# 2000 AFL Grand Final

The 2000 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Essendon Football Club and the Melbourne Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 2 September 2000 rather than in its usual last Saturday of September date to avoid conflicting with the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. It was the 104th annual grand final (counting replays) of the Australian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine the premiers for the 2000 AFL season. The match, attended by 96,249 spectators, was won by Essendon by a margin of 60 points. It was Essendon's 16th premiership, drawing the club equal for the most VFL/AFL premierships.

## Background

This was Essendon's first appearance in a grand final since winning the 1993 AFL Grand Final, whilst it was Melbourne's first since losing the 1988 VFL Grand Final.
In the previous week's preliminary finals, Essendon defeated Carlton by 45 points, while Melbourne defeated North Melbourne by 50 points. The following Monday saw Melbourne's Shane Woewodin awarded the Brownlow Medal with 24 votes, ahead of Western Bulldogs midfielder Scott West and Adelaide midfielder Andrew McLeod.
Essendon won the most home-and-away games (21) and total games (24) in a single season in the history of the VFL/AFL, breaking the records set by Carlton in 1995 (20 and 23, respectively), and they broke Collingwood's 1929 record when it won its first twenty games; if the pre-season cup is included, Essendon won 30 games out of 31; all of these records still stand. In 2008, Geelong won 21 of 22 games in the home-and-away season to equal that record, but they lost the grand final. Essendon's grand final win was the last by a Victorian side until Geelong won in 2007.

## Match summary

Melbourne captain David Neitz won the toss and chose to kick towards the City/Members end of the MCG in the opening quarter. The first score of the game went to Melbourne. Neitz, from a very tight angle near the behind post on the Members side of the goals, kicked the ball into the far goal post resulting in one point.
It was only a short time after the first score of the game that James Hird kicked the first goal of the game for Essendon. Melbourne's first goal was kicked by Stephen Powell.
The Bombers never looked threatened from after quarter time and comfortably won its record-equaling 16th premiership by 60 points after arguably the most dominant season in VFL/AFL history.
One downside for the Bombers was an incident in which Melbourne's Troy Simmonds was hit high by Essendon's Michael Long, resulting in a 25-man brawl. Simmonds was taken from the field on a stretcher; nine players were reported on ten offences by the umpires.
Hird was awarded the Norm Smith Medal for being judged the best player afield. Paul Barnard and Matthew Lloyd each kicked four goals for the Bombers.
Essendon's triumph would be the last by any Victorian team until the 2007 AFL Grand Final when Geelong won its first premiership in 44 years.
The National Anthem was sung by Tania Doko of Bachelor Girl.

## Teams

| Essendon | Melbourne |
Essendon :
| B: | 1 Mark Johnson | 31 Dustin Fletcher | 6 Sean Wellman |
| HB: | 11 Damien Hardwick | 21 Dean Wallis | 7 Dean Solomon |
| C: | 26 Chris Heffernan | 24 Joe Misiti | 33 Blake Caracella |
| HF: | 2 Mark Mercuri | 25 Scott Lucas | 5 James Hird (c) |
| F: | 9 Adam Ramanauskas | 18 Matthew Lloyd | 13 Michael Long |
| Foll: | 22 John Barnes | 32 Justin Blumfield | 14 Jason Johnson |
| Int: | 8 Darren Bewick | 16 Paul Barnard | 27 Steven Alessio |
| Int: | 29 Gary Moorcroft | | |
| Coach: | Kevin Sheedy | Kevin Sheedy | Kevin Sheedy |
Melbourne :
| B: | 26 Daniel Ward | 27 Anthony Ingerson | 44 Alistair Nicholson |
| HB: | 42 Peter Walsh | 28 Matthew Collins | 21 Steven Febey |
| C: | 13 Adem Yze | 22 Shane Woewodin | 35 Anthony McDonald |
| HF: | 18 Brad Green | 5 David Schwarz | 7 Stephen Powell |
| F: | 24 Russell Robertson | 9 David Neitz (c) | 33 Jeff Farmer |
| Foll: | 34 Jeff White | 43 Guy Rigoni | 36 Andrew Leoncelli |
| Int: | 4 Brent Grgic | 16 Travis Johnstone | 47 Ben Beams |
| Int: | 46 Troy Simmonds | | |
| Coach: | Neale Daniher | Neale Daniher | Neale Daniher |

## Scorecard

Essendon vs Melbourne :
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Final |
| Essendon | 4.8 (32) | 10.16 (76) | 16.17 (113) | 19.21 (135) |
| Melbourne | 3.3 (21) | 5.5 (35) | 8.8 (56) | 11.9 (75) |
| Venue: | Venue: | Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne | Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne | Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne |
| Date: | Date: | 2 September 2000 | 2 September 2000 | 2 September 2000 |
| Attendance: | Attendance: | 96,249 | 96,249 | 96,249 |
| Umpires: | Umpires: | Darren Goldspink (32), Brett Allen (10), Hayden Kennedy (7) | Darren Goldspink (32), Brett Allen (10), Hayden Kennedy (7) | Darren Goldspink (32), Brett Allen (10), Hayden Kennedy (7) |
| Goal scorers: | Essendon | 4: Paul Barnard, Matthew Lloyd. 3: Blake Caracella. 2: James Hird. 1: Gary Moorcroft, Mark Mercuri, Michael Long, Justin Blumfield, Darren Bewick, Steven Alessio | 4: Paul Barnard, Matthew Lloyd. 3: Blake Caracella. 2: James Hird. 1: Gary Moorcroft, Mark Mercuri, Michael Long, Justin Blumfield, Darren Bewick, Steven Alessio | 4: Paul Barnard, Matthew Lloyd. 3: Blake Caracella. 2: James Hird. 1: Gary Moorcroft, Mark Mercuri, Michael Long, Justin Blumfield, Darren Bewick, Steven Alessio |
| Goal scorers: | Melbourne | 3: Jeff Farmer, Stephen Powell. 2: David Neitz, Russell Robertson. 1: Brad Green | 3: Jeff Farmer, Stephen Powell. 2: David Neitz, Russell Robertson. 1: Brad Green | 3: Jeff Farmer, Stephen Powell. 2: David Neitz, Russell Robertson. 1: Brad Green |
| Best: | Essendon | Hird, Barnes, Caracella, Misiti, Wallis | Hird, Barnes, Caracella, Misiti, Wallis | Hird, Barnes, Caracella, Misiti, Wallis |
| Best: | Melbourne | White, Powell, Johnstone, Neitz, Walsh | White, Powell, Johnstone, Neitz, Walsh | White, Powell, Johnstone, Neitz, Walsh |
| Reports: | Reports: | Essendon: Wallis (striking), Long (rough play), Dustin Fletcher (striking) Melbourne: Brent Grgic (striking) | Essendon: Wallis (striking), Long (rough play), Dustin Fletcher (striking) Melbourne: Brent Grgic (striking) | Essendon: Wallis (striking), Long (rough play), Dustin Fletcher (striking) Melbourne: Brent Grgic (striking) |
| Injuries: | Injuries: | Melbourne: Simmonds (concussion), Green (fractured larynx) | Melbourne: Simmonds (concussion), Green (fractured larynx) | Melbourne: Simmonds (concussion), Green (fractured larynx) |
| Coin toss winner: | Coin toss winner: | David Neitz, Melbourne | David Neitz, Melbourne | David Neitz, Melbourne |
| Norm Smith Medal: | Norm Smith Medal: | James Hird, Essendon | James Hird, Essendon | James Hird, Essendon |
| Australian television broadcaster: | Australian television broadcaster: | Seven Network | Seven Network | Seven Network |
| National Anthem: | National Anthem: | Bachelor Girl | Bachelor Girl | Bachelor Girl |