recent premiership had been in1965 over St Kilda, who were coached by current Hawthorn coachAllan Jeans.[1]
In the finals series, the Hawks defeatedCarlton by 30 points in the qualifying final, and beat the Bombers by eight points in the second semi-final to advance to the grand final. Essendon facedCollingwood in the preliminary final, demolishing the Magpies by a record 133 points on the back of a 28-goal performance to advance to the grand final.
Hawthorn dominated the game early. CaptainLeigh Matthews had the first goal on the scoreboard within thirty seconds of the opening bounce, andColin Robertson, utilising his pace, added two more.[2] Essendon had hoped to throw Hawthorn off balance early by playingRoger Merrett in the ruck and shiftingSimon Madden, by now one of the finest ruckmen in the VFL, to full forward. Hawthorn countered his by puttingIan Paton in the ruck and movingMichael Byrne to full forward. Madden consequently languished in Essendon's forward line doing nothing while the ball was spending more time at the other end of the ground. Sheedy soon moved Madden back to the ruck, but at quarter time Hawthorn led by 21.
Goals toKen Judge and Matthews saw Hawthorn increase their lead to 32 points.[2] Essendon, despite getting more possession, made little impact in front of goals, but when Bombers kicked their third for the match, byBilly Duckworth, they remained in touch and trailed by 25 points at the half time break.
The third quarter was a low-scoring affair, more notable for the changes to field positions that Essendon coachKevin Sheedy applied in an attempt to stem the flow of Hawthorn goals. While common today, at the time it was very unusual for a coach to make such radical changes as shifting backline players to the forward line and vice versa.Paul Weston was shifted from defence to centre half forward, captainTerry Daniher was moved to defence, while another defender,Peter Bradbury, was moved to half-forward. With these positional changes, Essendon managed to get within three goals of the lead, butDermott Brereton kicked a late goal for Hawthorn to give them a 23-point lead going into the final term.
Essendon got off to the perfect start in the final quarter. Madden, who had been ordinary for much of the game, won the opening bounce. The ball fell to Williams, who kicked the ball forward, where Baker was in the perfect position to run onto the spilled ball from a marking contest and kick his third goal of the match. Minutes later, Bradbury kicked a goal from the back of a pack. Essendon's charge continued when the ball made its way to Duckworth at half forward who passed it to an unmannedMark Thompson who put it through from 40 metres out directly in front. The Bombers hit the front in spectacular fashion when, from the resultant centre bounce, Williams kicked towards the right half-forward flank. The ball bounced favourably for Baker, who evaded Hawks defenderDavid O'Halloran with a brilliant blind turn and booted his fourth goal, to the delight of Essendon fans.
Hawthorn was back in front whenPeter Curran goaled from a 15-metre penalty but Essendon soon regained their advantage whenRoger Merrett took a pack mark in the goal square before converting. Weston extended Essendon's lead to 11 points minutes later and thenTim Watson goaled twice to seal the comeback win for Essendon. The Bombers kicked 9.6 in the final term to break free from the Hawks. It would not be until2009 that another team would win the grand final from a three-quarter time deficit. The 23-point three quarter time deficit is the largest ever overcome to achieve victory in a Grand Final in VFL/AFL history. (North Melbourne overcame a 27-point three quarter time deficit to draw the1977 VFL Grand Final).
TheNorm Smith Medal was awarded to Duckworth for being judged the best player afield. Watson, Baker,Mark Harvey,Shane Heard andNeil Clarke were also prominent for the Bombers, whileRichard Loveridge,Gary Ayres,Peter Schwab,Terry Wallace andChris Mew were the best for Hawthorn.
Essendon's win ended an 18-year streak during which only Hawthorn,Richmond,Carlton andNorth Melbourne had won the premiership.
The attendance of 92,685 was the smallest at an MCG grand final for 29 years. The match was the first grand final played in the aftermath of the off-field dispute between the League, which wanted to stage the grand final atVFL Park, and theMelbourne Cricket Club and theCain state government, which wanted to stage the grand final at the MCG. Under the terms agreed to in early 1984, an area in the Members' and Olympic Stands was set aside for 44,000 MCC and VFL Park members, but only 31,000 attended, leaving a large vacant area at the top of the Olympic Stand. Uncertainty about the new arrangements, accusations that the demand for members tickets had been overestimated, and breezy and cool conditions in the wake of a heavy overnight hailstorm were all considered to have discouraged many spectators from attending.[3]
Ten players from this game later went on to become senior VFL/AFL coaches.
      Hawthorn |    Essendon |
| 1984 VFL Grand Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 29 September 2:30pm | Hawthorn | def. by | Essendon | MCG (crowd: 92,685) | |
| 6.1 (37) 8.6 (54) 10.8 (68) 12.9 (81) | Q1 Q2 Q3 Final | 2.4 (16) 3.11 (29) 5.15 (45) 14.21 (105) | Umpires:James,Sawers Norm Smith Medal:Billy Duckworth Television broadcast:Seven Network National anthem:Slim Dusty | ||
| Matthews4 Brereton,Robertson2 Curran,Judge,Loveridge,Tuck1 | Goals | 4Baker 2Duckworth,Watson 1Daniher,Bradbury,Thompson,Merrett,Weston,Neagle | |||
| Schwab, Loveridge,Ayres,Mew,Wallace, Matthews | Best | Duckworth, Watson,Harvey,Hawker, Baker,Clarke, Weston,Heard | |||
| Hawthorn | 81–105 | Essendon |
| (12.9) | (14.21) |
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NOTE: Disps = Total disposals (kicks + handpasses)
