The 1985 VFL season was the 89th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria.

The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 23 March until 28 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top five clubs. The season was the first to feature premiership matches on Friday nights.

The premiership was won by the Essendon Football Club for the 14th time and second time consecutively, after it defeated Hawthorn by 78 points in the 1985 VFL Grand Final.

Night series

Hawthorn defeated Essendon 11.11 (77) to 10.8 (68) in the final.

Home-and-away season

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

• The average score by each team this round was 134.8, which stands as the VFL/AFL record.^[1]

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Ladder

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 105.5
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

Finals week 1

Finals week 2

Preliminary final

Grand final

Season notes

• In the first three rounds, St Kilda set an unwanted record of three consecutive losses by 100 points (110, 140 and 113 points). Their percentage at the end of the round was only 34.7.
• In a televised reserves match between Collingwood and the Sydney Swans at the Lake Oval in South Melbourne on Sunday, 28 April, Collingwood reserves full-back John Bourke kicked Swans ruckman Patrick Foy in the groin in response to Foy tagging him throughout the game. As field umpire Phil Waight went to report Bourke for the incident, Bourke kicked and pushed Waight, then made contact with the Collingwood runner and jumped into the stands to attack a Swans fan before being escorted off the field. Bourke was found guilty at the Tribunal of kicking an umpire, kicking and assault, and was given the longest suspension in VFL/AFL history - 10 years plus 16 matches (239 matches), which was commuted in 1992 to six years plus 16 matches (151 matches). He was later charged with two counts of assault by Victoria Police, convicted on both counts in the Prahran Magistrates Court, and fined $2000 plus costs.^[3]
• In round 10, Geelong trailed at each change by 1, 10 and 13 points, but then kicked 11.7 (73) to 1.2 (8) in the last quarter to beat Richmond by 50 points. Their 50-point margin is the largest by a team outscored for each of the first three quarters.
• A violent brawl in the round 12 match between Hawthorn and Geelong led to veteran Hawthorn champion Leigh Matthews being charged with assaulting Geelong's Neville Bruns by Victoria Police.
• On the week of round 18, the Sydney Swans club was bought by Geoffrey Edelsten and became the first privately owned VFL club. Earlier in the season, Perth businessmen Alan Delany and John Watts had attempted to buy lowly St. Kilda and relocate them to Perth.^[4]
• In round 18, Essendon led North Melbourne 18.8 (116) to 2.4 (16) at half-time. This was the largest half-time lead since round 2 of 1931, when led by Richmond 17.9 (111) to North Melbourne's 0.5 (5).
• Collingwood player Andrew Witts wore jumper No. 65 during his seven games with the Magpies – the highest regular jumper number in VFL/AFL history.^[5] It was the highest number of all time until 2017 when a number of Indigenous players wore once-off jumper number No. 67 during Indigenous Round to recognise 50 years since the passage of the 1967 referendum on Aboriginals.
• In round 20, the Arden Street Oval hosted its last senior VFL match. The venue had been used by North Melbourne throughout its time in the VFL, except for 1965 when the club was based in Coburg. A total of 529 VFL senior matches were played at the ground that was formerly overshadowed by a massive gasometer on Macaulay Road.

Awards

• The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Greg Williams of Geelong.
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Simon Madden of Essendon.
• Hawthorn won the reserves premiership. Hawthorn 18.16 (114) defeated Carlton 16.12 (108) in the grand final, held as a curtain-raiser to the seniors Grand Final on 28 September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.^[6]