The 1997 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Adelaide Crows and the St. Kilda Saints, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 27 September 1997. It was the 101st annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1997 AFL season. The match, attended by 99,645 spectators, was won by Adelaide by a margin of 31 points, marking that club's first premiership victory.
Background
The 1997 Grand Final saw the Saints playing in their first premiership decider since losing the 1971 VFL Grand Final, whilst the Crows were appearing in their first Grand Final since entering the competition in 1991.
At the conclusion of the home and away season, St. Kilda had finished first on the AFL ladder with 15 wins and 7 losses, winning the McClelland Trophy. They had won their last seven matches. Adelaide, with former Woodville and North Melbourne star Malcolm Blight taking over as coach, had finished fourth (behind Geelong and the Western Bulldogs) with 13 wins and 9 losses. They had made the finals for only the second time in their club history, after losing in a Preliminary Final in 1993 to eventual premiers Essendon. Tony Modra was the club's leading goalkicker for the fifth straight season with a total of 84.
Adelaide won their Qualifying Final encounter against West Coast at Football Park by 33 points, but still needed to play a Semi Final against Geelong which they won by 8 points, again at Football Park. They then progressed to the Preliminary Final against the Western Bulldogs, a match in which they came from behind to snatch victory by just two points. It was, at that time, the greatest victory in the Crows' team history. However, in this game Adelaide lost Modra in the first quarter to an ACL injury, meaning he would not be available for the Grand Final.
St Kilda won their Qualifying Final against the eighth placed Brisbane Lions by 46 points at Waverley Park before a sparse crowd, sending them to a home Preliminary Final against seventh placed North Melbourne at the MCG, which they won by 31 points. The Saints went into the Grand Final as heavy favourites.
St Kilda's Robert Harvey won the Brownlow Medal earlier in the week for having been the best player in the AFL for the 1997 season. Western Bulldogs player Chris Grant polled the highest number of votes, but as he had been suspended for a one match ban - in Round 7 against Hawthorn for striking - he was deemed ineligible for the award[1].
Match summary
| Team |
1 |
2 |
3 |
Final
|
| Adelaide |
3.8 |
5.10 |
11.11 |
19.11 (125)
|
| St. Kilda |
3.6 |
7.11 |
9.13 |
13.16 (94)
|
It was an exciting Grand Final, and despite St.Kilda leading by 13 points at half time, Adelaide won by five goals, kicking eight goals in the final quarter led by Darren Jarman. Andrew McLeod won his first Norm Smith Medal for being judged the best player afield. Shane Ellen, typically a defensive player for the Crows, provided a cameo at full-forward with five goals.
St. Kilda's Austinn Jones kicked the goal of the match, or what could have been goal of the year. In an effort reminiscent of Phil Manassa in 1977, Jones ran virtually the full length of the ground and kicked the goal from the boundary.
