Venues
| Melbourne |
|---|
| VFL Park |
| Capacity: 72,000 |
|
| VFL National Panasonic Cup | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Dates | 17 February – 29 April 1987 |
| Teams | 14 |
| Venue(s) | 1 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Melbourne (2nd title) |
| Runners-up | Essendon |
The 1987 Victorian Football League Night Series (also known as the 1987 National Panasonic Cup) was the 19th edition of the VFL Night Series, a Victorian Football League (VFL)-organised Australian rules football tournament between the clubs from the VFL.
It was the first night series event that was run entirely under the control of the VFL since 1978 VFL Night Series, and the first series since the demise of VFL-owned Australian Football Championships (AFC) tournament that included teams from rival state league competitions such as the SANFL, WAFL and elsewhere. It was also the last night series to be partially staged during the home-and-away premiership season, with future tournaments held only during the pre-season.[1]
All 14 teams that participated in the 1987 VFL season, including the two non-Victorian expansion teams (West Coast and Brisbane) participated in the series.
| Melbourne |
|---|
| VFL Park |
| Capacity: 72,000 |
|
|
| 17 Feb | Geelong | 79–59 | Collingwood | VFL Park, Melbourne | |
| Attendance: 19,696
|
| 21 Feb | Carlton | 64–53 | Fitzroy | VFL Park, Melbourne | |
| Attendance: 11,110
|
| 24 Feb | Melbourne | 89–73 | Richmond | VFL Park, Melbourne | |
| Attendance: 6,467
|
| 28 Feb | Hawthorn | 112–72 | North Melbourne | VFL Park, Melbourne | |
| Attendance: 5,956
|
| 3 Mar | West Coast | 87–58 | Footscray | VFL Park, Melbourne | |
| Attendance: 4,599
|
| 7 Mar | Essendon | 94–51 | St Kilda | VFL Park, Melbourne | |
| Attendance: 11,782
|
| 10 Mar | Sydney | 146–70 | Brisbane | VFL Park, Melbourne | |
| Attendance: 8,317
|
| 14 Mar | Geelong | 80–61 | Carlton | VFL Park, Melbourne | |
| Attendance: 11,472
|
| 17 Mar | Melbourne | 96–67 | Hawthorn | VFL Park, Melbourne | |
| Attendance: 6,526
|
| 21 Mar | West Coast | 87–64 | Fitzroy | VFL Park, Melbourne | |
| Attendance: 5,047
|
| 31 Mar | Essendon | 103–42 | Sydney | VFL Park, Melbourne | |
| Attendance: 6,734
|
| 7 Apr | Melbourne | 85–55 | Geelong | VFL Park, Melbourne | |
| Attendance: 6,459
|
| 14 Apr | Essendon | 148–40 | West Coast | VFL Park, Melbourne | |
| Attendance: 6,928
|
| Final 29 April | Melbourne | 58–54 | Essendon | VFL Park, Melbourne | |
| 3.2 (20) 3.6 (24) 7.9 (51) 8.10 (58) |
1.4 (10) 3.4 (22) 7.4 (46) 8.6 (54) |
Attendance: 26,860 Umpires: McDonald, Sawers | |||
| Goals | |||||
| Dean 3 Giles, Bailey 2 Wight 1 |
Merrett, Van der Haar 2 T. Daniher, S. Clark, Williams, K. Walsh 1 |