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2000 AFL Grand Final
TheMelbourne Cricket Ground, where the 2000 AFL Grand Final took place
Essendon Melbourne 19.21 (135) 11.9 (75)
1 2 3 4 ESS 4.8 (32) 10.16 (76) 16.17 (113) 19.21 (135) MEL 3.3 (21) 5.5 (35) 8.8 (56) 11.9 (75)
Date	2 September 2000
Stadium	Melbourne Cricket Ground
Attendance	96,249
Favourite	Essendon
Umpires	Darren Goldspink (32),Brett Allen (10),Hayden Kennedy (7)
Coin toss won by	David Neitz,Melbourne
Kicked toward	City End
Ceremonies
Pre-match entertainment	The Idea of North, Trish Delaney-Brown, Megan Corson, Andrew Piper and Nick Begie
National anthem	Bachelor Girl
Post-match entertainment	Mike Brady, Russell Morris and Rick Price
Accolades
Norm Smith Medallist	James Hird (Essendon)
Jock McHale Medallist	Kevin Sheedy (Essendon)
Broadcast in Australia
Network	Seven Network
Commentators	Bruce McAvaney (host and commentator) Sandy Roberts (commentator) Jason Dunstall (expert commentator) Gerard Healy (expert commentator) Malcolm Blight (expert commentator) Tony Lockett (boundary rider) Anthony Hudson (boundary rider) Robert DiPierdomenico (boundary rider)
← 1999 AFL Grand Final 2001 →

The2000 AFL Grand Final was anAustralian rules football game contested between theEssendon Football Club and theMelbourne Football Club, held at theMelbourne Cricket Ground inMelbourne on 2 September 2000 rather than in its usual last Saturday of September date to avoid conflicting with the2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. It was the 104th annualgrand final (counting replays) of theAustralian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League),^[1] staged to determine thepremiers for the2000 AFL season. The match, attended by 96,249 spectators, was won by Essendon by a margin of 60 points. It was Essendon's 16th premiership, drawing the club equal for the most VFL/AFL premierships.

This was Essendon's first appearance in a grand final since winning the1993 AFL Grand Final, whilst it was Melbourne's first since losing the1988 VFL Grand Final by a then record margin of 96 points.

In the previous week's preliminary finals, Essendon defeated Carlton by 45 points, while Melbourne defeated North Melbourne by 50 points. The following Monday saw Melbourne'sShane Woewodin awarded theBrownlow Medal with 24 votes, ahead ofWestern Bulldogs midfielderScott West and Adelaide midfielderAndrew McLeod.^[2]

Essendon won the most home-and-away games (21) and total games (24) in a single season in the history of the VFL/AFL, breaking the records set by Carlton in 1995 (20 and 23, respectively), and they broke Collingwood's 1929 record when it won its first twenty games; if the pre-season cup is included, Essendon won 30 games out of 31; all of these records still stand. In 2008,Geelong won 21 of 22 games in the home-and-away season to equal that record, but they lost the grand final. Essendon's grand final win was the last by a Victorian side until Geelong won in2007.

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Melbourne captainDavid Neitz won the toss and chose to kick towards the City/Members end of the MCG in the opening quarter. The first score of the game went to Melbourne. Neitz, from a very tight angle near the behind post on the Members side of the goals, kicked the ball into the far goal post resulting in one point.

It was only a short time after the first score of the game thatJames Hird kicked the first goal of the game for Essendon. Melbourne's first goal was kicked byStephen Powell.

The Bombers never looked threatened from after quarter time and comfortably won its record-equaling 16th premiership by 60 points after arguably the most dominant season in VFL/AFL history.

One downside for the Bombers was an incident in which Melbourne'sTroy Simmonds was hit high by Essendon'sMichael Long, resulting in a 25-man brawl. Simmonds was taken from the field on a stretcher; nine players were reported on ten offences by the umpires. Whilst this incident may not have influenced the final result, it was indicative of the nature of football Kevin Sheedy had instilled in the team, as Brad Green also suffered a throat injury off the ball.

Hird was awarded theNorm Smith Medal for being judged the best player afield.Paul Barnard andMatthew Lloyd each kicked four goals for the Bombers.

Essendon's triumph would be the last by any Victorian team until the2007 AFL Grand Final whenGeelong won its first premiership in 44 years.

The National Anthem was sung by Tania Doko ofBachelor Girl.

Essendon

Melbourne

• 2000 AFL season
• 1948 VFL Grand Final
• 1957 VFL Grand Final

• Match Stats

• Main, Jim (2001).More than a century of AFL Grand Finals. Pennon Publishing.ISBN 1-877029-00-9.

• AFL Website

• VFL/AFL Grand Finals
• 2000 AFL season
• 2000 in Australian rules football
• Essendon Football Club
• Melbourne Football Club

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