2005 AFL Grand Final

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2005 AFL Grand Final
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The Sydney Swans walk onto the field before the game. The Swans would win the game with a 4-point margin, winning their first premiership in 72 years.
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Sydney
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West Coast
8.10 (58)7.12 (54)
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SYD3.0 (18)6.3 (39)6.5 (41)8.10 (58)
WCE2.4 (16)2.7 (19)5.9 (39)7.12 (54)
Date24 September 2005
Stadium Melbourne Cricket Ground
Attendance91,828
Favourite Sydney
Umpires Scott McLaren (11), Brett Allen (10), Darren Goldspink (32)
Coin toss won by Sydney
Kicked towardCity End
Ceremonies
Pre-match entertainment Delta Goodrem, Silvie Paladino, Michael Bublé, Dame Edna Everage, Melbourne Gospel Choir and Australian Girls' Choir
National anthem Silvie Paladino
Accolades
Norm Smith Medallist Chris Judd (West Coast)
Jock McHale Medallist Paul Roos
Broadcast in Australia
Network Network Ten
Commentators Stephen Quartermain (Commentator)
Tim Lane (Commentator)
Robert Walls (Expert Commentator)
Stephen Silvagni (Expert Commentator)
Christi Malthouse (Boundary Rider)
Neil Cordy (Boundary Rider)
Tim Gossage (Boundary Rider)
Anthony Hudson (Host)
Malcolm Blight (analyst)
Leigh Matthews (analyst)
  2004 AFL Grand Final 2006  

The 2005 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Sydney Swans and West Coast Eagles at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 24 September 2005. It was the 109th annual grand final of the Australian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), [1] staged to determine the premiers for the 2005 AFL season. The match, attended by 92,764 spectators, was won by Sydney by a margin of four points, marking the club's fourth Premiership and their first since 1933.

Contents

It remains the highest-rating AFL game of all time (including 3.4 million metropolitan viewers) since the current OzTam measurement system was introduced in 2001. All told, a total average of 4.449 million people watched the game on TV nationally. [2] [3] It is one of the most-watched television broadcasts in Australia since 2001, ranked 8th overall. Put another way, one in every 4.5 Australians watched the game live (22.25% of all Australians).

Background

This was West Coast's first appearance in a grand final since winning the 1994 premiership, whilst it was Sydney's first since losing in 1996, and the Swans had not won a premiership since 1933 (as South Melbourne).

Two players from the Eagles' last premiership in 1994 were appearing in this grand final: Drew Banfield for the Eagles and Jason Ball for the Swans in his last AFL game.

At the conclusion of the home-and-away season, West Coast finished second on the AFL ladder behind Adelaide with 17 wins and five losses. Sydney finished third with 15 wins and seven losses. They met in the qualifying final at Subiaco Oval, and West Coast won by four points.

A major turning point in the Swans' season came when they lost to St Kilda at Telstra Dome in round ten, after which Swans coach Paul Roos came under heavy criticism from the entire AFL for his side's game plan. [4]

The Eagles then punched their ticket to the grand final by defeating minor premiers Adelaide in their preliminary final by 16 points. Meanwhile, Nick Davis famously rescued Sydney in their semi-final at the SCG against Geelong with four 4th-quarter goals, including one just seconds before the final siren. The Swans then overcame St Kilda in their preliminary final at the MCG after overturning a 7-point deficit going into the last quarter into a 31-point win with a seven-goal barrage.

In the week leading up to the grand final, West Coast's Ben Cousins was awarded the Brownlow Medal. Additionally, there was controversy over the fact that Barry Hall was allowed to play, as he had escaped suspension for punching St Kilda's Matt Maguire in the preliminary final despite many punters and pundits alike expressing dismay over the lack of suspension. Hall later admitted in 2017 that he exploited a loophole in the rules, saying: "I shouldn’t have played. If rules are rules, I shouldn’t have played the Grand Final." [5] [6]

Match summary

West Coast opened the game shaky, with Sydney be aggressive to get the ball into their forward fifty. However, the West Coast defensive line held strong, only making Sydney kick two goals. The term ended with Sydney leading by 13 points.

In the second quarter Sydney appeared just as strong, kicking three goals. West Coast however, also kicked three goals while kicking accurate. Unfortunately for Sydney they kicked for behinds then goals, kicks four.

Both teams had seemingly easy goals that were missed, but the Eagles most clearly would remember theirs from the fourth quarter. With just under five minutes remaining in the match, West Coast's Brent Staker almost cost his team the match following a 50-metre penalty to the Swans sending them out of their defensive 50 in a very costly play. With the Swans holding a five-point lead in the closing moments, Sydney's Tadhg Kennelly rushed a behind to blunt a ferocious Eagles attack. After the ensuing kick in, West Coast regained control of the ball and sent a long kick back to the half-forward line by Dean Cox. Sydney's Leo Barry responded by taking a mark in the midst of the pack full of Eagles players (with the commentator Stephen Quartermain saying a sequence of words made famous through frequent replays: "Leo Barry, you star!"), denying the Eagles an opportunity to kick a game-winner on or after the final siren, thus ensuring that the Swans would win their first premiership in 72 years (when they were South Melbourne), ending the longest premiership drought in VFL/AFL history.

The match has been labelled as a 'classic', [7] with the final margin being the closest since the 1977 drawn grand final. This was the first time since the 1989 VFL Grand Final that the grand final was decided by a goal or less.

Eagles player Chris Judd was awarded the Norm Smith Medal for being judged the best player afield, although he finished on the losing side; this is one of only four instances of a Grand Final player having won a Norm Smith Medal without being on the winning premiership team.

The same teams met again in the 2006 AFL Grand Final, in another close match, with the Eagles emerging victors by one point.

Norm Smith Medal

Norm Smith Medal Voting Tally
PositionPlayerClubTotal VotesVote Summary
1st (winner) Chris Judd West Coast Eagles 112,3,3,1,2
2nd Nic Fosdike Sydney Swans 60,0,0,3,3
3rd Brett Kirk Sydney Swans 40,2,2,0,0
3rd Amon Buchanan Sydney Swans 43,0,0,0,1
5th Ben Cousins West Coast Eagles 20,0,0,2,0
6th David Wirrpunda West Coast Eagles 10,0,1,0,0
6th Leo Barry Sydney Swans 10,1,0,0,0
6th Lewis Roberts-Thomson Sydney Swans 11,0,0,0,0
VoterRole3 Votes2 Votes1 Vote
Graeme Bond 3AW Amon BuchananChris JuddLewis Roberts-Thomson
David Reed West Australian Chris JuddBrett KirkLeo Barry
Mark Robinsion Herald Sun Chris JuddBrett KirkDavid Wirrpunda
Michelangelo Russi Adelaide Advertiser Nic FosdikeBen CousinsChris Judd
Stephen Quartermain Network 10 Nic FosdikeChris JuddAmon Buchanan

Teams

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Sydney Swans
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West Coast Eagles
Sydney
B:28 Jared Crouch 21 Leo Barry 30 Lewis Roberts-Thomson
HB:4 Ben Mathews 6 Craig Bolton 17 Tadhg Kennelly
C:26 Sean Dempster 37 Adam Goodes 32 Amon Buchanan
HF:5 Ryan O'Keefe 1 Barry Hall (c)24 Jude Bolton
F:10 Paul Williams 19 Michael O'Loughlin 2 Nick Davis
Foll:16 Darren Jolly 31 Brett Kirk 20 Luke Ablett
Int:27 Jason Ball 42 Paul Bevan 13 Adam Schneider
12 Nic Fosdike
Coach: Paul Roos
West Coast
B:39 Adam Hunter 23 Darren Glass 44 David Wirrpanda
HB:17 Daniel Chick 11 Travis Gaspar 6 Drew Banfield
C:5 Tyson Stenglein 9 Ben Cousins (c)32 Andrew Embley
HF:4 Daniel Kerr 29 Ashley Hansen 41 Brent Staker
F:35 Kasey Green 1 Michael Gardiner 28 Ashley Sampi
Foll:20 Dean Cox 3 Chris Judd 7 Chad Fletcher
Int:37 Adam Selwood 31 Mark Nicoski 26 Sam Butler
14 Mark Seaby
Coach: John Worsfold

Scorecard

Grand final
Saturday, 24 September (2:40 pm) Sydney def. West Coast MCG (crowd: 91,898)
3.0 (18)
6.3 (39)
6.5 (41)
8.10 (58)
Q1
Q2
Q3
Final
2.4 (16)
2.7 (19)
5.9 (39)
7.12 (54)
Umpires: Allen, McLaren, Goldspink
Norm Smith Medal: Chris Judd (West Coast)
Television broadcast: Network Ten
National anthem: Silvie Paladino
Hall 2
Jolly, Schneider, O'Loughlin, Kennelly, Goodes, Buchanan 1
Goals2 Hunter
1 Nicoski, Cox, Embley, Hansen, Cousins
Roberts-Thomson, Goodes, Buchanan, Kennelly, Fosdike, Kirk Best Judd, Wirrpunda, Cousins, Cox, Fletcher
Ball (cut head), C. Bolton (nose), Crouch (ankle)Injuries Kerr (ankle), Gardiner (cut head)
NilReportsNil
  • Sydney won their fourth Premiership – their first in Sydney, their first in the AFL era and their first since they won the VFL as South Melbourne in 1933.
  • Tadhg Kennelly became the first Irishman to become an AFL Premiership player. In 2009 Kennelly would go on to become the first man to be both an AFL Premiership player and an All-Ireland Senior (Gaelic) Football Championship winner, achieving this with his native Kerry. It would be 2022 before the second and third Irishmen won an AFL Premiership (Zach Tuohy and Mark O'Connor). [8]
  • Chris Judd became the fourth player to win the Norm Smith Medal despite being on the grand final losing team, joining Maurice Rioli (Richmond 1982), Gary Ablett Sr. (Geelong 1989) and Nathan Buckley (Collingwood 2002).

Match statistics

Team Stats(Syd)(WCE)
Kicks188182
Marks8468
Handballs105104
Tackles6259
Hitouts2943
Frees1213

Entertainment

National Anthem Silvie Paladino
Entertainment Delta Goodrem (I Am Australian)
Australian Idol finalists (Waltzing Matilda)
Silvie Paladino (There You'll Be)
Michael Bublé
Dame Edna Everage
Melbourne Gospel Choir
Australian Girls' Choir
Television broadcaster Network Ten
Television announcers Stephen Quartermain, Tim Lane — play-by-play
Robert Walls, Stephen Silvagni — analysts
Christi Malthouse — sideline reporter
Anthony Hudson — studio host
Leigh Matthews, Malcolm Blight — studio analysts

See also

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References

  1. In 1897 and 1924 there were no grand finals and instead the premier was decided by a round-robin system. In 1948 and 1977 there were grand final replays after initial draws.
  2. "2005 AFL Grand Final TV ratings - regional figures included". BigFooty. 29 September 2005. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  3. "Grand Final TV viewership biggest in 10 years". westernbulldogs.com.au. 3 October 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  4. Cowley, Michael (13 April 2006). "Roos v Walls: the war of words continues". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  5. "Barry Hall: I should have been suspended for 2005 Grand Final | Sporting News Australia". www.sportingnews.com. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  6. Baum, Greg (21 June 2017). "Barry Hall: I shouldn't have played 2005 grand final". The Age. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  7. Jim Main, Aussie Rules: For Dummies (2nd edition, 2008) p 10.
  8. "Grand Final joy for Tuohy and O'Connor as Geelong destroy Sydney". RTÉ. 24 September 2022.