# 2006 VFL season

The 2006 Victorian Football League (VFL) is a semi-professional Australian Rules Football competition featuring 12 teams from Victoria and one team from Tasmania.
It was the 125th season of the Australian rules football competition.

## League affiliations

Prior to the 2006 season, the VFL–AFL reserves affiliation which had existed for the previous three seasons between North Melbourne and Port Melbourne was terminated. In its place, North Melbourne arranged to be affiliated with both North Ballarat and Tasmania, with half of its reserves players allocated to each team. Port Melbourne continued as a stand-alone senior team in the competition.
As a result, the competition stayed constant at thirteen teams: ten VFL–AFL affiliations, one AFL reserves team (Geelong) and two stand-alone VFL teams (Port Melbourne and Frankston).
Prior to the season, Springvale came to an arrangement with the City of Casey to relocate to the new Casey Fields multi-sports complex in Cranbourne East. The club changed its name to the Casey Scorpions.

## Ladder

2006 VFL season :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | D | PF | PA | PP | Pts | |
| 1 | Northern Bullants | 18 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 1983 | 1113 | 178.2 | 68 | Finals |
| 2 | Sandringham (P) | 18 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 1926 | 1505 | 128.0 | 52 | Finals |
| 3 | Geelong reserves | 18 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 1784 | 1633 | 109.2 | 52 | Finals |
| 4 | Williamstown | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 1690 | 1490 | 113.4 | 44 | Finals |
| 5 | Frankston | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 1857 | 1575 | 117.9 | 40 | Finals |
| 6 | Werribee | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 1900 | 1759 | 108.0 | 40 | Finals |
| 7 | North Ballarat | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1816 | 1757 | 103.4 | 36 | Finals |
| 8 | Coburg | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1623 | 1614 | 100.6 | 36 | Finals |
| 9 | Tasmania | 18 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 1754 | 1844 | 95.1 | 28 | |
| 10 | Box Hill | 18 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 1609 | 2108 | 76.3 | 24 | |
| 11 | Casey Scorpions | 18 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 1529 | 1862 | 82.1 | 20 | |
| 12 | Bendigo | 18 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 1516 | 1991 | 76.1 | 16 | |
| 13 | Port Melbourne | 18 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 1490 | 2226 | 66.9 | 12 | |

## Finals Series

| Qualifying and elimination finals | Qualifying and elimination finals | Qualifying and elimination finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Preliminary finals | Preliminary finals | Preliminary finals | Grand final | Grand final | Grand final |
| 2 September, AMF Oval | 2 September, AMF Oval | 2 September, AMF Oval | | | | | | | | | |
| 1 | Northern Bullants | 12.13 (85) | | | | | | | | | |
| 4 | Williamstown | 19.16 (130) | 9 September, TEAC Oval | 9 September, TEAC Oval | 9 September, TEAC Oval | | | | |
| | | | Northern Bullants | Northern Bullants | 15.10 (100) | | | | |
| 2 September, Frankston Oval | 2 September, Frankston Oval | 2 September, Frankston Oval | Frankston | Frankston | 11.15 (81) | 17 September, TEAC Oval | 17 September, TEAC Oval | 17 September, TEAC Oval | | | |
| 5 | Frankston | 20.13 (133) | | | | Williamstown | Williamstown | 12.16 (88) | |
| 8 | Coburg | 13.4 (82) | | | | Geelong | Geelong | 17.13 (115) | 24 September, Optus Oval | 24 September, Optus Oval | 24 September, Optus Oval |
| | | | | | | | | | Geelong | Geelong | 11.7 (73) |
| 3 September, TEAC Oval | 3 September, TEAC Oval | 3 September, TEAC Oval | | | | 16 September, TEAC Oval | 16 September, TEAC Oval | 16 September, TEAC Oval | Sandringham | Sandringham | 13.13 (91) |
| 6 | Werribee | 16.12 (108) | | | | Sandringham | Sandringham | 23.14 (152) | | |
| 7 | North Ballarat | 28.16 (184) | 10 September, TEAC Oval | 10 September, TEAC Oval | 10 September, TEAC Oval | Northern Bullants | Northern Bullants | 10.12 (72) | | |
| | | | Geelong | Geelong | 19.14 (128) | | | | | | |
| 2 September, TEAC Oval | 2 September, TEAC Oval | 2 September, TEAC Oval | North Ballarat | North Ballarat | 19.8 (122) | | | | | |
| 2 | Sandringham | 20.16 (136) | | | | | | | | | |
| 3 | Geelong | 17.13 (115) | | | | | | | | |

### Grand Final

| | 2006 VFL Grand Final | 2006 VFL Grand Final | 2006 VFL Grand Final | | |
| Sunday 24 September (2:10 pm) | Sandringham | def. | Geelong | Optus Oval (crowd: 6,000) | |
| | 2.7 (19) 6.4 (40) 11.9 (75) 13.13 (91) | Q1 Q2 Q3 Final | 4.3 (27) 4.3 (27) 6.5 (41) 11.7 (73) | Norm Goss Memorial Medal: Phillip Read (Sandringham) | Norm Goss Memorial Medal: Phillip Read (Sandringham) |
| Sautner 3, Biddlecombe 2, Motlop 2, Smith 2, Dunn, Gallagher, Liddell, Wheatley | Sautner 3, Biddlecombe 2, Motlop 2, Smith 2, Dunn, Gallagher, Liddell, Wheatley | Goals | Kingsley 4, Byrne 2, Ablett, Hunt, McCarthy, Slade | Kingsley 4, Byrne 2, Ablett, Hunt, McCarthy, Slade |

## Season Awards
### Awards

* The Jim 'Frosty' Miller Medal was won by Aaron Edwards (Frankston), who kicked 88 goals.
* The J. J. Liston Trophy was also won by Aaron Edwards (Frankston), who polled 18 votes. Edwards finished ahead of Brett Johnson (Williamstown), who was second with 17 votes, and Daniel Harford (Northern Bullants), who was third with 14 votes.
* The Fothergill–Round Medal was won by Jason Davenport (Geelong reserves).
* Box Hill won the reserves premiership. Box Hill 10.11 (71) defeated Williamstown 8.11 (59) in the Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the Seniors Grand Final on 24 September.

### VFL Team of the Year

2006 Victorian Team of the Year :
| B: | David Biagi (Casey) | Shaun Pollard (Frankston) | Andy Biddlecombe (Sandringham) |
| HB: | Daniel Harford (Northern Bullants) | Justin Crow (Northern Bullants) | Jordan Doering (Bendigo) |
| C: | David Gallagher (Sandringham) | James Byrne (Geelong) (Capt.) | Kyle Matthews (Casey) |
| HF: | Tim Hazell (Port Melbourne) | Digby Morrell (Northern Bullants) | Brett Geappen (Tasmania) |
| F: | James Podsiadly (Werribee) | Aaron Edwards (Frankston) | Salim Hassan (Werribee) |
| Foll: | Warren Carlyle (Port Melbourne) | Brett Johnson (Williamstown) | James Allen (Werribee) |
| Int: | Jacob King (Coburg) | Neil Winterton (Frankston) | Steven Greene (Williamstown) |
| Int: | Matthew Sharkey (North Ballarat) | | |

## Notable events

* Commencing this season, a two year rule trial was conducted throughout the VFL premiership season on behalf of the AFL, under which a backwards kick to a team-mate which was caught in the defensive half of the ground would be called play-on instead of a mark; a line was painted across the centre of the field to accommodate.