1991 AFL season

For the 1991 season of the Arena Football League, see 1991 Arena Football League season.

1991 AFL premiership season
Teams	15
Premiers	Hawthorn 9th premiership
Minor premiers	West Coast 1st minor premiership
Pre-season cup	Hawthorn 1st pre-season cup win
Brownlow Medallist	Jim Stynes (Melbourne)
Coleman Medallist	Tony Lockett (St Kilda)
Attendance
Matches played	172
Total attendance	4,178,884 (24,296 per match)
Highest	75,230 (Grand Final, Hawthorn v West Coast)

The 1991 Australian Football League season was the 95th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.

Foster's Cup

Hawthorn defeated North Melbourne 14.19 (103) to 7.12 (54). (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Premiership season

Due to the admission of the Adelaide Crows, there were 15 teams (an odd number) in the league, requiring byes for the first time since 1943.

Each team played 22 games for the season with two byes: seven teams had a bye in round 1, and one team had a bye in each subsequent week.

Round 15

	Round 15
Friday, 28 June (7:40 pm)	North Melbourne 18.7 (115)	def. by	Hawthorn 27.17 (179)	MCG (crowd: 25,819)
Saturday, 29 June (2:10 pm)	Collingwood 23.22 (160)	def.	Adelaide 5.7 (37)	Victoria Park (crowd: 25,164)
Saturday, 29 June (2:10 pm)	Fitzroy 6.5 (41)	def. by	Carlton 8.12 (60)	Princes Park (crowd: 15,147)
Saturday, 29 June (2:10 pm)	Footscray 11.23 (89)	def.	Essendon 6.7 (43)	Western Oval (crowd: 17,536)
Saturday, 29 June (2:10 pm)	Geelong 19.17 (131)	def.	Richmond 14.14 (98)	Waverley Park (crowd: 22,688)
Sunday, 30 June (2:10 pm)	Sydney 14.10 (94)	def. by	Melbourne 26.21 (177)	SCG (crowd: 10,569)
Sunday, 30 June (2:10 pm)	West Coast 21.11 (137)	def.	St Kilda 14.9 (93)	Subiaco Oval (crowd: 42,255)
	Bye Brisbane Bears

Round 22

	Round 22
Friday, 16 August (7:40 pm)	Adelaide 12.9 (81)	def. by	St Kilda 20.12 (132)	Football Park (crowd: 45,440)
Saturday, 17 August (2:10 pm)	Carlton 12.12 (84)	def. by	Essendon 13.10 (88)	Waverley Park (crowd: 34,588)
Saturday, 17 August (2:10 pm)	Fitzroy 22.16 (148)	def.	North Melbourne 21.21 (147)	Princes Park (crowd: 8,588)
Saturday, 17 August (2:10 pm)	Richmond 14.11 (95)	def.	Footscray 11.12 (78)	MCG (crowd: 15,466)
Saturday, 17 August (2:10 pm)	Geelong 17.13 (115)	def.	Sydney 13.10 (88)	Kardinia Park (crowd: 17,755)
Sunday, 18 August (2:10 pm)	Brisbane Bears 13.13 (91)	def. by	Melbourne 15.13 (103)	Gabba (crowd: 6,480)
Sunday, 18 August (2:10 pm)	West Coast 15.9 (99)	def.	Hawthorn 11.9 (75)	Subiaco Oval (crowd: 35,001)
	Bye Collingwood

Finals Series

See also: 1991 AFL finals series

Grand final

Main article: 1991 AFL Grand Final

Ladder

All teams played 22 games during the home and away season, for a total of 165. An additional 7 games were played during the finals series.

A team based in the state of South Australia, christened the "Adelaide Crows" after the epithet bestowed upon those from South Australia by those living in other Australian states (viz., the "crow eaters") was admitted to the AFL competition in 1991.

Match attendance

Total match attendance for the home-and-away season was 3,810,868 people. Total attendance for the finals series was 381,707 people. Attendance at the Grand Final was 75,230 people. The largest non-finals attendance was 55,735 people for the Collingwood v Melbourne game of Round 6.

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Jim Stynes of Melbourne
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Tony Lockett of St Kilda
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Paul Dear of Hawthorn
• The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Jim Stynes of Melbourne
• The Under 19's Grand Final was won by North Melbourne
• The Reserves Grand Final was won by Brisbane
• The Seniors Grand Final was won by Hawthorn

Notable events

• The Adelaide Crows entered the AFL competition.
• The McIntyre "Final Five" system, which had operated from 1972 until 1991, was replaced by the First McIntyre "Final Six" system. This system lasted only this season, and it was replaced by the Second McIntyre "Final Six" system in 1992.
• In round 6, North Melbourne and Sydney kicked 32.18 (210) in the first half. It is the only aggregate of 200 points for a half in VFL/AFL history.
• In round 11, Carlton kicked its only goal through Mark Arceri 33 seconds from the end of their match with Footscray. It was the Blues' lowest score since 1904, and the closest a team has come to a goalless match since 1961.
• In round 21, Essendon hosted its last senior VFL/AFL match at Windy Hill—its home venue since 1922. Essendon played its home matches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the remainder of the 1990s.
• West Coast did not concede more than 100 points in any game during the home-and-away season, being the first team to do this since 1967.
• The qualifying final at Subiaco Oval between West Coast and Hawthorn was the first finals match played outside Melbourne since 1897, when one finals match was played in Geelong; it was the first final ever played outside Victoria.
• The capacity of the Melbourne Cricket Ground was reduced by half during 1991 as the new Great Southern Stand was constructed in preparation for the 1992 Cricket World Cup, to be played there in the summer of 1991/92. One consequence of this was that Waverley Park hosted all finals that were played in Melbourne, including (for the first and only time in its history) the grand final. The other was that Hawthorn's plans move its home games from Princes Park to Waverley Park were delayed by one year: Hawthorn had played five home games at Waverley Park and six at Princes Park in 1990 as part of transitional arrangements for a permanent move in 1991, but the AFL reneged on the deal when it became clear that the ground was needed for blockbuster games throughout the year; as a compromise, Hawthorn again played five home games at Waverley Park and six at Princes Park during 1991, and then moved permanently to Waverley Park in 1992.
• By the end of the year, Hawthorn captain Michael Tuck retired from the game, having played a then-record 426 VFL/AFL matches (including 7 premierships from 11 grand finals). The record stood until passed by Brent Harvey (North Melbourne) in 2016.

See also

• First McIntyre "Final Six" system

References

• 1991 Season - AFL Tables

Bibliography

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