| 1985 VFL Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 28 September 1985 | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 100,042 | |||||||||||||||
| Favourite | Essendon | |||||||||||||||
| Umpires | Cameron &Robinson | |||||||||||||||
| Accolades | ||||||||||||||||
| Norm Smith Medallist | Simon Madden (Essendon) | |||||||||||||||
| Jock McHale Medallist | Kevin Sheedy | |||||||||||||||
| Broadcast in Australia | ||||||||||||||||
| Network | Seven Network | |||||||||||||||
| Commentators | Peter Landy Lou Richards Bob Skilton | |||||||||||||||
The1985 VFL Grand Final was anAustralian rules football game contested between theEssendon Football Club andHawthorn Football Club, held at theMelbourne Cricket Ground inMelbourne on 28 September 1985. It was the 89th annualgrand final of theVictorian Football League, staged to determine thepremiers for the1985 VFL season. The match, attended by 100,042 spectators, was won by Essendon by a margin of 78 points, marking that club's 14th premiership victory.
It was the third consecutive year in which the two clubs met in the premiership decider, with Hawthorn having won the1983 VFL Grand Final and Essendon having won the1984 VFL Grand Final
At the conclusion of thehome and away season, Essendon had finished first on the VFL ladder with 19 wins and 3 losses. Hawthorn had finished third (behindFootscray) with 15 wins, 6 losses and a draw.
In the finals series in the lead-up to the game, Hawthorn defeated Footscray in the Qualifying Final before meeting the Bombers in the second semi-final, which Essendon convincingly won by 40 points. The Hawks then met Footscray again in the preliminary final, which they won by 10 points to advance to the grand final. The Bombers advanced straight to the grand final on the back of their second semi-final win.
Hawthorn defenderPeter Schwab was available to take his place in the Hawthorn lineup after he was cleared by the VFL Tribunal after he was reported for allegedly willfully wasting time in the club's preliminary final win againstFootscray.[1]
      Essendon |    Hawthorn |
The grand final is often remembered for a wildbench-clearing brawl which broke out on the wing soon after the opening bounce.[2]
Essendon edged ahead early and increased its margin slightly at each of the changes, leading by nine points at quarter time, 18 points at half time and 30 points at three quarter time. The Bombers then scored a record 11.3 (69) in the final quarter to completely blow the game open.Paul Salmon kicked six goals for Essendon andRoger Merrett five.
ForwardDermott Brereton starred for the Hawks with eight goals, the most ever in a losing grand final side (a record that stood untilGary Ablett's current record of nine goals inGeelong's losing1989 VFL Grand Final against Hawthorn). Brereton was also reported three times in the game — he later received a three match suspension for striking arising from the first quarter brawl.[3]
TheNorm Smith Medal was awarded to Essendon'sSimon Madden for being judged the best player afield.[4]
At the conclusion of the game, the 332nd and final game of Hawks greatLeigh Matthews' 16-year career, Matthews then wiping away tears was chaired off the ground by his teammates.[2]
Essendon coachKevin Sheedy said after the game to his players "It took you five years to play four quarters of football, but I'm patient. It was a wonderful effort of football, the way football should be played."
Hawthorn would play in five of the next six grand finals, including winning the1986 VFL Grand Final, while Essendon would have to wait until the1993 AFL Grand Final before their next premiership success.
| 1985 VFL Grand Final | |||||
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| Saturday, 28 September (14:30 (UTC+10)) | Essendon | def. | Hawthorn | MCG,Melbourne (crowd: 100,042) | Report[2] |
| 6.4 (40) 11.9 (75) 15.11 (101) 26.14 (170) | Q1 Q2 Q3 Final | 5.1 (31) 9.3 (57) 11.5 (71) 14.8 (92) | Umpires:P Cameron &I Robinson Norm Smith Medal:Simon Madden (Essendon) Television broadcast:Seven Network | ||
| Salmon 6,Merrett 5,Harvey 4,Watson 3,Baker 2,Ezard 2,Williams 2,Duckworth,Thompson | Goals | Brereton 8,DiPierdomenico,Judge,Lester-Smith,Loveridge,Matthews,McCarthy | |||
| Madden,Salmon,Baker,Thompson,Clarke | Best | Brereton,O'Halloran,Morris,Lester-Smith,Wallace | |||
| Hawker (striking) | Reports | Brereton (rough conduct; striking (twice)) | |||
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