# List of VFL debuts in 1989

The 1989 VFL season was the 93rd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL). The season saw 84 Australian rules footballers make their senior VFL debut and a further 25 players transfer to new clubs, having previously played in the VFL.

## Summary

Summary of debuts in 1989 :
| Club | VFL debuts | Change of club |
| Brisbane Bears | 6 | 3 |
| Carlton | 8 | 2 |
| Collingwood | 7 | 1 |
| Essendon | 6 | 1 |
| Fitzroy | 7 | 3 |
| Footscray | 4 | 3 |
| Geelong | 4 | 2 |
| Hawthorn | 3 | 0 |
| Melbourne | 5 | 2 |
| North Melbourne | 9 | 0 |
| Richmond | 7 | 0 |
| St Kilda | 4 | 4 |
| Sydney | 4 | 2 |
| West Coast | 10 | 2 |
| Total | 84 | 25 |

## Debuts

| Name | Club | Age at debut | Round debuted | Games | Goals | Notes |
| Marcus Ashcroft | Brisbane Bears | 17 years, 243 days | 9 | 318 | 145 | |
| John Gastev | Brisbane Bears | 24 years, 233 days | 1 | 113 | 41 | Previously played for West Coast. |
| Martin Leslie | Brisbane Bears | 26 years, 135 days | 1 | 107 | 11 | |
| David Bain | Brisbane Bears | 22 years, 334 days | 1 | 86 | 44 | |
| Mark Zanotti | Brisbane Bears | 24 years, 199 days | 9 | 64 | 5 | Previously played for West Coast. |
| Alex Ishchenko | Brisbane Bears | 26 years, 362 days | 1 | 42 | 15 | Previously played for West Coast. |
| Lachlan Sim | Brisbane Bears | 19 years, 136 days | 2 | 21 | 5 | |
| Chris O'Sullivan | Brisbane Bears | 21 years, 34 days | 9 | 8 | 2 | |
| Simon Hose | Brisbane Bears | 21 years, 361 days | 2 | 5 | 2 | |
| Fraser Brown | Carlton | 18 years, 226 days | 1 | 177 | 91 | Son of Joyce Brown and grandson of Doug Anderson. |
| Andrew Phillips | Carlton | 19 years, 92 days | 5 | 42 | 26 | Uncle of Tom and Ed Phillips. |
| Simon Verbeek | Carlton | 22 years, 3 days | 1 | 38 | 33 | |
| Glenn Hawker | Carlton | 28 years, 15 days | 1 | 27 | 26 | Previously played for Essendon. |
| Simon Minton-Connell | Carlton | 20 years, 80 days | 15 | 19 | 50 | Nephew of Peter Hudson and cousin of Paul Hudson. |
| Dominic Fotia | Carlton | 19 years, 148 days | 6 | 18 | 4 | |
| Andrew McKinnon | Carlton | 20 years, 247 days | 1 | 15 | 7 | |
| Ashley Matthews | Carlton | 19 years, 252 days | 18 | 9 | 3 | |
| Paul Payne | Carlton | 24 years, 41 days | 3 | 5 | 0 | Previously played for Melbourne. |
| Peter White | Carlton | 18 years, 313 days | 8 | 3 | 1 | |
| Craig Kelly | Collingwood | 22 years, 310 days | 4 | 122 | 43 | Grandson of Bert Kelly. |
| Colin Alexander | Collingwood | 18 years, 354 days | 1 | 24 | 28 | |
| Heath Shephard | Collingwood | 19 years, 220 days | 3 | 11 | 16 | Son of Graeme Shephard. |
| Murray Wrensted | Collingwood | 24 years, 247 days | 5 | 10 | 4 | Previously played for West Coast. |
| Brendan Tranter | Collingwood | 18 years, 114 days | 19 | 8 | 0 | |
| Terry Hecker | Collingwood | 19 years, 239 days | 22 | 6 | 1 | |
| Mark Bayliss | Collingwood | 23 years, 152 days | 7 | 4 | 6 | |
| Simon Taylor | Collingwood | 18 years, 256 days | 21 | 2 | 1 | |
| Michael Long | Essendon | 19 years, 181 days | 1 | 190 | 143 | |
| David Grenvold | Essendon | 23 years, 25 days | 1 | 112 | 18 | |
| Kieran Sporn | Essendon | 22 years, 215 days | 1 | 72 | 65 | Brother of Rachael Sporn. |
| Michael Werner | Essendon | 19 years, 331 days | 6 | 40 | 60 | |
| Andrew Manning | Essendon | 22 years, 256 days | 18 | 25 | 20 | Previously played for St Kilda. |
| Craig O'Brien | Essendon | 19 years, 175 days | 21 | 21 | 16 | |
| Andrew Underwood | Essendon | 21 years, 260 days | 1 | 12 | 4 | |
| Jason Baldwin | Fitzroy | 19 years, 215 days | 11 | 125 | 36 | |
| Darren Wheildon | Fitzroy | 18 years, 197 days | 9 | 70 | 160 | |
| Brendan McCormack | Fitzroy | 18 years, 277 days | 1 | 44 | 27 | |
| Wally Matera | Fitzroy | 22 years, 125 days | 1 | 32 | 39 | Brother of Peter and Phillip Matera and father of Brandon Matera. Previously played for West Coast. |
| Carl Dilena | Fitzroy | 22 years, 15 days | 1 | 23 | 15 | |
| Peter Bourke | Fitzroy | 22 years, 355 days | 7 | 22 | 3 | Previously played for Essendon. |
| Tony Woods | Fitzroy | 19 years, 287 days | 3 | 13 | 4 | |
| Kevin Caton | Fitzroy | 23 years, 333 days | 2 | 9 | 8 | Previously played for West Coast. |
| Brad Edwards | Fitzroy | 21 years, 38 days | 1 | 6 | 1 | |
| Dean Lupson | Fitzroy | 20 years, 175 days | 19 | 6 | 0 | |
| Nigel Kellett | Footscray | 19 years, 224 days | 17 | 101 | 41 | |
| Justin Charles | Footscray | 19 years, 332 days | 21 | 36 | 24 | Son of John R. Charles and nephew of Norm Charles. |
| Tim Harrington | Footscray | 25 years, 216 days | 4 | 18 | 0 | Previously played for North Melbourne and Collingwood. |
| John Georgiades | Footscray | 23 years, 88 days | 1 | 15 | 27 | Father of Mitch Georgiades. |
| Mark Williams | Footscray | 22 years, 240 days | 1 | 14 | 13 | Son of John Williams. Previously played for Carlton. |
| Phillip O'Keeffe | Footscray | 22 years, 105 days | 1 | 9 | 19 | |
| Tony Evans | Footscray | 23 years, 83 days | 4 | 3 | 1 | Previously played for St Kilda. |
| Ken Hinkley | Geelong | 22 years, 184 days | 1 | 121 | 58 | Cousin of Gary Rohan. Previously played for Fitzroy. |
| Andrew Rogers | Geelong | 24 years, 264 days | 6 | 75 | 2 | Previously played for Essendon. |
| Spiro Malakellis | Geelong | 21 years, 120 days | 7 | 67 | 18 | Brother of Tony Malakellis. |
| Adrian Fletcher | Geelong | 18 years, 289 days | 8 | 23 | 10 | |
| Ray Sterrett | Geelong | 24 years, 16 days | 2 | 20 | 7 | |
| Tim Bourke | Geelong | 19 years, 353 days | 1 | 5 | 0 | Brother of Damian Bourke and uncle of Jordan Bourke. |
| Greg Madigan | Hawthorn | 19 years, 139 days | 11 | 40 | 4 | |
| Lawrence Bingham | Hawthorn | 19 years, 308 days | 1 | 3 | 0 | |
| Matthew Bourke | Hawthorn | 20 years, 268 days | 10 | 1 | 0 | |
| Darren Bennett | Melbourne | 24 years, 96 days | 3 | 74 | 208 | Previously played for West Coast. |
| Luke Beveridge | Melbourne | 18 years, 263 days | 7 | 42 | 41 | 2016 AFL Premiership coach. Grandson of Jack Beveridge. |
| John Howat | Melbourne | 18 years, 317 days | 9 | 20 | 10 | |
| Dannie Seow | Melbourne | 21 years, 317 days | 1 | 7 | 2 | Previously played for Collingwood. |
| John Ahern | Melbourne | 18 years, 203 days | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
| Tom Kavanagh | Melbourne | 19 years, 22 days | 7 | 2 | 1 | Son of Brent Crosswell. |
| Anthony Stevens | North Melbourne | 18 years, 41 days | 19 | 292 | 127 | |
| Wayne Carey | North Melbourne | 18 years, 14 days | 11 | 244 | 671 | |
| Liam Pickering | North Melbourne | 20 years, 309 days | 15 | 22 | 8 | Son of Michael Pickering. |
| Warwick Angus | North Melbourne | 19 years, 275 days | 3 | 13 | 3 | |
| Derek Kickett | North Melbourne | 26 years, 213 days | 6 | 12 | 12 | Uncle of Lance Franklin, Jarrod Garlett, Dale Kickett and Byron Pickett. Cousin of Nicky Winmar. |
| Leigh Tudor | North Melbourne | 19 years, 272 days | 13 | 8 | 6 | |
| Andrew Krakouer | North Melbourne | 18 years, 20 days | 17 | 8 | 8 | Brother of Jim and Phil Krakouer and uncle of Andrew Krakouer. |
| Tim McGrath | North Melbourne | 18 years, 231 days | 9 | 7 | 0 | |
| Steven Venner | North Melbourne | 19 years, 209 days | 1 | 4 | 0 | |
| Barry Young | Richmond | 18 years, 303 days | 4 | 53 | 23 | |
| Stuart Griffiths | Richmond | 20 years, 67 days | 2 | 17 | 14 | |
| Cory Young | Richmond | 18 years, 166 days | 20 | 6 | 1 | |
| Mark Stockdale | Richmond | 20 years, 284 days | 18 | 6 | 2 | |
| Richard Lounder | Richmond | 22 years, 100 days | 5 | 4 | 5 | |
| Mark McLeod | Richmond | 20 years, 165 days | 11 | 3 | 0 | |
| Brett Mahony | Richmond | 19 years, 60 days | 10 | 2 | 0 | |
| Craig Devonport | St Kilda | 19 years, 92 days | 5 | 94 | 80 | |
| Lazar Vidovic | St Kilda | 24 years, 105 days | 15 | 80 | 13 | |
| Paul Harding | St Kilda | 24 years, 301 days | 1 | 62 | 7 | Previously played for Hawthorn. |
| Danny Craven | St Kilda | 21 years, 333 days | 1 | 33 | 10 | |
| Peter Russo | St Kilda | 29 years, 168 days | 3 | 33 | 20 | Previously played for Hawthorn. |
| Ian Dargie | St Kilda | 25 years, 249 days | 16 | 10 | 1 | |
| Brian Winton | St Kilda | 25 years, 359 days | 16 | 5 | 4 | Previously played for Richmond and Essendon. |
| Robert Handley | St Kilda | 24 years, 118 days | 6 | 4 | 2 | Previously played for Hawthorn. |
| Sanford Wheeler | Sydney Swans | 19 years, 30 days | 6 | 43 | 7 | |
| Robert Teal | Sydney Swans | 21 years, 356 days | 3 | 18 | 18 | |
| Glenn Page | Sydney Swans | 19 years, 161 days | 22 | 18 | 3 | |
| Tim Barling | Sydney Swans | 24 years, 39 days | 17 | 13 | 2 | Previously played for Richmond. |
| Darren Ogier | Sydney Swans | 26 years, 115 days | 9 | 8 | 16 | Previously played for Carlton and North Melbourne. |
| Paul Holdsworth | Sydney Swans | 19 years, 58 days | 3 | 6 | 3 | |
| Peter Sumich | West Coast | 21 years, 79 days | 1 | 150 | 514 | |
| Don Pyke | West Coast | 20 years, 116 days | 1 | 132 | 70 | Son of Frank Pyke and brother of James Pyke. |
| Craig Turley | West Coast | 23 years, 219 days | 1 | 115 | 91 | |
| Scott Watters | West Coast | 20 years, 100 days | 6 | 46 | 13 | |
| Stevan Jackson | West Coast | 19 years, 52 days | 5 | 38 | 68 | |
| Todd Breman | West Coast | 23 years, 154 days | 1 | 23 | 15 | Played first-class cricket for Western Australia. |
| Shane Ellis | West Coast | 28 years, 185 days | 1 | 10 | 8 | |
| Peter Melesso | West Coast | 27 years, 137 days | 3 | 6 | 4 | Previously played for South Melbourne and St Kilda. |
| Clinton Browning | West Coast | 27 years, 47 days | 4 | 4 | 5 | |
| Peter Higgins | West Coast | 22 years, 243 days | 11 | 4 | 0 | |
| Richard Geary | West Coast | 25 years, 211 days | 4 | 2 | 0 | Previously played for Richmond. |
| Shane Cable | West Coast | 19 years, 115 days | 12 | 1 | 0 | Son of Barry Cable. |