1991 AFL Grand Final

Grand final of the 1991 Australian Football League season October 2026 December 2017 AFL 1991 1991 AFL Grand Final Logo.png VFL Park.jpg Waverley Park, where the grand final took place 50px HAW 50px WC WCE 3.4 (22) 7.12 (54) 12.15 (87) 20.19 (139) 5.1 (31) 7.2 (44) 12.5 (77) 13.8 (86) 20.19 (139) 13.8 (86) 28 September 1991 Waverley Park 75,230 John Russo, Bryan Sheehan Daryl Braithwaite Angry Anderson Paul Dear () Alan Joyce Seven Network Sandy Roberts (host)Bruce McAvaney (commentator)Dennis Cometti (commentator)Don Scott (expert commentator)Peter McKenna (boundary rider)Bernie Quinlan (boundary rider)Ross Glendinning (analyst)Ian Robertson (analyst) 1990 1992 The 1991 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club and West Coast Eagles, held at Waverley Park in Melbourne on 28 September 1991. It was the 95th annual grand final of the Australian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine the premiers for the 1991 AFL season. The match, attended by 75,230 spectators, was won by Hawthorn by a margin of 53 points, marking that club's ninth premiership victory. Reconstruction work at the larger Melbourne Cricket Ground, where most grand finals had been played since 1902, meant that the game was played at Waverley Park, marking the first and only time that this stadium hosted a premiership decider. The match was also the first grand final to feature a team (West Coast) based outside the state of Victoria. Background 1991 AFL season 1991 AFL finals series Hawthorn had played the grand final in seven of the previous eight seasons, having most recently won the 1989 VFL Grand Final, while West Coast was playing in its first grand final ever, having entered the competition just four years previously. The Eagles came into the game as strong favourites, having played through the entire 1991 season as the leading team in the competition in which they won their first 12 games and finished three games clear on top of the ladder with a 19–3 record, earning their first McClelland Trophy. Hawthorn had finished second with a record of 16 wins and 6 losses. Though starting the season slowly, losing five of their first 11 games, they lost just one more game for the rest of the home-and-away season. The Eagles defeated the Hawks in both of their home-and-away encounters during the season, by 82 points at Princes Park in round 7 and 24 points at Subiaco Oval in round 22.May 2025 In the lead-up to the grand final, Hawthorn defeated West Coast by 23 points at Subiaco in the qualifying final. The Eagles subsequently defeated by 38 points in the first semi-final, while Hawthorn defeated Geelong by two points in the second semi-final, sending the Hawks to the grand final. The Eagles defeated Geelong by 15 points in the preliminary final to take their place in the premiership decider.May 2025 Teams _brown_stripes_copia _goldsides FBBF15 823F00 FBBF15 Hawthorn _wceagles19h _goldsides _goldtop 062EE2 062EE2 062EE2 West Coast 35 James Morrissey 24 Chris Langford 7 Gary Ayres 17 Michael Tuck (c) 2 Chris Mew 1 Ray Jencke 18 Darrin Pritchard 15 Ben Allan 16 Andrew Gowers 33 Paul Hudson 23 Dermott Brereton 6 Tony Hall 11 Darren Jarman 19 Jason Dunstall 13 Paul Dear 12 Stephen Lawrence 3 Anthony Condon 44 John Platten 8 Dean Anderson 4 Andrew Collins Alan Joyce WC 24 John Worsfold (c) 14 Michael Brennan 17 Guy McKenna 7 Craig Turley 45 Andrew Lockyer 39 Chris Waterman 3 Chris Mainwaring 13 Scott Watters 30 Peter Matera 1 Brett Heady 53 Ashley McIntosh 28 Chris Lewis 48 Glen Jakovich 4 Peter Sumich 36 David Hart 34 Dean Irving 9 Peter Wilson 10 Don Pyke 2 Dean Kemp 5 Dwayne Lamb Mick Malthouse Match summary The game was played with what appeared as a four-goal breeze towards the main scoreboard end. Eagles captain John Worsfold won the toss and kicked with the wind. First quarter The ball moved up and down the field before the first of two 50-metre penalties conceded by Langford allowing Sumich to kick the first goal after ten minutes. A second penalty by Langford after a Sumich mark gave Sumich his second goal. A snap from Wilson in the pocket followed by a relay free kick to Heady stretched the margin out to four goals. A minute later Paul Dear ran into an open goal to give the Hawks their first. After the Hawks scored four behinds Sumich marked and kicked his third goal from outside 60 metres. Jason Dunstall scored a goal from a Ben Allan centreline clearance, then again Dunstall scored his second for the term from a free kick on the siren. The Eagles' lead was nine points at the first change. Second quarter With Hawthorn now kicking with the breeze, Dear marked consecutive kick ins and started dominating at Centre Half Forward. Goals to Dear and Darrin Pritchard saw the Hawks take the lead. After a couple more behinds from the Hawks, Tony Hall snapped a goal and the Hawthorn lead was fourteen points. Paul Hudson added the Hawks' sixth unanswered goal before the Eagles, through Sumich and Chris Lewis, reduced the Hawks' lead to ten points at the main break. Third quarter Both teams went goal for goal in this term, and the margin at three-quarter time was still ten points in Hawthorn's favour. Hawthorn had Stephen Lawrence winning the hit outs, and a dominating midfield negated any wind assistance the Eagles may have had. Heady kicked three goals for the quarter and Hawthorn's Dermott Brereton two. Final quarter The Hawks blew the game open in the final term, kicking eight goals to one. Brereton took two marks in the goal square in the first three minutes to put the Hawks 23 points ahead. Fatigue was now taking its toll on the Eagles, and four later goals to Dunstall and one to Sumich saw the Hawks win by 53 points. The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Hawthorn's Paul Dear for his workmanlike performance, especially in the tight first half. After the Eagles had started well, Dear was shifted to the half-forward line and not only kicked Hawthorn's first goal, but managed to quell the influence of Andrew Lockyer and Glen Jakovich by providing a foil for Dermott Brereton. He also backed up in the ruck when Stephen Lawrence had to be rested. Dear ended up with 18 kicks, eight handpasses and eight marks - 11 of those disposals and six of those marks came in the second quarter.Main (2006), pp. 244–245 Postscript September 2019 West Coast coach Michael Malthouse said after the game that "Hawthorn had been first to the ball and clearly won in the air".September 2019 Hawthorn's experience was seen as the decisive factor in their victory, and sparked a new club T-shirt: "Too old. Too slow. Too good."September 2019 (Some commentators had previously thought the Hawks were 'too old and too slow' to ever win another premiership.September 2019) Hawthorn defender Gary Ayres made sarcastic reference to this in his post-match interview.September 2019 By failing to win the grand final, West Coast tied the record for the most home and away wins by a non-Premier (matching the record of 19 wins set by Collingwood in 1973).September 2019 This record was subsequently broken by Geelong in 2008.September 2019 Hawthorn's flag closed a period in which the club won five premierships in nine years. The game also represented the final game of VFL/AFL football played by Michael Tuck. His record includesSeptember 2019 Most premierships by a player: 7 Most grand finals by a player: 11 Most finals by a player: 39 Oldest premiership player: 38 years, 95 days. Game day entertainment Before the game, Daryl Braithwaite sang both "Waltzing Matilda" and "Advance Australia Fair". The day was also memorable for the half-time entertainment which featured a parade of sporting celebrities in Ford Capris to celebrate the upcoming 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Included in the parade were the 1991 Brownlow medallist Jim Stynes, the Oarsome Foursome, Jeff Fenech, Fighting Harada, Lionel Rose, Lisa Ondieki and her husband Yobes, and Susie Maroney.ABC News Australia https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-30/hawks-and-eagles-grand-final-rematch-24-years-in-the-making/6816392 AFL Grand Final: Hawthorn and West Coast bound for glory in the 1991 AFL finale at Waverley 30 September 2015 Andrew McGarry Champion marathon runner and then Head of the Australian Institute of Sport, Robert de Castella, and rock singer Angry Anderson were transported to the middle of the ground in a blue Batmobile-like vehicle with the AFL logo prominently displayed. De Castella gave a brief speech honouring Australia's Olympians and other sporting heroes before Anderson jumped from the Batmobile and took centre stage, belting out his hit song "Bound for Glory" and encouraging the crowd to sing along. However, Anderson notably struggled vocally during the performance, with Yobes Ondieki caught on camera laughing uncontrollably at Anderson's act. https://thewest.com.au/sport/afl/bold-hawks-hope-history-repeats-ng-ya-192344 Adrian Barich The West Australian Bold Hawks hope history repeats 2 October 2015 3 October 2023 De Castella believed Anderson struggled with the venue's poor acoustics, https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/robert-de-castella-recalls-angry-anderson-and-the-batmobile-20151002-gjzped.html David Polkinghorne The Age Robert de Castella recalls Angry Anderson and the Batmobile 2 October 2015 31 August 2020 while Anderson claimed he could not hear himself over the engine noise of the "Batmobile". Anderson's performance has since become the subject of derision,The Guardian The Joy of Six: AFL grand final entertainment https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/sep/23/the-joy-of-six-afl-grand-final-entertainment Russell Jackson 23 September 2014 and footage of the performance featured in a satirical 2008 Carlton & United Breweries television advertisement, with the caption stating that "CUB is a proud supporter of AFL footy since 1877 (except for 1991)".Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxVvzMXF4S0 Carlton Draught TV Commercial - Angry Anderson YouTube 20 August 2008 Scorecard Grand final 28 September (2:50 pm) 5.1 (31) 7.2 (44) 12.5 (77) 13.8 (86) Sumich 5 Heady 4 Lewis 2 Wilson, Pyke 1 McKenna, Pyke, Mainwaring, Heady, Sumich Wilson (corked thigh) Nil A 3.4 (22) 7.12 (54) 12.15 (87) 20.19 (139) 6 Dunstall4 Brereton2 Dear, Pritchard, Hudson1 Condon, Hall, Anderson, Morrissey Dear, Lawrence, Morrissey, Condon, Platten, Brereton, Mew, Ayres, Dunstall Nil Condon (striking), Lawrence (striking) Waverley Park 75,230 Report Sheehan, Russo Norm Smith Medal Paul Dear Seven Network Daryl Braithwaite See also 2015 AFL Grand Final References Bibliography Atkinson Graeme Brant Atkinson 2009 The Complete Book of AFL Finals 4th The Five Mile Press Scoresby, Victoria 9781742112756 Jim Main 2006 When it matters most : the Norm Smith Medallist and best on ground in every Grand Final Bas Publishing Melbourne, Victoria 1920910689 External links Match details at AFL Tables http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/129702 State Library Victoria Football Record 1991 AFL Grand Final Match Day Edition 80 28 28 September 1991 Australian Football League MxI7rU01cOg The Final Story - 1991 AFL Grand Final 1991 Grand Final Category:Hawthorn Football Club Category:West Coast Eagles Category:1991 in sport in Melbourne Category:September 1991 sports events in Australia