| 2005 AFL Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
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 TheSydney Swans walk onto the field before the game. The Swans would win the game with a 4-point margin, winning their first premiership in 72 years. | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 24 September 2005 | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 91,828 | |||||||||||||||
| Favourite | Sydney | |||||||||||||||
| Umpires | Scott McLaren (11),Brett Allen (10),Darren Goldspink (32) | |||||||||||||||
| Coin toss won by | Sydney | |||||||||||||||
| Kicked toward | City End | |||||||||||||||
| Ceremonies | ||||||||||||||||
| Pre-match entertainment | Delta Goodrem,Silvie Paladino,Michael Bublé,Dame Edna Everage, Melbourne Gospel Choir and Australian Girls' Choir | |||||||||||||||
| National anthem | Silvie Paladino | |||||||||||||||
| Accolades | ||||||||||||||||
| Norm Smith Medallist | Chris Judd (West Coast) | |||||||||||||||
| Jock McHale Medallist | Paul Roos | |||||||||||||||
| Broadcast in Australia | ||||||||||||||||
| Network | Network Ten | |||||||||||||||
The2005 AFL Grand Final was anAustralian rules football game contested between theSydney Swans andWest Coast Eagles at theMelbourne Cricket Ground on 24 September 2005. It was the 109th annualgrand final of theAustralian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine thepremiers for the2005 AFL season. The match, attended by 91,828 spectators, was won by Sydney by a margin of four points. It was the club's fourth VFL/AFL premiership, and its first since 1933, breaking a league-record 72-year premiership drought.
As of 2024[update], the 2005 AFL Grand Final is the highest-ratingAFL game of all time since the currentOzTam measurement system was introduced in 2001. A total average of 4.449 million people watched the game on TV nationally, including 3.4 million metropolitan viewers.[1][2] It is one of themost-watched television broadcasts in Australia since 2001, ranked 10th overall as of 2025[update].
This was West Coast's first appearance in a grand final since winning the1994 premiership, whilst it was Sydney's first since losing in1996, and the Swans had not won a premiership since1933 (as South Melbourne).
Two players from the Eagles' last premiership in 1994 were appearing in this grand final:Drew Banfield for the Eagles andJason Ball for the Swans in his last AFL game.
At the conclusion of thehome-and-away season, West Coast finished second on the AFL ladder behindAdelaide with 17 wins and five losses. Sydney finished third with 15 wins and seven losses. They met in the qualifying final atSubiaco Oval, and West Coast won by four points.
A major turning point in the Swans' season came when they lost toSt Kilda atTelstra Dome in round ten, after which Swans coach Paul Roos came under heavy criticism from the entire AFL for his side's game plan.[3]
The Eagles qualified for the grand final by defeating minor premiers Adelaide in their preliminary final by 16 points. Meanwhile, Nick Davis famously rescued Sydney in their semi-final at the SCG against Geelong with four 4th-quarter goals, including one just seconds before the final siren. The Swans then overcameSt Kilda in their preliminary final at the MCG after overturning a 7-point deficit going into the last quarter into a 31-point win with seven final quarter goals.
In the week leading up to the grand final, West Coast'sBen Cousins was awarded theBrownlow Medal. There was controversy over the fact thatBarry Hall was allowed to play, as he had escaped suspension for punching St Kilda'sMatt Maguire in the preliminary final when similar incidents had drawn suspensions during the year. Hall later admitted in 2017 that he exploited a loophole in the rules, saying: "I shouldn’t have played. If rules are rules, I shouldn’t have played the Grand Final."[4][5]
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West Coast opened the game shaky, with Sydney be aggressive to get the ball into their forward fifty. However, the West Coast defensive line held strong, only making Sydney kick two goals. The term ended with Sydney leading by 13 points.
In the second quarter Sydney appeared just as strong, kicking three goals. West Coast however, also kicked three goals while kicking accurate. Unfortunately for Sydney they kicked for behinds then goals, kicks four.
Both teams had seemingly easy goals that were missed, but the Eagles most clearly would remember theirs from the fourth quarter. With just under five minutes remaining in the match, West Coast'sBrent Staker almost cost his team the match following a50-metre penalty to the Swans sending them out of their defensive 50 in a very costly play. With the Swans holding a five-point lead in the closing moments, Sydney'sTadhg Kennelly rushed a behind to blunt a ferocious Eagles attack. After the ensuing kick in, West Coast regained control of the ball and sent a long kick back to the half-forward line byDean Cox. Sydney'sLeo Barry responded by taking a mark in the midst of the pack full of Eagles players (with the commentatorStephen Quartermain saying a sequence of words made famous through frequent replays: "Leo Barry, you star!"), denying the Eagles an opportunity to kick a game-winner on or after the final siren, thus ensuring that the Swans would win their first premiership in 72 years (when they were South Melbourne), ending the longest premiership drought in VFL/AFL history.
The match has been labelled as a 'classic',[6] with the final margin being the closest since the1977 drawn grand final. This was the first time since the1989 VFL Grand Final that the grand final was decided by a goal or less.
Eagles playerChris Judd was awarded theNorm Smith Medal for being judged the best player afield, although he finished on the losing side; this is one of only four instances of a Grand Final player having won a Norm Smith Medal without being on the winning premiership team.
The same teams met again in the2006 AFL Grand Final, in another close match, with the Eagles emerging victors by one point.
| Position | Player | Club | Total votes | Vote summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st (winner) | Chris Judd | West Coast Eagles | 11 | 2,3,3,1,2 |
| 2nd | Nic Fosdike | Sydney Swans | 6 | 0,0,0,3,3 |
| 3rd | Brett Kirk | Sydney Swans | 4 | 0,2,2,0,0 |
| 3rd | Amon Buchanan | Sydney Swans | 4 | 3,0,0,0,1 |
| 5th | Ben Cousins | West Coast Eagles | 2 | 0,0,0,2,0 |
| 6th | David Wirrpanda | West Coast Eagles | 1 | 0,0,1,0,0 |
| 6th | Leo Barry | Sydney Swans | 1 | 0,1,0,0,0 |
| 6th | Lewis Roberts-Thomson | Sydney Swans | 1 | 1,0,0,0,0 |
| Voter | Role | 3 Votes | 2 Votes | 1 Vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graeme Bond | 3AW | Amon Buchanan | Chris Judd | Lewis Roberts-Thomson |
| David Reed | West Australian | Chris Judd | Brett Kirk | Leo Barry |
| Mark Robinson | Herald Sun | Chris Judd | Brett Kirk | David Wirrpunda |
| Michaelangelo Rucci | Adelaide Advertiser | Nic Fosdike | Ben Cousins | Chris Judd |
| Stephen Quartermain | Network 10 | Nic Fosdike | Chris Judd | Amon Buchanan |
     Sydney Swans |    West Coast Eagles |
| Grand final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 24 September (2:40 pm) | Sydney | def. | West Coast | MCG (crowd: 91,898) | |
| 3.0 (18) 6.3 (39) 6.5 (41) 8.10 (58) | Q1 Q2 Q3 Final | 2.4 (16) 2.7 (19) 5.9 (39) 7.12 (54) | Umpires:Allen,McLaren,Goldspink Norm Smith Medal:Chris Judd (West Coast) Television broadcast:Network Ten National anthem:Silvie Paladino | ||
| Hall2 Jolly,Schneider,O'Loughlin,Kennelly,Goodes,Buchanan1 | Goals | 2Hunter 1Nicoski,Cox,Embley,Hansen,Cousins | |||
| Roberts-Thomson,Goodes,Buchanan,Kennelly,Fosdike,Kirk | Best | Judd,Wirrpunda,Cousins,Cox,Fletcher | |||
| Ball (cut head),C. Bolton (nose),Crouch (ankle) | Injuries | Kerr (ankle),Gardiner (cut head) | |||
| Nil | Reports | Nil | |||
| |||||
| Team stats | (Syd) | (WCE) |
|---|---|---|
| Kicks | 188 | 182 |
| Marks | 84 | 68 |
| Handballs | 105 | 104 |
| Tackles | 62 | 59 |
| Hitouts | 29 | 43 |
| Frees | 12 | 13 |
| National Anthem | Silvie Paladino |
|---|---|
| Entertainment | Delta Goodrem(I Am Australian) Australian Idol finalists(Waltzing Matilda) Silvie Paladino(There You'll Be) Michael Bublé Dame Edna Everage Melbourne Gospel Choir Australian Girls' Choir |
| Television broadcaster | Network Ten |
| Television announcers | Stephen Quartermain,Tim Lane — play-by-play Robert Walls,Stephen Silvagni — analysts Christi Malthouse — sideline reporter Anthony Hudson — studio host Leigh Matthews,Malcolm Blight — studio analysts |
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