2000 AFL Grand Final
Encyclopedia
The 2000 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 game contested between the Essendon Football Club
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...

 and the Melbourne Football Club
Melbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....

, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
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...

 in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 on 2 September 2000. It was the 104th annual Grand Final
AFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...

 of the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

, staged to determine the premiers for the 2000 AFL season. The match, attended by 96,249 spectators, was won by Essendon by a margin of 60 points, marking that club's 16th premiership victory.

Background

This was Essendon's first appearance in a Grand Final since winning the 1993 AFL Grand Final
1993 AFL Grand Final
The 1993 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Essendon Football Club and Carlton Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 25 September 1993. It was the 97th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League/Australian Football...

, whilst it was Melbourne's first since losing the 1988 VFL Grand Final
1988 VFL Grand Final
The 1988 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club and the Melbourne Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 24 September 1988. It was the 92nd annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to...

. Essendon had completed the best home and away season in modern history, winning 21 of 22 matches, an AFL record (which would be equaled by in the 2008 season
2008 AFL season
-Round 1 :-Round 2:-Round 3 :-Round 4:-Round 5:-Round 6 :-Round 7:-AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match:-Round 8:...

), winning their second successive McClelland Trophy
McClelland Trophy
The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football trophy, currently awarded to the minor premiers in the Australian Football League each year...

. Melbourne finished the home and away season third with 14 wins and 8 losses.

In the previous week's Preliminary Finals, Essendon defeated Carlton by 45 points, while Melbourne defeated North Melbourne by 50 points. The following Monday saw Melbourne's Shane Woewodin
Shane Woewodin
Shane Woewodin was an Australian rules football player who played 200 games with the Melbourne and Collingwood Football Clubs. He was the recipient of the Brownlow Medal in 2000.-Early career:...

 awarded the Brownlow Medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...

 with 24 votes, ahead of Western Bulldogs
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...

 midfielder Scott West
Scott West
Scott West is a former Australian rules football player who played for the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League...

 and Adelaide midfielder Andrew McLeod
Andrew McLeod
Andrew Luke McLeod is a former Australian rules footballer for the Adelaide Football Club. He is the games record holder for Adelaide, having played 340 games....

.

Match summary

Melbourne captain David Neitz
David Neitz
David Neitz , nicknamed Neita, is a retired Australian rules footballer. The strongly built centre half back who became a full forward was the longest-serving captain in the history of the Melbourne Football Club and the first Melbourne player to achieve the 300-game milestone.Neitz was born in...

 won the toss and chose to kick towards the City/Members end of the MCG in the opening quarter. The first score of the game went to Melbourne. Neitz, from a very tight angle near the behind post on the Members side of the goals, kicked the ball into the far goal post resulting in one point.

It was only a short time after the first score of the game that James Hird
James Hird
James Hird is a former professional Australian rules footballer and the current coach of the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League....

 kicked the first goal of the game for Essendon. Melbourne's first goal was kicked by Stephen Powell
Stephen Powell
Stephen Powell was an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League .A journeyman in the AFL, Powell made his debut with the Western Bulldogs as a 20-year-old in 1997. He became known as a solid player whose hardness at the ball was very valuable, continuing this role as the...

.

The Bombers never looked threatened from quarter time and comfortably won its record-equaling 16th premiership by 60 points, after one of the most dominant seasons in VFL/AFL history.

One downside for the Bombers was an incident in which Melbourne's Troy Simmonds
Troy Simmonds
Troy Simmonds is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Melbourne, Fremantle and Richmond in the Australian Football League.-Melbourne: 1999 – 2001:Simmonds was first drafted by Melbourne in the 1999 Preseason Draft...

 was struck heavily by Essendon's Michael Long, resulting in a 25 man brawl. Simmonds was stretchered from the ground; nine players were reported on ten offences by the umpires.

Hird was awarded the Norm Smith Medal
Norm Smith Medal
The Norm Smith Medal is the award given in the AFL Grand Final to the player adjudged by an independent panel of experts to have been the best player in the match.-History:The Norm Smith Medal is named after former Melbourne player and coach, Norm Smith...

 for being judged the best player afield. Paul Barnard
Paul Barnard
Paul Barnard is a former Australian rules footballer who played from 1994 until 2003.Originally from East Perth, where he played 29 games from 1992–93, Barnard's first two seasons of AFL were spent with Hawthorn. After managing only 11 games he came to Essendon as part of a trade with Paul Salmon...

 and Matthew Lloyd
Matthew Lloyd
Matthew James Lloyd is a former Australian rules footballer who played for and was the captain of the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League...

 each kicked four goals for the Bombers.

Essendon's triumph would be the last by any Victorian team until the 2007 AFL Grand Final
2007 AFL Grand Final
The 2007 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Geelong Football Club and the Port Adelaide Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 29 September 2007. It was the 111th annual Grand Final of the VFL/AFL, staged to determine the...

 when Geelong
Geelong Football Club
The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...

 won its first premiership in 44 years and was the last win by Melbourne based club until Hawthorn's victory in the 2008 AFL Grand Final
2008 AFL Grand Final
The 2008 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match contested between the Geelong Football Club and the Hawthorn Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on the 27th of September 2008...

.

Teams

Scorecard

External links

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