2005 AFL season

For the 2005 season of the Arena Football League, see 2005 Arena Football League season.

2005 AFL premiership season
Teams	16
Premiers	Sydney 4th premiership
Minor premiers	Adelaide 1st minor premiership
Pre-season cup	Carlton 2nd pre-season cup win
Brownlow Medallist	Ben Cousins (West Coast)
Coleman Medallist	Fraser Gehrig (St Kilda)
Attendance
Matches played	185
Total attendance	6,763,852 (36,561 per match)
Highest	91,828 (Grand Final, Sydney vs. West Coast)

The 2005 Australian Football League season was the 109th season of the elite Australian rules football competition and the 16th under the name 'Australian Football League', having switched from 'Victorian Football League' after 1989.

See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.

AFL Draft

See 2005 AFL Draft.

Wizard Home Loans Cup

Main article: 2005 Wizard Home Loans Cup

Carlton defeated West Coast 1.14.18 (111) to 1.11.9 (84).

Premiership Season

Round 3 (Rivalry Round)

• Michael Voss of the Brisbane Lions played his 250th game.
• David Neitz of the Melbourne Demons played his 250th game.
• Barry Hall kicked a goal after the siren to defeat the Brisbane Lions.

Round 5 (ANZAC Day)

• Chris Grant of the Western Bulldogs played his 300th game.

Round 9 (Community Weekend)

• Carlton played its last match at Princes Park (known at the time as Optus Oval), its home ground since 1897. The venue was the last suburban ground in use in Melbourne.
• West Coast suffered its first loss for the season, against Collingwood (who was on the bottom of the ladder at the time).
• At the end of this round, the AFL's three most successful clubs, Essendon, Carlton and Collingwood occupied the bottom three places on the AFL ladder.

Round 10

• Fraser Gehrig of St Kilda played his 200th game.
• AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou and former Carlton great Robert Walls both famously criticised eventual premiers the Sydney Swans' style of play in its loss against St Kilda, stating it could not win a premiership playing in that way. It proves to be a major turning point in the Swans' season as they would only lose three more matches for the season, all by seven points or less, on its way to its first AFL premiership in 72 years.

Round 13 (Split Round)

• Matthew Lloyd of Essendon played his 200th game.

Round 15

• The inaugural Dreamtime at the 'G was played between Richmond and Essendon

Round 19

• Scott Lucas of Essendon played his 200th AFL game.

Round 20 (Heritage Round)

• Melbourne defeated Geelong at Skilled Stadium (Kardinia Park) for the first time since 1988.

Round 22

• St Kilda's 139-point win against the Brisbane Lions was the largest victory in St Kilda's history, and the heaviest defeat in the Brisbane Lions' history.

Ladder

2005 AFL ladder

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts
1	Adelaide	22	17	5	0	2070	1517	136.5	68	Finals series
2	West Coast	22	17	5	0	2261	1824	124.0	68
3	Sydney (P)	22	15	7	0	1974	1696	116.4	60
4	St Kilda	22	14	8	0	2407	1806	133.3	56
5	Kangaroos	22	13	9	0	2053	2069	99.2	52
6	Geelong	22	12	10	0	2134	1906	112.0	48
7	Melbourne	22	12	10	0	2171	2266	95.8	48
8	Port Adelaide	22	11	10	1	2028	2066	98.2	46
9	Western Bulldogs	22	11	11	0	2385	2351	101.4	44
10	Fremantle	22	11	11	0	2041	2038	100.1	44
11	Brisbane Lions	22	10	12	0	2139	2164	98.8	40
12	Richmond	22	10	12	0	2022	2190	92.3	40
13	Essendon	22	8	14	0	2118	2302	92.0	32
14	Hawthorn	22	5	17	0	1904	2317	82.2	20
15	Collingwood	22	5	17	0	1884	2425	77.7	20
16	Carlton	22	4	17	1	2016	2670	75.5	18

Source: AFL ladder
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

Ladder progression

  Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 8.

  Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.

  Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round.

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Adelaide	0	4	8	12	12	16	16	16	20	24	28	28	32	36	40	44	48	52	56	60	64	68
West Coast	4	8	12	16	20	24	28	32	32	36	40	44	48	52	56	60	60	64	64	68	68	68
Sydney	4	4	8	8	8	8	12	16	20	20	24	28	32	32	36	40	44	44	48	52	56	60
St Kilda	0	4	4	8	12	16	16	16	16	20	20	24	24	28	32	36	40	44	48	52	52	56
Kangaroos	4	8	12	16	20	20	20	20	20	24	24	28	32	36	36	40	40	44	48	48	48	52
Geelong	4	4	4	8	12	16	20	24	28	28	28	32	32	36	36	40	40	40	40	40	44	48
Melbourne	4	8	12	12	16	16	20	20	24	28	32	36	36	36	36	36	36	36	36	40	44	48
Port Adelaide	0	4	4	6	6	6	10	10	14	14	18	22	26	26	30	30	34	34	38	38	42	46
Western Bulldogs	4	4	4	4	8	8	12	16	16	16	20	20	24	24	24	24	28	32	36	40	40	44
Fremantle	4	4	4	4	8	12	16	16	16	20	20	20	20	20	24	28	32	36	40	40	44	44
Brisbane Lions	4	4	4	4	4	8	8	12	12	12	16	20	24	28	32	32	36	36	40	40	40	40
Richmond	0	4	8	12	12	16	20	24	28	28	28	28	28	32	36	36	36	36	36	36	40	40
Essendon	0	0	4	4	8	8	8	12	12	16	16	16	20	20	20	24	24	28	28	28	32	32
Hawthorn	0	0	0	4	4	4	4	8	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	16	16	16	20	20	20
Collingwood	0	0	4	4	4	4	4	4	8	12	16	16	16	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20
Carlton	0	4	4	6	6	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	14	14	18	18	18

Source:

Finals series

Main article: 2005 AFL finals series

Week four

Main article: 2005 AFL Grand Final

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Ben Cousins of West Coast. Ben Cousins received 20 votes to beat fellow West Coast midfielder Daniel Kerr.
• The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Ben Cousins of West Coast.
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Fraser Gehrig of St Kilda.
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Chris Judd of West Coast.
• The AFL Rising Star award was awarded to Brett Deledio of Richmond.
• The Wooden Spoon was "awarded" to Carlton for coming last. They became the first team in AFL history to win the pre-season competition and then finish last in the season proper.

Player moves

• 30 players retired from the game, including Matthew Primus, Nick Holland, Martin Pike, Wayne Campbell, Justin Murphy, Brenton Sanderson, Austinn Jones, Angelo Lekkas, Phil Matera, Jason Ball and Stuart Maxfield. Shane Woewodin, a Brownlow Medallist was delisted.

Post-season matches

• Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy coached the Australians to a 2–0 victory in the 2005 International Rules Series against Ireland. Andrew McLeod won the Jim Stynes Medal.
• Fremantle defeated West Coast Eagles by 17 points in an Exhibition match played in London.
• Sydney and the Kangaroos played an Exhibition match in the United States at UCLA, with the Kangaroos winning by 48 points.

Notable events

Three players celebrated 200th game milestones against eventual premiers the Sydney Swans during the regular season:

• Fraser Gehrig (St Kilda), round 10
• Jeff White (Melbourne), round 16
• Scott Lucas (Essendon), round 19

Additionally, Michael Voss (Brisbane Lions) played his 250th AFL game and Mal Michael his 100th club game for the Lions, both also against the Swans, in round 3.

References

• 2005 Season – AFL Tables