1999 AFL season

For the 1999 season of the Arena Football League, see 1999 Arena Football League season.

The 1999 AFL season was the 103rd 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 sixteen clubs, ran from 25 March until 25 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs.

1999 AFL premiership season
Teams	16
Premiers	Kangaroos 4th premiership
Minor premiers	Essendon 15th minor premiership
Pre-season cup	Hawthorn 3rd pre-season cup win
Brownlow Medallist	Shane Crawford (Hawthorn)
Coleman Medallist	Scott Cummings (West Coast)
Attendance
Matches played	185
Total attendance	6,243,586 (33,749 per match)
Highest	94,228 (Grand Final, Kangaroos vs. Carlton)

The premiership was won by the Kangaroos (North Melbourne) for the fourth time, after it defeated Carlton by 35 points in the 1999 AFL Grand Final.

AFL Draft

See 1999 AFL Draft.

Ansett Australia Cup

Main article: 1999 Ansett Australia Cup

Hawthorn defeated Port Adelaide 12.11 (83) to 5.6 (36).

Home-and-away season

Round 1

	Round 1
Thursday, 25 March (7:40 pm)	Essendon 16.14 (110)	def.	Carlton 9.17 (71)	Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 71,501)	Statistics
Friday, 26 March (7:40 pm)	Geelong 22.9 (141)	def.	Kangaroos 21.9 (135)	Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 33,674)	Statistics
Saturday, 27 March (2:10 pm)	Melbourne 14.20 (104)	def.	Richmond 13.9 (87)	Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 47,620)	Statistics
Saturday, 27 March (7:10 pm)	Adelaide 12.6 (78)	def. by	Western Bulldogs 13.13 (91)	Football Park (crowd: 39,135)	Statistics
Saturday, 27 March (7:40 pm)	Brisbane Lions 23.14 (152)	def.	St Kilda 10.3 (63)	The Gabba (crowd: 20,172)	Statistics
Sunday, 28 March (2:10 pm)	Collingwood 8.11 (59)	def. by	Hawthorn 10.14 (74)	Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 48,620)	Statistics
Sunday, 28 March (2:10 pm)	Sydney 12.14 (86)	def. by	Port Adelaide 17.13 (115)	Sydney Cricket Ground (crowd: 28,264)	Statistics
Sunday, 28 March (2:10 pm)	Fremantle 13.20 (98)	def. by	West Coast 15.12 (102)	Subiaco Oval (crowd: 32,680)	Statistics

Round 10

Note: Tony Lockett kicked 9 Goals To break VFL/AFL All Time Goals Record by Player

Ladder

(P)	Premiers
	Qualified for finals

#	Team	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	%	Pts
1	Essendon	22	18	4	0	2400	1905	126.0	72
2	Kangaroos (P)	22	17	5	0	2463	2129	115.7	68
3	Brisbane Lions	22	16	6	0	2422	1671	144.9	64
4	Western Bulldogs	22	15	6	1	2363	1993	118.6	62
5	West Coast	22	12	10	0	2068	1937	106.8	48
6	Carlton	22	12	10	0	2088	2028	103.0	48
7	Port Adelaide	22	12	10	0	1851	2054	90.1	48
8	Sydney	22	11	11	0	2184	2128	102.6	44
9	Hawthorn	22	10	11	1	1858	1943	95.6	42
10	St Kilda	22	10	12	0	1978	2021	97.9	40
11	Geelong	22	10	12	0	2328	2454	94.9	40
12	Richmond	22	9	13	0	1977	2170	91.1	36
13	Adelaide	22	8	14	0	1903	2232	85.3	32
14	Melbourne	22	6	16	0	1850	2293	80.7	24
15	Fremantle	22	5	17	0	1981	2403	82.4	20
16	Collingwood	22	4	18	0	1973	2326	84.8	16

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 95.7
Source: AFL Tables

Progression by round

  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.

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Essendon	4	8	12	12	16	20	20	20	24	28	32	36	40	44	44	48	52	56	60	64	68	72
Kangaroos	0	0	4	4	8	12	16	20	24	28	32	36	40	44	44	48	48	52	56	60	64	68
Brisbane Lions	4	4	4	8	12	16	20	20	24	24	28	28	32	32	36	40	44	48	52	56	60	64
Western Bulldogs	4	4	4	4	8	8	12	16	20	24	26	30	30	34	38	42	46	46	50	54	58	62
West Coast	4	8	12	16	20	24	24	28	32	32	32	36	40	44	44	44	44	48	48	48	48	48
Carlton	0	4	8	12	12	12	16	16	20	24	24	24	24	28	32	32	36	40	44	44	48	48
Port Adelaide	4	8	12	12	12	12	12	16	16	16	20	20	24	28	32	36	40	40	40	44	48	48
Sydney	0	0	0	4	4	8	12	16	16	20	24	28	28	28	32	32	36	36	36	40	44	44
Hawthorn	4	4	8	8	8	12	12	12	12	16	18	22	22	22	22	22	22	26	30	34	38	42
St Kilda	0	4	4	8	8	12	16	20	24	28	28	28	28	32	32	32	36	36	36	36	36	40
Geelong	4	8	12	16	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	24	24	24	28	32	36	36	40
Richmond	0	4	4	8	8	8	8	12	16	16	16	20	24	24	28	32	32	32	32	32	32	36
Adelaide	0	4	8	8	12	16	16	16	16	16	16	20	20	24	24	24	28	32	32	32	32	32
Melbourne	4	4	4	8	12	12	16	16	16	16	20	20	24	24	24	24	24	24	24	24	24	24
Fremantle	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	4	4	8	12	12	12	12	16	20	20	20	20	20	20	20
Collingwood	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	4	4	4	4	8	8	8	12	12	12	16	16	16	16

Source:

Finals series

Main article: 1999 AFL finals series

Semi-finals

Note: West Coast Eagles played its "home" final at the MCG despite being ranked above Carlton due to the agreement then in place with the Melbourne Cricket Club that at least one game each week of the finals be played at the MCG.

Preliminary Finals

Further information: 1999 AFL First Preliminary Final

Grand Final

Main article: 1999 AFL Grand Final

Match attendance

Team	Hosted	Average	Highest	Lowest	Total	Last Season	+/-
Essendon	11	57,309	73,118	35,273	630,399	54,894	+ 2414
Richmond	11	40,533	59,458	28,217	445,863	44,307	- 3774
Adelaide	11	39,393	45,615	33,398	433,324	41,245	- 1852
Collingwood	11	39,126	56,129	19,441	430,386	49,399	- 10,273
Carlton	11	35,037	70,506	19,100	385,403	32,634	+ 2403
Hawthorn	11	34,863	72,130	13,941	383,490	32,173	+ 2690
St Kilda	11	33,182	46,880	20,131	365,006	36,231	- 3049
Melbourne	11	31,955	51,722	18,679	351,504	40,085	- 8130
Port Adelaide	11	31,269	42,669	25,753	343,963	31,799	- 530
West Coast Eagles	11	30,868	36,763	24,696	339,549	34,199	- 3331
Sydney	11	30,539	41,280	24,629	335,930	31,549	- 1010
Kangaroos	11	25,890	48,383	10,676	284,786	35,791	- 9901
Geelong	11	24,840	42,272	17,234	273,242	28,371	- 3531
Western Bulldogs	11	24,023	44,683	13,513	264,254	23,832	+ 191
Fremantle	11	23,972	32,680	17,620	263,689	23,104	+ 868
Brisbane Lions	11	21,890	24,989	17,665	240,791	16,675	+ 5215
Totals	176	32,793	73,118	10,676	5,771,579	34,768	- 1975

Venue	Hosted	Average	Highest	Lowest	Total	Last Year	+/-
MCG	58	42,370	73,118	16,429	2,457,440	47,585	- 5215
Football Park	22	35,331	45,615	25,753	777,287	36,522	- 1191
Waverley Park	21	33,558	72,130	13,941	704,719	34,549	- 991
Subiaco Oval	16	28,506	36,763	17,620	456,096	29,800	- 1294
SCG	15	26,767	41,280	10,676	401,506	31,549	- 4782
WACA	6	24,524	26,126	22,987	147,142	25,590	- 1066
Victoria Park	2	21,967	24,493	19,441	43,934	23,241	- 1274
Shell Stadium	9	21,922	27,417	17,234	197,296	23,307	- 1385
GABBA	11	21,890	24,989	17,665	240,791	16,675	+ 5215
Optus Oval	16	21,586	31,189	13,513	345,368	21,874	- 289
Totals	176	32,793	73,118	10,676	5,771,579	34,768	- 1975

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Shane Crawford of Hawthorn.
• The Leigh Matthews Trophy as the AFL's most valuable player was awarded to Shane Crawford of Hawthorn.
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Scott Cummings of the West Coast Eagles.
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Shannon Grant of the Kangaroos
• The AFL Rising Star award was awarded to Adam Goodes of the Sydney Swans.
• The wooden Spoon was "awarded" to Collingwood.
• The reserves Grand Final was won by Essendon against St Kilda, the before the competition was merged with the Victorian Football League.

See also

• List of AFL debuts in 1999

Notes

• Richmond and Adelaide played in torrential and stormy conditions at Football Park in Round 9. Under new laws that were introduced following the power outage which interrupted a game at Waverley Park in 1996, the captains met in the centre to decide whether to call the game off at three quarter time (accepting the progress score as final), due to the thunder and lightning having put out two light towers during half time. At that stage, Adelaide led by a point, but the captains agreed to carry on with the game. Richmond ended up winning by 11 points.
• Two rounds later, Richmond once again played in heavy and unrelenting rain at Football Park, this time against Port Adelaide. Port Adelaide won by the score of 4.8 (32) to 3.12 (30). It was Port Adelaide's lowest score, and remained as such until 2010, giving them the unique distinction during that period of time of having recorded a victory with their lowest score.
• In round 10, Sydney's Tony Lockett kicked his 1300th career goal, breaking Gordon Coventry's 62-year standing record of 1299 career goals. Lockett still holds the record as of 2024.
• Brisbane's half-time score of 21.5 (131) against Fremantle in round 20 set the new and enduring record for the highest half-time score in VFL/AFL history.
• In their Round 12 game, Hawthorn trailed St Kilda by 63 points early in the second quarter before recovering to win by thirteen points. This set a new record for the largest ever comeback in a VFL/AFL game, a record which would stand until 2001.
• The start of the Round 22 game between Richmond and Carlton at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was delayed by about half an hour after the scoreboard at the city end caught fire ten minutes before the scheduled bounce down. Players returned to the rooms, and much of the Ponsford Stand was evacuated onto the playing arena.
• Collingwood lost 13 games in a row following on from the end of the previous season. They finally won against Fremantle in Round 8.
• Port Adelaide's percentage of 90.12 remains the worst of any team in VFL/AFL history which qualified a team for the finals (excluding the seasons affected by World War I).
• Waverley Park and Victoria Park both hosted their last senior AFL games in Round 22 – their absence would be replaced the following year by Colonial Stadium.

Sources

• 1999 AFL season at AFL Tables
• 1999 AFL season at Australian Football