1994 AFL season

For the 1994 season of the Arena Football League, see 1994 Arena Football League season.

The 1994 AFL season was the 98th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured fifteen clubs, ran from 26 March until 1 October, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs – an increase from the six clubs which had contested the finals in previous years.

1994 AFL premiership season
Teams	15
Premiers	West Coast 2nd premiership
Minor premiers	West Coast 2nd minor premiership
Pre-season cup	Essendon 3rd pre-season cup win
Brownlow Medallist	Greg Williams (Carlton)
Leading goalkicker	Gary Ablett (Geelong)
Attendance
Matches played	174
Total attendance	5,237,398 (30,100 per match)
Highest	93,860 (Grand Final, West Coast vs. Geelong)

The premiership was won by the West Coast Eagles for the second time, after it defeated Geelong by 80 points in the 1994 AFL Grand Final.

Foster's Cup

Main article: 1994 Foster's Cup

Essendon 15.12 (102) defeated Adelaide 9.14 (68) in the final.

Rule changes

There were several significant alterations to the laws of the game brought in for the 1994 season:

• The number of interchange players was increased from two to three which, when added to the "run on" team of 18 on-the-field players, increased the standard team squad size to 21 players.
• The number of field umpires was increased from two to three.
• Playing time was reduced from 25 minutes per quarter to 20 minutes, but additional stoppages (including all scores and boundary throw-ins) attracted "time-on" allocations; the total reduction of playing time was approximately 10%.
• The size of each club's senior playing list was significantly reduced from 52 to 42 players from the 1994 season (with the exception of the struggling Sydney, which was granted a list of 50 players). Victorian clubs could list ten players on a supplementary list to make up the numbers in their reserves teams, but those players were not eligible for AFL senior selection. The change was part of an AFL Commission plan to completely abolish the Victorian clubs' reserves competition by 1995, but this final stage did not occur until 2000.
• Advertising was permitted for the first time on the backs of guernseys. Small sponsors' logos had previously been permitted over the breast and on the shorts, but the new regulations allowed for logos 30 cm long and 8 cm high below the number on the back of the guernsey, which has since become the prime advertising location on guernseys. Under the original rules, the logo was required to be consistent with the colour of the guernsey, a stipulation which has since been relaxed.

Home-and-away season

Round 2

	Round 2
Saturday, 2 April (2:00 pm)	Fitzroy 17.10 (112)	def.	Essendon 14.15 (99)	Optus Oval (crowd: 24,872)	Report
Saturday, 2 April (2:00 pm)	North Melbourne 21.16 (142)	def.	St Kilda 10.13 (73)	MCG (crowd: 27,195)	Report
Saturday, 2 April (2:08 pm)	Hawthorn 8.16 (64)	def. by	Melbourne 17.16 (118)	Waverley Park (crowd: 29,581)	Report
Sunday, 3 April (2:08 pm)	Richmond 20.14 (134)	def.	Brisbane Bears 11.6 (72)	MCG (crowd: 15,333)	Report
Sunday, 3 April (2:15 pm)	West Coast 14.13 (97)	def.	Adelaide 11.12 (78)	Subiaco Oval (crowd: 28,228)	Report
Monday, 4 April (2:00 pm)	Geelong 22.20 (152)	def.	Footscray 8.16 (64)	Kardinia Park (crowd: 24,019)	Report
Monday, 4 April (2:08 pm)	Carlton 9.12 (66)	def. by	Collingwood 14.16 (100)	MCG (crowd: 85,063)	Report
	Bye Sydney
Under pressure to respond after their poor showing against Melbourne the previous week, Geelong scored their biggest win over Footscray, starting and finishing strongly to run out winners by 88 points. Gary Ablett kicked seven goals and ruckman John Barnes' masterful display (22 hit-outs and 24 disposals) would gain him three Brownlow votes. In the middle of the week, the Footscray board sacked Terry Wheeler and replaced him with ex-Hawthorn coach Alan Joyce.

Round 12

	Round 12
Saturday, 11 June (2:00 pm)	Geelong 17.11 (113)	def.	St Kilda 16.14 (110)	Kardinia Park (crowd: 23,696)	Report
Saturday, 11 June (2:08 pm)	North Melbourne 21.23 (149)	def.	Adelaide 10.9 (69)	Optus Oval (crowd: 16,643)	Report
Saturday, 11 June (2:08 pm)	Melbourne 13.16 (94)	def. by	Carlton 18.13 (121)	MCG (crowd: 52,199)	Report
Sunday, 12 June (1:15 pm)	Sydney 13.5 (83)	def. by	Hawthorn 21.15 (141)	SCG (crowd: 12,251)	Report
Sunday, 12 June (4:15 pm)	West Coast 11.12 (78)	def.	Brisbane Bears 10.9 (69)	Subiaco Oval (crowd: 23,492)	Report
Monday, 13 June (2:00 pm)	Footscray 13.14 (92)	def.	Essendon 9.10 (64)	Waverley Park (crowd: 39,181)	Report
Monday, 13 June (2:08 pm)	Richmond 14.18 (102)	def.	Collingwood 4.12 (36)	MCG (crowd: 61,983)	Report
	Bye Fitzroy
Despite missing key players Robert Harvey, Stewart Loewe and Tony Lockett, St Kilda led Geelong at three-quarter time by 26 points after kicking seven goals to nil in the third quarter. However, a spectacular last quarter by Gary Ablett in which he kicked four of his seven goals, and an intercept of Rod Keogh's attempted pass in the forward pocket to Nicky Winmar in the final minute, enabled the Cats to escape with a three-point win.

Round 24

	Round 24
Friday, 2 September (8:08 pm)	Collingwood 8.14 (62)	def. by	North Melbourne 19.12 (126)	MCG (crowd: 72,932)	Report
Saturday, 3 September (2:00 pm)	Essendon 12.8 (80)	def.	Carlton 9.8 (62)	MCG (crowd: 61,231)	Report
Saturday, 3 September (2:00 pm)	Fitzroy 15.12 (102)	def. by	St Kilda 21.14 (140)	Western Oval (crowd: 10,809)	Report
Saturday, 3 September (2:08 pm)	Hawthorn 9.12 (66)	def.	Adelaide 6.11 (47)	Waverley Park (crowd: 22,973)	Report
Saturday, 3 September (2:08 pm)	Richmond 13.17 (95)	def. by	Geelong 27.9 (171)	Optus Oval (crowd: 25,112)	Report
Sunday, 4 September (1:15 pm)	Sydney 18.13 (121)	def. by	Melbourne 27.5 (167)	SCG (crowd: 8,344)	Report
Sunday, 4 September (4:15 pm)	West Coast 17.15 (117)	def.	Footscray 6.10 (46)	Subiaco Oval (crowd: 26,992)	Report
	Bye Brisbane Bears
West Coast's 71-point win over Footscray was marred by an ugly brawl at half-time after Brett Heady was knocked out by a bump from Stephen Wallis. In the midst of the brawl, Footscray defender Daniel Southern applied a choke hold on West Coast full-forward Peter Sumich, causing him to pass out. Southern was subsequently fined $10,000.

Ladder

(P)	Premiers
	Qualified for finals

#	Team	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	%	Pts
1	West Coast (P)	22	16	6	0	2078	1572	132.2	64
2	Carlton	22	15	7	0	2351	1774	132.5	60
3	North Melbourne	22	13	9	0	2383	1848	129.0	52
4	Geelong	22	13	9	0	2403	2104	114.2	52
5	Footscray	22	13	9	0	2106	1905	110.6	52
6	Hawthorn	22	13	9	0	2188	2005	109.1	52
7	Melbourne	22	12	10	0	2190	1879	116.6	48
8	Collingwood	22	12	10	0	2017	2019	99.9	48
9	Richmond	22	12	10	0	2033	2167	93.8	48
10	Essendon	22	11	11	0	2075	2119	97.9	44
11	Adelaide	22	9	12	1	1876	2159	86.9	38
12	Brisbane Bears	22	9	13	0	1940	2195	88.4	36
13	St Kilda	22	7	14	1	1809	2415	74.9	30
14	Fitzroy	22	5	17	0	1726	2456	70.3	20
15	Sydney	22	4	18	0	1987	2545	78.1	16

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 94.4
Source: AFL Tables

Finals

Main article: 1994 AFL finals series

The second McIntyre "final six" system, which had operated in 1992 and 1993, was replaced by the McIntyre "final eight" system. The McIntyre "final eight" system would be used until 1999 and was then replaced by the AFL’s Amended "final eight" system in 2000.

Week one

	Qualifying finals
Saturday, 10 September (2:30 pm)	North Melbourne 15.24 (114)	def.	Hawthorn 13.13 (91)	Waverley Park (crowd: 38,223)	Report
Saturday, 10 September (7:45 pm)	Geelong 15.16 (106)	def.	Footscray 15.11 (101)	MCG (crowd: 61,182)	Report
Sunday, 11 September (2:10 pm)	Carlton 14.12 (96)	def. by	Melbourne 18.15 (123)	MCG (crowd: 56,111)	Report
Sunday, 11 September (4:45 pm)	West Coast 11.16 (82)	def.	Collingwood 12.8 (80)	WACA Ground (crowd: 31,824)	Report
The third qualifying final between North Melbourne and Hawthorn was the first-ever AFL finals match to require extra time; this is because scores were level at full time, which had North Melbourne 12.19 (91) to Hawthorn 13.13 (91) at the expiration of regular time. (The provision for extra time had been introduced after the controversial 1990 finals series, when the qualifying final between Collingwood and West Coast was drawn.) North Melbourne dominated extra time, kicking 3.5 to Hawthorn's nil, and North Melbourne won the match by 23 points. Hawthorn eliminated by Melbourne beat Carlton a day later.

Grand final

Main article: 1994 AFL Grand Final

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Greg Williams of Carlton.
• The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Greg Williams of Carlton.
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Gary Ablett of Geelong.
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Dean Kemp of West Coast.
• The AFL Rising Star award was awarded to Chris Scott of Brisbane Bears.
• The Wooden Spoon was "awarded" to Sydney.

Notable events

• Fitzroy moved its match-day home ground from Princes Park (which, due to the first ever ground naming rights deal affecting an AFL venue, became known as Optus Oval from this season) to the Western Oval. However, this left Carlton as the sole tenant of Optus Oval, and an existing arrangement between Carlton and the AFL required eighteen matches to be played there during the year; consequently, Fitzroy and the MCG's four co-tenants (Essendon, Richmond, Melbourne and North Melbourne) were each forced to play one or two home games at Optus Oval to make up the balance.
• Starting from Round 20, the "blood rule" was introduced in order to allay fears raised by the threat of AIDS. Under the rule, any bleeding player would be sent from the field by the umpires until his wound had been covered or closed and any blood-stained gear replaced. The rule, which for the first time ever gave umpires the ability to order players from the ground, was not initially well-received – particularly following a Round 23 incident in which Hawthorn ruckman Stephen Lawrence was unable to return to the field after the third quarter because Hawthorn officials could not find a spare sock to replace his bloodstained one.
• The MCG became Collingwood's predominant home ground for the first time, however they would still play sporadic home games at Victoria Park until 1999 against mostly low crowd drawing and/or interstate opposition. To this day, the MCG has remained Collingwood's predominant home ground.

See also

• McIntyre "final eight" system

Sources

• 1994 AFL season at AFL Tables
• 1994 AFL season at Australian Football