The 86th Victorian Football League Premiership season commenced on 20 March 1982 and concluded on 25 September 1982 with Carlton winning their second consecutive Premiership against Richmond. Owing to the extreme drought

1979-1983 Eastern Australian drought

Between 1979 and 1983 almost all of eastern Australia was affected by a major drought.Although in some places such as the South Coast the drought was almost continuous, in most of the affected region the major years of drought were 1980 and 1982.-Background:...

 and consequent firm grounds, the 1982 season remains the highest-scoring on record, with an average game score of 112 points: the next highest being 106 points in 1979 and 1983. St Kilda and Footscray became the only teams ever to concede 3,000 points in one season.

Elimination Final

|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
| Home team
| Score
| Away team
| Score
| Venue
| Attendance
| Date
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|
| 16.19 (115)
|
| 19.14 (128)
| VFL Park
| 50.537
| Saturday, 5 September

Qualifying Final

|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
| Home team
| Score
| Away team
| Score
| Venue
| Attendance
| Date
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|
| 16.9 (105)
|
| 25.13 (163)
| MCG

Melbourne Cricket Ground

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...

| 70,552
| Saturday, 5 September

Semi Finals

|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
| Home team
| Score
| Away team
| Score
| Venue
| Attendance
| Date
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|
| 24.22 (166)
|
| 18.6 (114)
| MCG

Melbourne Cricket Ground

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...

| 61,729
| Saturday, 11 September
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|
| 14.18 (102)
|
| 9.8 (62)
| VFL Park
| 65,611
| Saturday, 11 September

Preliminary Final

|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
| Home team
| Score
| Away team
| Score
| Venue
| Attendance
| Date
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|
| 13.16 (94)
|
| 8.16 (63)
| VFL Park
| 61,307
| Saturday, 18 September

Grand Final

|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
| Home team
| Score
| Away team
| Score
| Venue
| Attendance
| Date
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|
| 12.13 (85)
|
| 14.19 (103)
| MCG

Melbourne Cricket Ground

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...

| 107,536
| Saturday, 25 September

Notable events

• South Melbourne, affected by limited finances and loss of its inner-city support base ever since World War II
  World War II
  World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
  
  , relocated to Sydney after experimental matches played by the VFL there since 1979. The team was known as just 'Swans' for the 1982 season before changing to the 'Sydney Swans' in 1983.
• The high scoring of the season can be seen thus:
  • 66 scores of 20 goals occurred, a record equalled only in 1991
  • 57 matches where both teams scored a century - no other season had more than fifty
• In Round 16 against North Melbourne, Hawthorn set record scores of 13.3 (81) for the first quarter and 20.7 (127) for the first half. The latter record has been beaten by Brisbane
  Brisbane Lions
  The Brisbane Lions is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Brisbane, Queensland. The club was formed from the merger of the Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions in 1996...
  
   against Fremantle in 2004; the former has been beaten by Essendon against Gold Coast in Round 6 2011 with a score of 15.4 (94).

See also

• Early VFL Final systems
  Early VFL Final systems
  Throughout its history, the Victorian Football League has used a system of finals after playing a regular season to determine the winner of the premiership....
  
  
• Page-McIntyre "Final Four" system
• McIntyre "Final Five" system