Harman Patil (Editor)

1989 VFL season

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Brownlow Medallist
  
Paul Couch (Geelong)

Teams
  
14

Matches played
  
160

Start date
  
1989

Attendance
  
3,581,822

Premiers
  
Hawthorn (8th premiership)

Minor premiers
  
Hawthorn (7th minor premiership)

Pre-season Cup
  
Melbourne (1st Pre-season Cup win)

Highest attendance
  
94,796 (Grand Final, Hawthorn v Geelong)

Coleman Medallist
  
Jason Dunstall (Hawthorn)

Similar
  
1990 AFL season, 1992 AFL season, 1929 VFL season, 1931 VFL season, 1934 VFL season

The 1989 Victorian Football League season was the 93rd season of the elite Australian rules football competition.

Contents

Notable events

  • In their Round 1 match of the reserves competition, both St Kilda and Brisbane Bears were found to have fielded unregistered players. St Kilda was stripped of the premiership points it had earned for winning the game, and they consequently could not be awarded to Brisbane. Both clubs were also fined.
  • In Round 6, Geelong’s losing score of 25.13 (163) against Hawthorn remains the highest losing score in VFL/AFL history.
  • The wettest Melbourne winter since 1952 saw horrible conditions between Rounds 11 and 13 that produced several unusually low scores:
    1. in Round 11 on the Saturday before the Queen’s Birthday, Fitzroy’s score of 1.8 (14) was the lowest since Footscray kicked an identical score against Geelong in 1965, and the first single goal score since Carlton’s 1.11 (17) on Anzac Day of 1968.
    2. on the same day, Brad Hardie kicked 3.4 (22) – with all the three goals coming in the first fifteen minutes – of only 3.8 scored by the Bears, this being the first time a player had kicked all his team’s goals since Alex Ruscuklic on the same weekend of 1967.
    3. in Round 13 Essendon and Footscray played the lowest scoring game since the 1927 Grand Final, with the teams combining for only 6.15 (51).
  • Geelong set a record for the most points scored in the home-and-away season, 2916. Footscray’s season aggregate score of 1614 points was the lowest since 1972.

    • Leading goalkickers

    Abbreviation guide: Gms=Games played in the season, Gls/Bhds=Goals and behinds kicked, Acc%=Accuracy percentage (Goals divided by Goals + Behinds multiplied by 100), GpM=Average goals per match

    Brownlow Medal count

  • The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Tim Watson of Essendon.
  • The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Gary Ablett of Geelong.
  • Fitzroy won the reserves premiership. Fitzroy 17.12 (114) defeated Geelong 16.16 (112) in the Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the seniors Grand Final on 30 September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

    • References

    1989 VFL season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA