1990 AFL season

Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 1990.

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

National Cup

Essendon defeated North Melbourne 17.10 (112) to 10.16 (76)

Premiership Season

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

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

All teams played 22 games during the home and away season, for a total of 154. An additional 7 games were played during the finals series.

Finals Series

NOTE: The "home" team is listed first

Elimination Final – 9 September

Goals Hawthorn: Brereton (2), Dunstall (2), Hall (2), Platten, Pritchard
Goals Melbourne: Bennett (4), Stretch (2), Eishold, Healy, Jackson, Spalding
Best Hawthorn: Hall, Tuck, Mew, Pritchard
Best Melbourne: Eishold, Stynes, Campbell, Yeats, Rohde, Newport, Healy
Umpires: Carey, Sawers
Attendance: 74,954 at the MCG

Qualifying Final – 8 September

Goals Collingwood: Daicos (4), Barwick (3), Brown (3), Taylor (2), Manson
Goals West Coast: Sumich (4), Lewis (2), Heady (2), Langdon (2), Kemp, Keene, Waterman
Best Collingwood: Brown, Wright, Francis, Millane, A. Richardson, Gayfer, Daicos
Best West Coast: Lewis, Heady, Lamb, Mainwaring, Hart, Langdon, Watters
Umpires: Ball, Rich
Attendance: 57,546 at Waverley Park

Qualifying Final Replay – 15 September

Goals Collingwood: Brown (4), Daicos (4), Manson (2), Crosisca (2), Francis (2), Kelly, Russell, McGuane, Christian, Millane
Goals West Coast: Sumich (4), Keene (2), Langdon, Turley, Kemp
Best Collingwood: Christian, Francis, Wright, Morwood, Brown, Gayfer, McGuane
Best West Coast: Turley, Sumich, Lamb, Keene, Worsfold, Lewis
Umpires: Mitchell, Sheehan
Attendance: 53,520 at Waverley Park

First Semi-Final – 22 September

Goals Melbourne: Grinter (4), Bennett (2), Yeats (2), Jackson (2), Tingay, Campbell, Spalding, Healy, Eishold
Goals West Coast: Waterman (6), Sumich (4), Jackson (3), Mainwaring (2), Lewis, Keene, Langdon, Kemp
Best Melbourne: B. Lovett, Spalding, Campbell, Eishold, Stynes, Grinter
Best West Coast: Turley, Keene, Mainwaring, Waterman, McKenna, Jackson, Lewis
Umpires: Sawers, Rich
Attendance: 43,456 at Waverley Park

Second Semi-Final – 23 September

Goals Collingwood: Brown (5), Daicos (3), Barwick (3), Starcevich (2), Russell (2), Francis, Crosisca
Goals Essendon: Salmon (3), Harvey, Kickett, Van der Haar, Thompson
Best Collingwood: McGuane, Brown, Banks, Morwood, Russell, Francis, Christian
Best Essendon: Salmon, T. Daniher, Thompson, Bewick, Ezard
Umpires: Carey, Sheehan
Attendance: 91,555 at the MCG

Preliminary Final – 29 September

Goals Essendon: Ezard (3), Harvey (3), Salmon (2), Madden (2), Van der Haar (2), Anderson, Bewick, Kickett, Long, Manning, Watson
Goals West Coast: Jackson (3), Sumich (2), Heady, Langdon, Mainwaring
Best Essendon: Madden, T. Daniher, Anderson, Grenvold, Ezard, Hamilton, Bewick
Best West Coast: Mainwaring, Lewis, Scott, Hart, Heady, Brennan, McKenna
Umpires: Carey, Sheehan
Attendance: 55,813 at Waverley Park

Grand final

This was Collingwood's 14th VFL/AFL premiership, ending 32 years of heartbreak as the Magpies had lost each of the eight Grand Finals it had contested since it won the 1958 Grand Final (it had also drawn the 1977 VFL Grand Final then lost the replay the following week).

Match attendance

Total match attendance for the home-and-away season was 3,587,595 people. Total attendance for the finals series was 475,790 people.

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Tony Liberatore of Footscray.
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to John Longmire of North Melbourne.
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Tony Shaw of Collingwood
• The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Darren Millane of Collingwood
• The Wooden Spoon was "awarded" to the Brisbane Bears

Notable events

• The Victorian Football League (VFL) was re-named and re-badged (with a new logo) the Australian Football League in 1990.
• By AFL rules, the drawn qualifying final between Collingwood and West Coast was replayed on the following weekend. This meant that minor premier Essendon was given an additional bye week, giving them three weeks between games, a fact about which the club was not pleased. Although Essendon would ultimately reach the Grand Final through the Preliminary Final, they were soundly beaten and claimed that the extended layoff was partly to blame. Agreeing with this assessment, the AFL would go on to introduce the provision to play extra time in tied finals matches (except the Grand Final) in future years.
• The Port Adelaide Football Club made a bid to join the new AFL competition. The application was rejected. A composite South Australian National Football League team, christened the "Adelaide Crows" after the epithet bestowed upon those from South Australia by those living in other Australian states (the "crow eaters" [1]) was admitted to the AFL competition in the 1991 season.
• The Brisbane-Melbourne game in Round 5 was the 10,000th VFL/AFL match.

References

• Stephen Rodgers: Every Game Ever Played VFL/AFL Results 1897–1991 3rd Edition 1992. Penguin Books Australia ISBN 0-670-90526-7.
• 1990 Season – AFL Tables