1989 VFL Grand Final
Encyclopedia
The 1989 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football
game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club
and the Geelong Football Club
, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
in Melbourne
on 30 September 1989. It was the 93rd annual Grand Final
of the Victorian Football League
, staged to determine the premiers for the 1989 VFL season
. The match, attended by 94,796 spectators, was won by Hawthorn by a margin of 6 points, marking that club's eighth premiership victory. It is regarded as one of the greatest Grand Finals
of all time.
in the 1988 VFL Grand Final
by a record margin of 96 points, while for Geelong it was their first appearance in a Grand Final since losing to Richmond
in the 1967 VFL Grand Final
.
At the conclusion of the regular home-and-away season
, Hawthorn had finished on top of the ladder with 19 wins and 3 losses. Geelong had finished third (behind Essendon
) with 16 wins and 6 losses. The Cats also set a new record for the highest points total scored in a home-and-away season, having scored 425 goals and 366 behinds for a total of 2916 points, an average of nearly 133 points per game.
In the finals series leading up to the game, Geelong lost the Qualifying Final to Essendon by 76 points, before beating Melbourne by 63 points in the First Semi-Final, and then defeating Essendon by 94 points in the Preliminary Final to advance to the Grand Final. Hawthorn had a much easier run, defeating Essendon in the Second Semi-Final to advance straight to the Grand Final.
In the week leading up to the Grand Final, Geelong's Paul Couch
was awarded the Brownlow Medal
.
ran through Hawthorn's champion centre half-forward and enforcer Dermott Brereton
. As Geelong coach Malcolm Blight
would later admit, this had been a premeditated strategy to protect star midfielder Paul Couch and negate Brereton, who constantly used his aggression to unsettle the opposition. Yeates was chosen to carry out the deed, partly as payback for when Brereton had flattened him in the classic Round 6 clash earlier in the season. Amidst the chaos in the middle of the ground, the Cats rushed the ball forward to Gary Ablett, who kicked the first of his nine goals for the afternoon. Yeates' hit left Brereton with broken ribs and a bruised kidney, which caused him internal bleeding
. Hawthorn physiotherapist Barry Gavin recalled the scene years later:
Despite the insistence of the club doctors and trainers, Brereton refused to leave the field and instead was helped to the forward pocket. Moments later, the ball came into Hawthorn's attacking zone. Brereton, only moments ago on the ground and seemingly out of the game, took a strong mark, steadied, and kicked truly to open Hawthorn's account. Brereton's inspirational act lifted the Hawks, and they slammed on a further seven goals to take a commanding 40-point lead at quarter time. However, Geelong's physical approach was starting to take its toll. Besides the injury to Brereton, John Platten
had been concussed and Robert DiPierdomenico
was crunched from behind by Ablett while going backwards to take a mark, and suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung, although at the time the full extent of the injury was not known.
Geelong captain and ruckman Damian Bourke
was replaced by Darren Flanigan
in the second quarter, and began to have an immediate impact in the ruck contests. Then Ablett went on an inspired purple patch, booting three goals in a couple of minutes - the most memorable of those when he grabbed the ball from a boundary throw-in and snapped truly from a tight angle - and Geelong were back in it. Scott Maginness
, Ablett's opponent up to that point, was moved onto Billy Brownless
while Chris Langford
was assigned to mind Ablett for the rest of the game. Despite nine goals from Geelong champion Gary Ablett and a spirited final quarter fightback by the Cats, Hawthorn held on to win by six points to take back-to-back flags, and cement their status as the most successful team of the 1980s. Jason Dunstall
, Dean Anderson
and Gary Buckenara
each kicked four goals for the Hawks.
Ablett's nine goals equaled the record for most goals kicked tying Gordon Coventry
's overall record of goals in a Grand Final set in the 1928 VFL Grand Final
. The Norm Smith Medal
was awarded to Ablett for being judged the best player afield. This is only one of four instances of a Grand Final player having won a Norm Smith Medal without being on the winning premiership team.
By the end of the match, Hawthorn had only 13 fit players on the field. Scottish soccer player Ray Stewart
observed the game, and was recorded to have said "I would not play this game for a million dollars."
Goals Hawthorn: Dunstall 4, Anderson 4, Buckenara 4, Brereton 3, Curran 3, DiPierdomenico, Wittman, Morrissey
Goals Geelong: Ablett 9, Brownless 2, Stoneham 2, Hamilton 2, Cameron 2, Bews, Bairstow, Bruns, Flanigan
Best Hawthorn: Pritchard, Anderson, DiPierdomenico, Buckenara, Dunstall, Curran, Mew
Best Geelong: Ablett, Flanigan, Lindner, Hamilton, Bews, Couch
Norm Smith Medallist: Gary Ablett (Geelong)
Umpires: Sheehan, Carey
Reports:
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club
Hawthorn Football Club
The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...
and the Geelong Football Club
Geelong Football Club
The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...
, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground
The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
on 30 September 1989. It was the 93rd annual Grand Final
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
of the Victorian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
, staged to determine the premiers for the 1989 VFL season
1989 VFL season
-Notable events:* In Round 13, horrendous conditions at Windy Hill saw Essendon and Footscray play the lowest scoring game since the 1927 Grand Final, with the teams combining for only 6.15 ....
. The match, attended by 94,796 spectators, was won by Hawthorn by a margin of 6 points, marking that club's eighth premiership victory. It is regarded as one of the greatest Grand Finals
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
of all time.
Background
Hawthorn were the reigning premiers, having defeated MelbourneMelbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
in the 1988 VFL Grand Final
1988 VFL Grand Final
The 1988 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club and the Melbourne Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 24 September 1988. It was the 92nd annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to...
by a record margin of 96 points, while for Geelong it was their first appearance in a Grand Final since losing to Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
in the 1967 VFL Grand Final
1967 VFL Grand Final
The 1967 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Geelong Football Club and Richmond Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 23 September 1967. It was the 71st annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine...
.
At the conclusion of the regular home-and-away season
1989 VFL season
-Notable events:* In Round 13, horrendous conditions at Windy Hill saw Essendon and Footscray play the lowest scoring game since the 1927 Grand Final, with the teams combining for only 6.15 ....
, Hawthorn had finished on top of the ladder with 19 wins and 3 losses. Geelong had finished third (behind Essendon
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
) with 16 wins and 6 losses. The Cats also set a new record for the highest points total scored in a home-and-away season, having scored 425 goals and 366 behinds for a total of 2916 points, an average of nearly 133 points per game.
In the finals series leading up to the game, Geelong lost the Qualifying Final to Essendon by 76 points, before beating Melbourne by 63 points in the First Semi-Final, and then defeating Essendon by 94 points in the Preliminary Final to advance to the Grand Final. Hawthorn had a much easier run, defeating Essendon in the Second Semi-Final to advance straight to the Grand Final.
In the week leading up to the Grand Final, Geelong's Paul Couch
Paul Couch
Paul Couch is a retired Australian rules footballer who played for Geelong in the Australian Football League.Prior to playing with Geelong, Couch initially tried out with Fitzroy, but was rejected for being too slow....
was awarded the Brownlow Medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
.
Match summary
The Grand Final was played in near perfect conditions. Geelong made their intentions clear right from the start when Mark YeatesMark Yeates (Australian rules footballer)
Mark Yeates is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Geelong in the Victorian Football League during the 1980s....
ran through Hawthorn's champion centre half-forward and enforcer Dermott Brereton
Dermott Brereton
Dermott Hugh Brereton is a former Australian rules football player in the Australian Football League, regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation. Of Irish descent , he is known for his aggressive style of play. Brereton kicked 464 goals and played in five Premierships for during...
. As Geelong coach Malcolm Blight
Malcolm Blight
Malcolm Jack Blight AM is a former champion Australian rules football player and coach, and current television commentator. During the 1970s and 1980s Blight played for the Woodville Football Club in the South Australian National Football League and the North Melbourne Football Club in the...
would later admit, this had been a premeditated strategy to protect star midfielder Paul Couch and negate Brereton, who constantly used his aggression to unsettle the opposition. Yeates was chosen to carry out the deed, partly as payback for when Brereton had flattened him in the classic Round 6 clash earlier in the season. Amidst the chaos in the middle of the ground, the Cats rushed the ball forward to Gary Ablett, who kicked the first of his nine goals for the afternoon. Yeates' hit left Brereton with broken ribs and a bruised kidney, which caused him internal bleeding
Internal bleeding
Internal bleeding is bleeding occurring inside the body. It can be a serious medical emergency depending on where it occurs , and can potentially cause death and cardiac arrest if proper medical treatment is not received quickly....
. Hawthorn physiotherapist Barry Gavin recalled the scene years later:
"The thing that really struck me was how bad he was when I got there. He'd lost all the color in his face and was vomiting. He'd dragged himself back on his feet by this stage. But he was doubled over, dry-retching and his color was grey... There was no way he could stay out there. I remember looking up at [Hawthorn coach Allan Jeans] in the box and starting to try to get him off. Dermott said, 'No, no. Just get me down to the pocket'. Terry Gay (Hawthorn's team doctor) came out. He was more worried than me. He recognized the gravity of it."
Despite the insistence of the club doctors and trainers, Brereton refused to leave the field and instead was helped to the forward pocket. Moments later, the ball came into Hawthorn's attacking zone. Brereton, only moments ago on the ground and seemingly out of the game, took a strong mark, steadied, and kicked truly to open Hawthorn's account. Brereton's inspirational act lifted the Hawks, and they slammed on a further seven goals to take a commanding 40-point lead at quarter time. However, Geelong's physical approach was starting to take its toll. Besides the injury to Brereton, John Platten
John Platten
John Patrick "The Rat" Platten is a former Australian rules footballer. With his unruly tangle of curls he was a distinctive figure on the field with tremendous tenacity and the ability to accumulate possessions week after week.-Career:Platten began his career with the Central District Bulldogs...
had been concussed and Robert DiPierdomenico
Robert DiPierdomenico
Robert "Dipper" DiPierdomenico is a former Australian rules footballer in the VFL/AFL of Italian descent and a member of the VFL/AFL Italian Team of the Century...
was crunched from behind by Ablett while going backwards to take a mark, and suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung, although at the time the full extent of the injury was not known.
Geelong captain and ruckman Damian Bourke
Damian Bourke
Damian Bourke is a former Australian rules footballer for the Geelong Football Club during the 1980s and for the Brisbane Bears in the early 1990s....
was replaced by Darren Flanigan
Darren Flanigan
Darren Flanigan is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Geelong and St Kilda in the VFL/AFL.Flanigan came to Geelong from the Victorian town of Katamatite and during the early 1980s acted as their back up ruckman. He got more regular game time in 1985, the same year he was named in...
in the second quarter, and began to have an immediate impact in the ruck contests. Then Ablett went on an inspired purple patch, booting three goals in a couple of minutes - the most memorable of those when he grabbed the ball from a boundary throw-in and snapped truly from a tight angle - and Geelong were back in it. Scott Maginness
Scott Maginness
Scott Maginness is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Hawthorn in the VFL/AFL.A half back flanker, Maginness played in the strong Hawthorn sides of the 1980s and early 1990s. He made his debut in 1988 and was a premiership player in his first two seasons...
, Ablett's opponent up to that point, was moved onto Billy Brownless
Billy Brownless
Anthony William "Billy" Brownless is a former Australian rules footballer with the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League and media personality.- Football career :...
while Chris Langford
Chris Langford
Chris Langford is a former professional Australian rules footballer who is currently a game administrator.Langford is best known for his 303 game career for the Hawthorn Hawks between 1983 and 1997. He captained the club in the 1994 season and earned All-Australian selection. It was his second...
was assigned to mind Ablett for the rest of the game. Despite nine goals from Geelong champion Gary Ablett and a spirited final quarter fightback by the Cats, Hawthorn held on to win by six points to take back-to-back flags, and cement their status as the most successful team of the 1980s. Jason Dunstall
Jason Dunstall
Jason Hadfield Dunstall is a former Australian rules football player for the Hawthorn Football Club of the AFL. He is the third greatest goalkicker in the history of the VFL/AFL. Dunstall is regarded as one of the greatest full-forwards to have ever played, kicking 1254 goals, a feat only...
, Dean Anderson
Dean Anderson
Dean Anderson is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Hawthorn and St Kilda in the Australian Football League. A half forward, he kicked 4 goals in the Hawk's 1989 Grand Final triumph.-External links:...
and Gary Buckenara
Gary Buckenara
Gary Buckenara played Australian rules football for the Hawthorn Football Club in the VFL during the 1980s.Buckenara first played senior football for Subiaco in the WAFL from 1979 to 1981. Subiaco agreed to lease him for three years for $210,000 and after a court case began his career at Hawthorn...
each kicked four goals for the Hawks.
Ablett's nine goals equaled the record for most goals kicked tying Gordon Coventry
Gordon Coventry
Gordon "Nuts" Coventry was an Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League . With 1,299 goals over 18 seasons, Coventry remains one of the greatest full forwards the game has ever seen...
's overall record of goals in a Grand Final set in the 1928 VFL Grand Final
1928 VFL Grand Final
The 1928 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Collingwood Football Club and Richmond Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 29 September 1928. It was the 32nd annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine...
. The Norm Smith Medal
Norm Smith Medal
The Norm Smith Medal is the award given in the AFL Grand Final to the player adjudged by an independent panel of experts to have been the best player in the match.-History:The Norm Smith Medal is named after former Melbourne player and coach, Norm Smith...
was awarded to Ablett for being judged the best player afield. This is only one of four instances of a Grand Final player having won a Norm Smith Medal without being on the winning premiership team.
By the end of the match, Hawthorn had only 13 fit players on the field. Scottish soccer player Ray Stewart
Ray Stewart (footballer)
Raymond "Ray" Strean McDonald Stewart is a former Scottish international footballer of the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. During his career he played for Dundee United, West Ham United, St...
observed the game, and was recorded to have said "I would not play this game for a million dollars."
Teams
Result
| Teams | 1st Quarter | 2nd Quarter | 3rd Quarter | Final Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Goals Hawthorn: Dunstall 4, Anderson 4, Buckenara 4, Brereton 3, Curran 3, DiPierdomenico, Wittman, Morrissey
Goals Geelong: Ablett 9, Brownless 2, Stoneham 2, Hamilton 2, Cameron 2, Bews, Bairstow, Bruns, Flanigan
Best Hawthorn: Pritchard, Anderson, DiPierdomenico, Buckenara, Dunstall, Curran, Mew
Best Geelong: Ablett, Flanigan, Lindner, Hamilton, Bews, Couch
Norm Smith Medallist: Gary Ablett (Geelong)
Umpires: Sheehan, Carey
Peter Carey (umpire)
Peter Carey is a former Australian rules football umpire in the Australian Football League.Throughout his career at VFL/AFL level, Carey umpired 307 senior games. He was named the All-Australian umpire in 1992, and he umpired four Grand Finals....
Reports:
- Cameron (Geelong) by field umpire Carey and boundary umpire Hammond for striking Anderson (Hawthorn) with a right forearm to the head during the second quarter.
- DiPierdomenico (Hawthorn) by field umpire Sheehan and emergency umpire Rich for striking G. Hocking (Geelong) with a left elbow to the face during the third quarter.