1987 VFL season

1987 VFL premiership season
Teams	14
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 played	160
Total attendance	3,411,846 (21,324 per match)
Highest	92,754 (Grand Final, Carlton vs. Hawthorn)

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.

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

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. Hawthorn recorded their biggest-ever win against Collingwood and it was also the Magpies' heaviest-ever defeat at Victoria Park.

Round 17

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:

• If Carlton defeated North Melbourne, they would secure the minor premiership and advance straight to the second semi-final
• Hawthorn would win the minor premiership if they beat Geelong and Carlton lost to North
• North could grab third place - and hence the "double chance" - if it beat Carlton and Sydney lost to Fitzroy
• Going into the final round, Geelong held fifth spot, ahead of Footscray on percentage, with Melbourne two premiership points behind both teams. Hence, if the Cats could beat Hawthorn, they would secure a finals berth, but if they lost, then the winner out of Melbourne and Footscray would advance to the finals.

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. 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.

Ladder

(P)	Premiers
	Qualified for finals

#	Team	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	%	Pts
1	Carlton (P)	22	18	4	0	2599	1883	138.0	72
2	Hawthorn	22	17	5	0	2781	1891	147.1	68
3	Sydney	22	15	7	0	2846	2197	129.5	60
4	North Melbourne	22	13	8	1	2402	2417	99.4	54
5	Melbourne	22	12	10	0	2189	2026	108.0	48
6	Geelong	22	11	10	1	2355	2348	100.3	46
7	Footscray	22	11	10	1	1959	2046	95.7	46
8	West Coast	22	11	11	0	2386	2438	97.9	44
9	Essendon	22	9	12	1	2075	2318	89.5	38
10	St Kilda	22	9	13	0	2150	2369	90.8	36
11	Fitzroy	22	8	14	0	2328	2544	91.5	32
12	Collingwood	22	7	15	0	1853	2425	76.4	28
13	Brisbane Bears	22	6	16	0	2113	2666	79.3	24
14	Richmond	22	5	17	0	2199	2667	82.5	20

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

Finals series

Main article: 1987 VFL 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
Tom Hafey coached his 500th League game, becoming the third to reach the milestone after Jock McHale and his opponent Allan Jeans. Warwick Capper kicked four goals to become the second player after Tony Lockett to reach 100 goals for the season. He also took a spectacular mark over his opponent Chris Langford.

	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.

Grand final

Main article: 1987 VFL 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

• This season saw the introduction of two new interstate sides: the West Coast Eagles, based in Perth, Western Australia, and the Brisbane Bears, based in Gold Coast, Queensland. They were the first new clubs to join the league since the expansion of 1925, and the first time the league changed from twelve teams since 1943. The clubs were admitted to the league in a meeting on 1 October 1986, with West Coast admitted by an 8–4 majority of the twelve clubs, and Brisbane admitted unanimously. The two new clubs each paid a $A4 million licence fee which was divided equally amongst the existing twelve clubs, many of whom were in desperate need of such a cash injection.
• When the Seven Network refused to offer a significant increase on its previous deal – which the VFL thought was warranted, given the broader audience that interstate expansion would bring – the VFL sold the television rights to on-seller Broadcom, who sold them to the ABC and satellite network Sportsplay. The deals lasted one year, and Seven purchased the exclusive rights back from Broadcom in 1988 at almost double the 1986 rate. Free-to-air broadcasts, alongside the nationally aired games on ABC (and all locally broadcast games via ABV in Victoria), were split on state lines with Seven retaining broadcasts for Western Australia via TVW-7, the games were broadcast as well on SBS Television and The Prime Network (New South Wales) and on Network 10 (Queensland and South Australia).
• The Round 10 match between West Coast and Collingwood was played on the Foundation Day public holiday, which is not observed in Victoria.
• In awful conditions in Round 13, Collingwood kicked only 2.6 (18), the lowest score by any team since 1968. Brian Taylor kicked their only goals in the first few minutes of the second quarter.
• In three home games from Round 16 to Round 18, the Sydney Swans amassed the most prolific string of high scores in VFL history, scoring a total of 97.53 (635). Their individual scores were: 30.21 (201) against West Coast, winning by 130 points; 36.20 (236) against Essendon, winning by 163 points; and 31.12 (198) against Richmond, winning by 91 points.
• The VFL made a loss on the Round 17 match between Fitzroy and Brisbane Bears, which drew a meagre crowd of only 5,824 to Princes Park, despite being one of only three matches in Melbourne that weekend. The league had considered rescheduling the match as the first half of a double-header with one of the other two senior matches that weekend to reduce overall operating expenses, but contracts already in place precluded double-headers from being staged.
• Melbourne ended the third-longest finals drought in league history (twenty-two seasons) by finishing fifth, making the finals for the first time since 1964.
• The Under-19s Grand Final, in which North Melbourne 13.16 (94) defeated Richmond 13.11 (89), ended in controversy when the final siren was alleged to have been blown early. The timekeeper, who was independent of the clubs, was alleged to have blown the siren after only two minutes of time on; but there had been five goals kicked in the final quarter, which would usually have been expected to result in four or five minutes of time on. Richmond lodged a complaint against the timekeeper, but did not protest the result or seek a replay of the match.

Awards

Major awards

• The Victorian Football League Players' Association Most Valuable Player Award was won by Tony Lockett of St Kilda.
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to David Rhys-Jones of Carlton.
• Carlton won the reserves premiership. Carlton 18.17 (125) defeated St Kilda 15.15 (105) in the grand final, held as a curtain-raiser to the seniors Grand Final on 26 September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Leading goalkickers

• Larger numbers indicate number of goals scored in each round. Subscript numbers indicate total cumulative goals scored through that round.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the player led the Coleman Medal at the end of that round.
• Numbers underlined indicates the player did not play in that round.

	Player	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	Total
1	Tony Lockett	22	57	310	1222	527	027	633	740	242	547	956	359	362	163	568	876	985	893	8101	3104	8112	5117	117
2	Warwick Capper	99	312	517	320	727	229	332	638	442	749	453	558	664	266	268	573	679	584	185	489	695	499	99
3	Jason Dunstall	66	39	312	214	519	322	022	729	130	636	541	1152	153	255	358	361	667	572	476	379	382	587	87
4	Simon Beasley	22	24	37	310	212	012	517	522	325	126	430	838	240	343	346	349	352	153	659	362	1072	173	73
5	Stephen Kernahan	44	26	17	613	619	524	327	128	028	230	232	234	135	439	342	446	248	149	251	859	261	667	67
6	Richard Osborne	00	55	27	714	014	317	421	425	631	031	536	238	038	240	343	245	247	552	355	257	360	262	62
	Bruce Lindner	00	00	77	613	720	121	324	327	532	537	340	444	145	348	250	050	050	353	255	357	260	262
8	Brian Taylor	22	57	310	616	420	424	327	027	027	027	633	740	242	143	447	249	453	255	257	259	160	060	60
9	Dermott Brereton	11	01	01	01	12	13	36	612	618	624	327	532	133	336	238	139	443	346	349	453	255	156	56
10	Gary Ablett	22	810	313	316	117	219	120	424	226	531	435	540	343	245	247	047	653	053	053	053	053	053	53

References

• Stephen Rodgers: Every Game Ever Played VFL/AFL Results 1897–1991 3rd Edition 1992. Penguin Books Australia ISBN 0-670-90526-7.

Sources

• 1987 VFL season at AFL Tables
• 1987 VFL season at Australian Football