1986 VFL season

The 1986 VFL season was the 90th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 29 March until 27 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top five clubs.

1986 VFL premiership season
Teams12
PremiersHawthorn
6th premiership
Minor premiersHawthorn
5th minor premiership
Night seriesHawthorn
3rd Night series win
Brownlow MedallistGreg Williams (Sydney)
Robert DiPierdomenico (Hawthorn)
Coleman MedallistBrian Taylor (Collingwood)
Attendance
Matches played138
Total attendance3,395,611 (24,606 per match)
Highest101,861

The premiership was won by the Hawthorn Football Club for the sixth time, after it defeated Carlton by 42 points in the 1986 VFL Grand Final.

Night series

Hawthorn defeated Carlton 9.12 (66) to 5.6 (36) in the final.

Home-and-away season

Ladder
(P)Premiers
Qualified for finals
# Team P W L D PF PA  % Pts
1Hawthorn (P)22184026981906141.672
2Sydney22166024702087118.464
3Carlton22157025661809141.860
4Fitzroy22139020682063100.252
5Essendon221210023791978120.348
6Collingwood221210022612070109.248
7North Melbourne22121002324235698.648
8Footscray22111101963201097.744
9Geelong2271502133259982.128
10Richmond2271502151274578.428
11Melbourne2271502003267374.928
12St Kilda2222001846256671.98

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 101.8
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

Grand final
Main article: 1986 VFL Grand Final

Season notes
  • For the first time in VFL/AFL history, two senior games were held at the same venue on the same day with Melbourne hosting Sydney, followed by North Melbourne vs Geelong at the MCG in round 5. Another double header was staged in round 19 at the MCG with Melbourne and North Melbourne again the home teams against Geelong and Footscray respectively. It would be 34 years before this occurred again.
  • In Round 21, Hawthorn led Geelong by only three points at half-time, but then kicked 25.7 (157) to 3.7 (25) in the second half. Hawthorn's final score of 35.15 (225) set a new record as the club's highest score (since surpassed in 1991) and Geelong's highest score conceded (still a record as of 2021), and the margin of 135 points set and holds the record for Geelong's highest losing margin.[1] Hawthorn's 25.7 (157) set and holds the record for highest score by a single team in a half of football.[2]
  • Round 22 was the last round in VFL/AFL history in which all matches were played on the same day.
  • Fitzroy endured serious financial hardships during 1986 which threatened its existence. More than one million dollars in debt, and having posted a $600,000 loss in 1985, the club took a $500,000 loan from the VFL in January 1986, and needed another $500,000 by the end of the year to remain solvent. It fielded offers from two Brisbane-based companies and one Canberra-based company for the club to move north in 1987, and it discussed mergers with Melbourne, St Kilda and Richmond. Despite the off-field struggles, the club reached the preliminary final; it was the last time the club played finals before its merger with Brisbane at the end of 1996.[3]

Awards

References
  1. "Hawthorn vs Geelong". AFL Tables. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  2. "Quarters & Halves". AFL Tables. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  3. Martin Flanagan (2 October 1986). "Survival the object in Lions' year of trial". The Age. Melbourne. p. 36.
  4. Daryl Timms (29 September 1986). "Blues too experienced". The Sun Grand Final Souvenir. Melbourne. p. 11.
  • Stephen Rodgers: Every Game Ever Played VFL/AFL Results 1897–1991 3rd Edition 1992. Penguin Books Australia ISBN 0-670-90526-7.

Sources
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