1997 AFL Grand Final

1997 AFL Grand Final
The Melbourne Cricket Ground, where the 1997 AFL Grand Final took place.
St Kilda Adelaide 13.16 (94) 19.11 (125)
1 2 3 4 STK 3.6 (24) 7.11 (53) 9.13 (67) 13.16 (94) ADE 3.8 (26) 5.10 (40) 11.11 (77) 19.11 (125)
Date	27 September 1997
Stadium	Melbourne Cricket Ground
Attendance	99,645
Umpires	Hayden Kennedy (7), Bryan Sheehan (9), Mark Nash (14)
Ceremonies
Pre-match entertainment	Marina Prior
National anthem	Marina Prior
Accolades
Norm Smith Medallist	Andrew McLeod (Adelaide)
Jock McHale Medallist	Malcolm Blight
Broadcast in Australia
Network	Seven Network
Commentators	Bruce McAvaney, Dennis Cometti and Sandy Roberts
← 1996 AFL Grand Final 1998 →

The 1997 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Adelaide Football Club and the St Kilda Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 27 September 1997. It was the 101st annual Grand Final of the Australian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine the premiers for the 1997 AFL season. The match, attended by 99,645 spectators, was won by Adelaide by a margin of 31 points, marking that club's first premiership victory.

Background

The 1997 Grand Final saw the Saints playing in their first premiership decider since losing the 1971 VFL Grand Final, whilst the Crows were appearing in their first Grand Final since entering the competition in 1991.

At the conclusion of the home and away season, St Kilda had finished first on the AFL ladder with 15 wins and 7 losses, winning the McClelland Trophy. They had won their last seven matches. Adelaide, with former Woodville and North Melbourne star Malcolm Blight taking over as coach, had finished fourth (behind Geelong and the Western Bulldogs) with 13 wins and 9 losses. They had made the finals for only the second time in their club history, after losing in a preliminary final in 1993 to eventual premiers Essendon. Tony Modra was the club's leading goalkicker for the fifth straight season with a total of 84.

Adelaide won their qualifying final encounter against West Coast at Football Park by 33 points, but still needed to play a semi final against Geelong which they won by 8 points, again at Football Park. They then progressed to a preliminary final against the Western Bulldogs, a match in which they came from behind to snatch victory by just two points. It was, at that time, the greatest victory in the Crows' team history. However, in this game Adelaide lost Modra in the first quarter to an ACL injury, meaning he would not be available for the grand final.

St Kilda won their qualifying final against the eighth placed Brisbane Lions by 46 points at Waverley Park before over 50,000, sending them to a home preliminary final against seventh placed North Melbourne at the MCG, which they won by 31 points in front of crowd of 77,531 . The Saints went into the grand final as heavy favourites.

St Kilda's Robert Harvey won the Brownlow Medal earlier in the week for having been the best player in the AFL for the 1997 season. Western Bulldogs player Chris Grant polled the highest number of votes, but as he had been suspended for a one match ban - in Round 7 against Hawthorn for striking - he was deemed ineligible for the award.^[1]

Match summary

It was an exciting Grand Final, and despite St Kilda leading by 13 points at half time, Adelaide won by 5 goals, kicking 8 goals in the final quarter. Adelaide became the first team to win four consecutive finals to claim a premiership.

Andrew McLeod won his first Norm Smith Medal for being judged the best player afield. Shane Ellen, typically a defensive player for the Crows, provided a cameo at full-forward in place of Modra with five goals, while Darren Jarman booted a Grand Final record of five in the last quarter, taking him to six for the match and sealing the game. Other influential Crows players included Shaun Rehn, Kane Johnson, David Pittman, Troy Bond and Ben Hart.

St Kilda's Austinn Jones kicked the goal of the match, or what could have been goal of the year. In an effort reminiscent of Phil Manassa in the replayed 1977 Grand Final, Jones ran almost the full length of the ground and kicked the goal from the boundary. Saints forward Barry Hall, who kicked three goals, would later feature in the Sydney Swans' premiership winning team in 2005.

Adelaide went on to win its second consecutive premiership the following year, whilst St Kilda had to wait until 2009 for another shot at the premiership, but again were denied by Geelong.

Teams

Match details

See also

• 1997 AFL season

References