2005 AFL season

The 2005 Australian Football League season was the 109th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.

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

AFL Draft

See 2005 AFL Draft for more information.

National Cup

Carlton defeated West Coast 1.14.18 (111) to 1.11.9 (84) (For an explanation of pre-season scoring see Pre-season rule changes)

Premiership Season

Round 1 (Easter and season launch)

Round 2

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 4

Round 5 (ANZAC Day)

Round 6

Round 7 (Mother's Day)

• 180 is Fremantle's highest ever score.

Round 8

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 famously criticised eventual premiers Sydney Swans' style of play in its loss against St Kilda, stating it could not win a premiership playing in that way.

Round 11

Round 12 (Queen's Birthday)

Round 13 (Split Round)

• Matthew Lloyd of Essendon played his 200th game.

Round 14 (Family Round)

Round 15

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

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

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

Round 20 (Heritage Round)

• Melbourne defeated Geelong at Skilled Stadium for the first time since 1988.

Round 21

Round 22

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

Ladder

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.

Finals Series

Qualifying and Elimination Finals (Father's Day)

Semi Finals

Preliminary Finals

Grand Final

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Ben Cousins of West Coast. Ben Cousins received 21 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.^[1]

Post season matches

• Essendon Coach Kevin Sheedy coaches 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, Kangaroos won 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^[2]
• Jeff White (Melbourne), Round 16^[3]
• Scott Lucas (Essendon), Round 19^[4]

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.^[5]

References