2016 AFL Grand Final

Background

Minor premiers for the ninth time, the Sydney Swans finished the home-and-away season with a 17-5 record. They were defeated by the GWS Giants in the qualifying final by 36 points, but bounced back with a semi-final victory against Adelaide, and then a 37-point preliminary final win against Geelong at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for their third grand final appearance in five years.

Injuries ended the 2016 season for key Western Bulldogs players: captain Robert Murphy (round 3) and Jack Redpath (round 18) ruptured their anterior cruciate ligament, and midfielder Mitch Wallis (round 18) fractured his left tibia and fibula. Jason Johannisen and Matt Suckling also sat out for extended periods. The Bulldogs nevertheless won 15 games to finish 7th on the home-and-away ladder and qualify for the finals for the second consecutive year. Against the odds, they eliminated both 2015's grand finalists, West Coast and Hawthorn, in the elimination and semi-finals respectively. The Bulldogs then beat the Giants at Spotless Stadium by six points to qualify for their first grand final appearance since 1961. In doing so, the Bulldogs became the first team since Carlton in 1999 to reach a grand final after finishing the home-and-away season outside of the top four and the first team to do so under the current finals format that was introduced in 2000.

Sydney and the Western Bulldogs met in round 15 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Returning from injury and with just four seconds remaining, Bulldogs defender Johannisen kicked a goal to defeat the Swans 11.13 (79) to 13.5 (83).

The AFL had introduced a pre-finals bye in 2016 to discourage teams from resting players en masse in the final round of the home-and-away season. Therefore, rather than on the traditional last Saturday of September, the Grand Final was held on the first Saturday in October.

Media coverage

The match was televised by the Seven Network. The match commentary was conducted by Bruce McAvaney and Dennis Cometti for the Seven Network, marking the duo's eighth grand final appearance together as commentators since 2008 and their twelfth overall. It was Cometti's eighteenth grand final and McAvaney's sixteenth. This was the final match of commentary by Cometti after he announced that 2016 would be the end of his 30-year commentary career.

All four radio partners, 1116 SEN, 3AW, ABC Grandstand, and Triple M broadcast the match live, with Triple M simulcasting nationally to their local channels and to 92.5 Gold FM in the Gold Coast and Mix 94.5 in Perth.

6.5 million in-home viewers watched some part of Seven's telecast across the day. A peak audience at 5.2 million viewers tuned-in at one stage, with an average of 4.1 million across the metro cities and regional homes during the game. It was the most-watched football match since the network attained free-to-air grand final screening rights a decade earlier, and the fourth most-watched match in VFL/AFL history.

Entertainment

Similar to previous grand finals, the 2016 AFL Grand Final provided both pre-match and post-match entertainment. On 31 August 2016, it was announced that Melburnian musicians Vance Joy and the band the Living End would perform. British rocker Sting was then announced as another performer during the pre-match show. It was then announced on 23 September that sister duo Vika and Linda Bull would be performing the national anthem, while Mike Brady would perform a new version of his famous football song "One Day in September".

First quarter

Easton Wood won the coin toss for the Bulldogs and chose to kick towards the city end of the MCG. The Swans had an early injury scare when Lance Franklin was taken off the field with a suspected foot injury after four minutes. The Swans were the first to score after eight minutes with Kieren Jack taking a courageous mark before colliding into the incoming Wood. His subsequent kick on goal went down as a behind. The first goal of the match, which came about half-way through the quarter, was also claimed by the Swans as Luke Parker scored from a distance of 35 m (38 yd). Back on the field, Franklin took another mark and behind for the Swans. The Bulldogs finally made the board after fifteen minutes when Zaine Cordy scored a goal from the boundary line, followed shortly after by another via a mark from Tory Dickson. The Bulldogs led by four points at the end of the quarter.

Second quarter

The second quarter began like the end of the first. Tom Boyd scored a goal for the Bulldogs after two minutes. The rest of the quarter was closely fought with the Bulldogs leading through Dickson, Liam Picken, another from Boyd and Toby McLean, and the Swans fighting back with goals from Nick Smith, Tom Mitchell (2), Gary Rohan and Josh Kennedy (2). At the mid-way point of the match, Sydney led the game by two points.

Third quarter

The third quarter saw several missed shots on goal for both teams. Dickson took the lead for the Bulldogs with a goal after three minutes. Seven minutes later McLean gave away a free-kick in the goal square for his tackle on Kennedy. Kennedy converted the kick into a goal. The final goal of the quarter by Clay Smith saw the Bulldogs again lead, for the third and final time, at the end of the quarter, by eight points.

Final quarter

Early in the final quarter, Swans midfielder Dan Hannebery suffered an injury to his left knee when he collided awkwardly with Easton Wood who had gone in low to claim the ball on the ground. He was promptly helped off the field for treatment and attempted to continue playing after having his knee strapped, only to return to the bench after taking a free kick with the injured leg. Franklin's shot on goal to close the gap to a single point was the closest the Swans could get to the Bulldogs in the final quarter. George Hewett scored another for the Swans but goals from Jake Stringer, Picken (2) and Boyd extended the lead for the Bulldogs to ensure that they won the AFL title for the first time in more than 60 years.

Overall report

Prior to this match, none of the 22 members of the Bulldogs team had appeared in a grand final. Among the star players were Tom Boyd (six contested marks, three goals and two points), Picken (25 possessions and three goals) and Jack Macrae (32 possessions). Kennedy was the stand out player for the Swans taking a total of 34 possessions and three goals. Statistically, Dane Rampe was effective in defence (24 possessions and nine rebound 50s), as were Jack (22 possessions) and Mitchell (26 possessions and two goals) in midfield.

There was criticism after the game about the lop-sided free kick count; the Bulldogs were awarded 20 free kicks to Sydney's 8 – the largest disparity in free kicks under the three-umpire system – with Sydney receiving just one free kick in the second and third quarters. The AFL Umpiring Department later determined that the umpiring was below the expected standard, and that three or four decisions made on the day against Sydney were incorrect, most notably the decision not to penalise Easton Wood in the final quarter for the sliding tackle which forced Dan Hannebery out of the game with a knee injury.

Norm Smith Medal

Jason Johannisen was named the Norm Smith Medallist (best on ground) with ten votes, 33 possessions and nine inside 50s. Johannisen won the award ahead of Josh Kennedy with eight votes, Tom Boyd with seven votes and Liam Picken with five.

Presentation

During the official on-field presentation, Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge invited injured Bulldogs' captain Bob Murphy – a popular Bulldogs' stalwart who had played with the club continuously since 2000, but who had missed all but the first three games of the premiership season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament – onto the podium. Beveridge then gave his own Jock McHale medal to Murphy, and urged Murphy to hoist the premiership trophy alongside acting captain Easton Wood instead of following the tradition of the captain and coach hoisting the cup. Murphy chose to return the medal to Beveridge the following day, and Beveridge then donated the medal to the Western Bulldogs club museum.

Teams

The teams were announced on 29 September 2016. Sydney made two changes to its lineup from the preliminary final, with co-captain Jarrad McVeigh and Rising Star winner Callum Mills both returning from injury. They replaced Aliir Aliir, who suffered a knee injury in the preliminary final, and Harrison Marsh, who was omitted. The Bulldogs remained unchanged from its preliminary final.

The umpiring panel, comprising three field umpires, four boundary umpires, two goal umpires and an emergency in each position is given below. The most notable appointment was field umpire Scott Jeffery's selection for his first grand final.

Numbers in brackets represent the number of grand finals umpired, including 2016.