1987 VFL season

Last updated

1987 VFL premiership season
Teams14
Premiers Carlton
15th premiership
Minor premiers Carlton
16th minor premiership
Night series Melbourne
1st Night series win
Brownlow Medallist Tony Lockett (St Kilda)
John Platten (Hawthorn)
Coleman Medallist Tony Lockett (St Kilda)
Attendance
Matches played160
Total attendance3,411,846 (21,324 per match)
Highest92,754 (Grand Final, Carlton vs. Hawthorn)
←  1986
1988  →

The 1987 VFL season was the 91st season of the Victorian Football League (VFL). The season ran from 27 March until 26 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top five clubs.

Contents

The season saw the beginning of a decade-long period of expansion of the Victorian league to the rest of Australia, with the admission of two newly established clubs: the West Coast Eagles, based in Perth, Western Australia, and the Brisbane Bears, based in South East Queensland. While the league remained the highest level senior Australian rules football competition and administrative body in Victoria, it also became the de facto highest level senior competition in Australia, with representation across four states. In the pre-season, the first modern VFL draft was held.

The premiership was won by the Carlton Football Club for the 15th time, after it defeated Hawthorn by 33 points in the 1987 VFL Grand Final.

Night series

Melbourne defeated Essendon 8.10 (58) to 8.6 (54), to win the Night Series Grand Final at VFL Park.

Home-and-away season

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Rounds 16 and 17

Rounds 16 and 17 were played concurrently over three weekends: five matches were played on the weekends of 11 and 18 July, and four matches were played on the weekend of 25 July. This fixturing effectively gave each team one bye during the three-week period. However, the matches are still grouped into two complete rounds rather than three partial rounds, which results in a chronological anomaly in which six teams played their Round 17 matches before their Round 16 matches.

Round 16
Saturday, 11 July (2:10 pm) Essendon 21.11 (137)def. Richmond 12.11 (83) Windy Hill (crowd: 13593) Report
Saturday, 11 July (2:10 pm) North Melbourne 23.18 (156)def. Fitzroy 19.9 (123) MCG (crowd: 15244) Report
Sunday, 12 July (2:10 pm) Brisbane Bears 14.9 (93)def. by St Kilda 18.13 (121) Carrara (crowd: 9106) Report
Saturday, 18 July (2:10 pm) Carlton 20.13 (133)def. Footscray 12.6 (78) Princes Park (crowd: 21388) Report
Saturday, 18 July (2:10 pm) Collingwood 5.13 (43)def. by Hawthorn 25.18 (168) Victoria Park (crowd: 17370) Report
Sunday, 19 July (2:10 pm) Sydney 30.21 (201)def. West Coast 10.11 (71) SCG (crowd: 24199) Report
Saturday, 25 July (2:10 pm) Melbourne 18.9 (117)def. Geelong 11.11 (77) VFL Park (crowd: 15253) Report
  • At the SCG, Sydney recorded the club's highest score in a match. It marked the third time they had kicked 30 goals in a game, the previous time being in Round 13 of the 1982 VFL season against St Kilda. Swans rover Stephen Wright kicked a career-best eight goals in his first game back after missing five weeks due to a hamstring strain. [1]
  • Hawthorn recorded their biggest-ever win against Collingwood and it was also the Magpies' heaviest-ever defeat at Victoria Park. [2]
Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

The final round of the 1987 VFL home-and-away season turned out to be one of the most dramatic and significant in VFL/AFL history. The composition of the final five would be determined by a number of scenarios:

The round began on the Friday night with Richmond and the fledgling Brisbane Bears playing for the wooden spoon; the Bears won easily to ensure they didn't come last in their first season. The significant matches to determine the final five were all played on Saturday afternoon, and they were all thrillers.

Round 22
Friday, 28 August (7:40 pm) Richmond 17.11 (113)def. by Brisbane Bears 26.13 (169) MCG (crowd: 12079) Report
Saturday, 29 August (2:10 pm) Carlton 20.9 (129)def. North Melbourne 19.11 (125) VFL Park (crowd: 30444) Report
Saturday, 29 August (2:10 pm) Fitzroy 20.13 (133)def. by Sydney 20.21 (141) Princes Park (crowd: 11170) Report
Saturday, 29 August (2:10 pm) Footscray 10.8 (68)def. by Melbourne 12.11 (83) Western Oval (crowd: 31249) Report
Saturday, 29 August (2:10 pm) Geelong 17.21 (123)def. by Hawthorn 19.12 (126) Kardinia Park (crowd: 27030) Report
Sunday, 30 August (12:10 pm) West Coast 26.19 (175)def. St Kilda 13.9 (87) Subiaco Oval (crowd: 17617) Report
Sunday, 30 August (2:10 pm) Essendon 21.13 (139)def. by Collingwood 23.6 (144) MCG (crowd: 28887) Report
  • In an epic, see-sawing clash at VFL Park, Carlton captain Stephen Kernahan kicked a goal after the final siren to snatch a thrilling win over North Melbourne and secure the minor premiership for 1987, their 16th in VFL competition. [3]
  • Sydney's win over Fitzroy marked the club's first win at Princes Park in 22 years. The Swans trailed at one stage by 41 points in the third quarter, but thereafter began to play more direct football and held off the Lions to secure third spot and the double chance. [4]

Ladder

(P)Premiers
Qualified for finals
#TeamPWLDPFPA%Pts
1 Carlton (P)22184025991883138.072
2 Hawthorn 22175027811891147.168
3 Sydney 22157028462197129.560
4 North Melbourne 2213812402241799.454
5 Melbourne 221210021892026108.048
6 Geelong 221110123552348100.346
7 Footscray 22111011959204695.746
8 West Coast 22111102386243897.944
9 Essendon 2291212075231889.538
10 St Kilda 2291302150236990.836
11 Fitzroy 2281402328254491.532
12 Collingwood 2271501853242576.428
13 Brisbane Bears 2261602113266679.324
14 Richmond 2251702199266782.520

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 104.7
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

Finals week 1

Qualifying Final
Saturday, 5 September (2:30 pm) Hawthorn 23.18 (156)def. Sydney 8.9 (57) VFL Park (crowd: 47752) Report
Elimination Final
Sunday, 6 September (2:30 pm) North Melbourne 5.10 (40)def. by Melbourne 22.26 (158) MCG (crowd: 72628) Report
  • Melbourne's 118-point win is the largest winning margin in an Elimination Final.

Finals week 2

Semi-finals
SF1: Sunday, 13 September (2:30 pm) Sydney 10.13 (73)def. by Melbourne 21.23 (149) MCG (crowd: 80292) Report
SF2: Saturday, 12 September (2:30 pm) Carlton 11.14 (80)def. Hawthorn 10.5 (65) VFL Park (crowd: 64333) Report

Preliminary final

Preliminary final
Saturday, 19 September (2:30 pm) Hawthorn 11.14 (80)def. Melbourne 10.18 (78) VFL Park (crowd: 71298) Report
  • Melbourne was leading by 4 points at the final siren, though Hawthorn's Gary Buckenara had a free kick 55 metres out. But Melbourne's Jim Stynes ran across the mark and incurred a 15-metre penalty, bringing Buckenara close enough to kick the winning goal after the siren. [5] [6]

Grand final

Grand final
Saturday, 26 September (2:50 pm) Carlton 15.14 (104)def. Hawthorn 9.17 (71) MCG (crowd: 92754) Report

Season notes

Awards

Major awards

Leading goalkickers

References

  1. ↑ Cockerill, Michael (20 July 1987). "Dazzling, determined Sydney shows three into two will go". The Age. p. 34. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  2. ↑ Blake, Martin (20 July 1987). "Collingwood shrugs off another defeat". The Age. p. 34. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  3. ↑ Blake, Martin (31 August 1987). "Kernahan's goal gives Blues a dream finish". The Age. p. 30. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  4. ↑ Kelly, Hugo (31 August 1987). "A 'couple of individuals' leave Parkin marooned". The Age. p. 30. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  5. ↑ Stevens, Mark (22 September 2012). "Saved from embarrassment by Jim Stynes, Simon Eishold the unsung villain of '87 prelim". news.com.au. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021.
  6. ↑ Morris, Tom (25 November 2015). "Fox Footy viewers vote for Hawthorn vs. Melbourne from 1987 on Viewers Choice". foxsports.com.au.
  7. ↑ Ron Carter (2 October 1986). "Perth, Brisbane join League". The Age. Melbourne. p. 38.
  8. ↑ "VFL 1987 VFL TV Rights Saga". Footyindustry. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  9. ↑ Daryl Timms (27 July 1987). "A costly game for league". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 89.
  10. ↑ Greg Baum (28 September 1987). "All quiet on Tiger appeal". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 85.
  11. ↑ "No action on young Roos' win". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. 29 September 1987. p. 84.
  12. ↑ "Reserves, under 19s". The Age. Melbourne. 28 September 1987. p. 80.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.