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| 1999 AFL Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
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 TheMelbourne Cricket Ground, where the 1999 AFL Grand Final took place. | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 25 September 1999 | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 94,228 | |||||||||||||||
| Favourite | Kangaroos | |||||||||||||||
| Umpires | Scott McLaren, Andrew Coates,Brett Allen | |||||||||||||||
| Coin toss won by | Kangaroos | |||||||||||||||
| Kicked toward | Punt Road End | |||||||||||||||
| Ceremonies | ||||||||||||||||
| Pre-match entertainment | Human Nature | |||||||||||||||
| National anthem | Human Nature | |||||||||||||||
| Accolades | ||||||||||||||||
| Norm Smith Medallist | Shannon Grant (Kangaroos) | |||||||||||||||
| Jock McHale Medallist | Denis Pagan | |||||||||||||||
| Broadcast in Australia | ||||||||||||||||
| Network | Seven Network | |||||||||||||||
| Commentators | Bruce McAvaney (host and commentator) Sandy Roberts (commentator) Ian Robertson (commentator) Jason Dunstall (expert commentator) Gerard Healy (expert commentator) Robert DiPierdomenico (boundary rider) Richard Osborne (boundary rider) | |||||||||||||||
The1999 AFL Grand Final was anAustralian rules football game contested between theKangaroos Football Club and theCarlton Football Club in the annualgrand final of theAustralian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine thepremiers for the1999 AFL season. The match, attended by 94,228 spectators, was won by the Kangaroos by a margin of 35 points (the second consecutive year in which the premiership decider was determined by that margin). It was the club's fourth and (as of 2024) most recent premiership victory.
This was theKangaroos' second consecutive appearance in a grand final, with Carlton back again having won the1995 AFL Grand Final.
It was not a grand final matchup that was widely anticipated prior to the finals, with the top placedEssendon Bombers clearly the standout team of the home & away season and heavily backed to reach the grand final against another top four aspirant. While the second placedKangaroos qualified for the grand final with a preliminary final victory over theBrisbane Lions, the sixth placedCarlton Blues upset the Bombers to qualify as their grand final opponents in one of thebiggest boilovers in finals history.
TheKangaroos finished the1999 home-and-away season in second position with 17 wins and 5 losses, although they had still conceded the most points against out of the top-10 teams on the ladder. They were a game behindEssendon, with theBrisbane Lions,Western Bulldogs,West Coast, Carlton,Port Adelaide andSydney making up the final eight. Carlton had finished with a record of 12 wins and ten losses, becoming only the third club (afterMelbourne in1900) and South Melbourne in 1899 to reach the grand final after finishing sixth on the ladder.
The Kangaroos progressed to the grand final after a 45-point win over Brisbane in the preliminary final. Carlton'sunexpected preliminary final win against Essendon meant that the Kangaroos went into the grand final as heavy favourites.
      Kangaroos |   Carlton |
Despite the Kangaroos entering the match as the strong short-priced favourite, Carlton seemed the better team in the opening 10 minutes and scored the first goal of the match whenBrett Ratten seized an opportunity at the six minute mark after an errant kickout from the KangaroosDavid King. This, however, was all they had to show for their efforts, asGlenn Archer,Byron Pickett andMick Martyn stood up to nearly everything Carlton threw at them inside North's defensive zone. The Kangaroos, who were without suspended defenderJason McCartney, then kicked three goals in six minutes to go into the first break with a 12-point lead.
Carlton fought back in the second quarter to regain the lead by 8 points with goals to Fraser Brown, Scott Camporeale and Matthew Lappin, and it looked like the Blues had the momentum until the Kangaroos ruckmanCorey McKernan booted two inspirational goals, the first from 65 metres out and the second from a tight angle just a minute later. The Kangaroos had regained control, but the Blues were still well in the game with the half time margin only 20 points.
The Kangaroos extended their lead in the third quarter whenWinston Abraham kicked an easy goal before Carlton midfielderJustin Murphy injured his knee. The Blues managed to reduce the deficit to 13 points before the Kangaroos then added goals through McKernan andShannon Motlop.Matthew Lappin turned the ball over running towards goal, which resulted in aPeter Bell goal to the Kangaroos and an eventual 43 point lead at three quarter time.
The last quarter was a rather pedestrian affair. Early goals to Bell and Motlop cemented the Kangaroos victory, before Carlton were allowed some late goals to somewhat reduce the margin. In the end, despite both teams having 29 scoring shots, the Kangaroos ran out 35 point winners. Carlton's best was probablyStephen Silvagni, who keptWayne Carey to just 2 goals. But winners on the day were hard to find for Carlton, who in the eyes of many had already played their 'grand final' the week before, and as such performed admirably. Kangaroo'sShannon Grant won theNorm Smith Medal for best on ground with 19 possessions and 4 goals.Grant had come under heavy criticism for his performance in theprevious grand final, which the Kangaroos had lost.After missing out on a wonderful opportunity against Adelaide in 1998, the Kangaroos had redeemed themselves by taking the 1999 flag.
| 1999 AFL Grand Final | |||||
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| Saturday, 25 September 1999 3:00 pmAEST | Kangaroos | def. | Carlton | Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 94,228) | |
| 3.3 (21) 9.4 (58) 15.6 (96) 19.10 (124) | Q1 Q2 Q3 Final | 1.3 (9) 5.8 (38) 7.11 (53) 12.17 (89) | Umpires:McLaren,Coates,Allen Norm Smith Medal:Shannon Grant Television broadcast:Seven Network National anthem:Human Nature | ||
| Bell 4,Grant 4,McKernan 3,Abraham 2,Carey 2,Motlop 2,Sholl,Welsh | Goals | Camporeale 2,Lappin 2,Whitnall 2,Allan,Beaumont,Brown,Hamill,Ratten,Rice | |||
| Grant,Pickett,Martyn,Archer,Bell,Capuano,Simpson | Best | McKay,Camporeale,Lappin,Rice,Ratten,Sexton | |||
| Nil | Injuries | Murphy (knee) | |||
| Nil | Reports | Nil | |||
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As ofthe 2024 season[update] this remains the last time either Carlton or the Kangaroos have appeared in a grand final. AfterRichmond metAdelaide in2017, these became the longest grand final droughts for any AFL club. They would both proceed to the preliminary finals in 2000, but lost to Essendon and Melbourne respectively.
The Kangaroos would struggle with consistency (not helped by the abrupt 2002 departure of captain Wayne Carey), playing finals in 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2008 within the next decade.
After reaching the semi-final in 2001, Carlton would swiftly fall to the bottom of the ladder in 2002, claiming their first wooden spoon in their history, and the last of all the Victorian teams to do so. They would be found guilty ofbreaching their salary cap, which saw them stripped them of early draft picks for two years, hindering their short-term rebuild, fined $930,000 and club presidentJohn Elliott removed from his position. They would not make finals again until 2009.
For the season'sminor premiers, Essendon, it was a bitter pill to swallow that they were unable to compete in this grand final. CoachKevin Sheedy forced the Essendon playing group to attend the match as spectators to ponder “what might have been”. They would go on to have their own success just a year later in the2000 AFL Grand Final.
While Carlton's unexpected feat of reaching the grand final in 1999 has undoubtedly gone into Australian Football folklore, the finals system at the time was widely criticised for allowing a team that had finished as low as 6th to reach the grand final after losing its first finals match (a similar instance also occurred the year prior, with the 5th placedAdelaide Crows advancing on to ultimately win the1998 premiership despite losing in the first week of the finals). Carlton were beaten by theBrisbane Lions in the qualifying final, yet still progressed to the second week of the finals to play theWest Coast Eagles. This match, which was won by Carlton, also created a lot of controversy as the Eagles, who subsequently finished a place higher than Carlton and won its first finals match, had earned the right to host the final inPerth, yet were forced to play the match at theMCG due to a contractual agreement with the AFL that required at least one match to be played at that venue every week of thefinals.
The AFL acted quickly, and inthe 2000 season the finals system was changed, requiring the need for teams that finished between 5th-8th after the home & away season needing to win all their finals matches to reach the grand final (a loss in any week would see them eliminated).
The MCG finals contract was also renegotiated, with only thegrand final to be committed to the MCG, freeing up higher ranked teams to be able to host finals matches in their home state should they be entitled to. This came after 2004, when the Brisbane Lions were forced to play a home Preliminary Final at the MCG, instead of the Gabba before losing the grand final to thePort Adelaide Football Club.
This finals system has been in place ever since, with only three teams reaching the grand final from below fourth position since 2000. TheWestern Bulldogs in2016 made the grand final after finishing seventh on the ladder, yet did so without losing any finals and ultimately went on to win the premiership.Greater Western Sydney qualified for the2019 grand final after finishing in sixth position. TheWestern Bulldogs qualified in2021 after finishing in fifth position. Their second time doing this and first time without a pre-finals bye. TheBrisbane Lions qualified in2024 after finishing fifth position. They ended up winning in the grand final against the minor premiers.
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