1978 VFL season

The 1978 VFL season was the 82nd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 1 April until 30 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top five clubs.

1978 VFL Premiership season
Teams12
PremiersHawthorn
(4th premiership)
Minor premiersNorth Melbourne
(2nd minor premiership)
Night seriesFitzroy
(1st Night series win)
Matches played138
Attendance3,478,015 (25,203 per match)
Highest attendance101,704
Coleman MedallistKelvin Templeton (Footscray)
Brownlow MedallistMalcolm Blight (North Melbourne)

The premiership was won by the Hawthorn Football Club for the fourth time, after it defeated North Melbourne by 18 points in the 1978 VFL Grand Final.

Rule Changes
  • The 19th and 20th men were converted into interchange players, meaning that any two players could be rested at any time, and could return to the field.
  • Goal umpires required to touch goal post if the ball had hit post. Also two flags were positioned at one post and one flag at the other to save time when signalling scores.[1]

Night series

Fitzroy defeated North Melbourne 13.18 (96) to 2.8 (20) in the final.

Premiership season

Round 1

Round 2
Round 2
Saturday, 8 April (2:10 pm) Carlton 13.17 (95) def. by Geelong 15.19 (109) Princes Park (crowd: 18,932) Report
Saturday, 8 April (2:10 pm) Collingwood 22.23 (155) def. Essendon 12.16 (88) Victoria Park (crowd: 34,665) Report
Saturday, 8 April (2:10 pm) Melbourne 24.23 (167) def. Fitzroy 23.19 (157) MCG (crowd: 15,613) Report
Saturday, 8 April (2:10 pm) St Kilda 20.17 (137) def. Footscray 19.16 (130) Moorabbin Oval (crowd: 18,540) Report
Saturday, 8 April (2:10 pm) South Melbourne 16.8 (104) def. by Hawthorn 18.24 (132) Lake Oval (crowd: 15,072) Report
Saturday, 8 April (2:10 pm) North Melbourne 25.16 (166) def. Richmond 14.9 (93) Arden Street Oval (crowd: 22,505) Report
  • Fitzroy broke South Melbourne's 1976 record for the highest losing score against Melbourne by four points. This record would last until the 1989 VFL season.

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6
Round 6
Saturday, 6 May (2:10 pm) Carlton 19.12 (126) def. by Hawthorn 24.13 (157) Princes Park (crowd: 19,649) Report
Saturday, 6 May (2:10 pm) Fitzroy 14.12 (96) def. by Collingwood 22.16 (148) Junction Oval (crowd: 25232) Report
Saturday, 6 May (2:10 pm) Essendon 22.18 (150) def. Richmond 19.15 (129) Windy Hill (crowd: 21946) Report
Saturday, 6 May (2:10 pm) Footscray 16.9 (105) def. by South Melbourne 18.15 (123) VFL Park (crowd: 19263) Report
Saturday, 6 May (2:10 pm) Geelong 12.16 (88) def. by North Melbourne 16.14 (110) Kardinia Park (crowd: 23,074) Report
Saturday, 6 May (2:10 pm) Melbourne 21.15 (141) def. by St Kilda 31.18 (204) MCG (crowd: 24852) Report
  • Melbourne and St Kilda set the current record for the highest aggregate score in a game, the two teams amassing 52.33 (345). This broke the record set in the 1972 VFL Grand Final. The Saints also kicked their highest score in a match.

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13
Round 13
Saturday, 1 July (2:10 pm) Geelong 8.9 (57) def. by Carlton 9.13 (67) Kardinia Park (crowd: 25,185) Report
Saturday, 1 July (2:10 pm) Essendon 12.26 (98) def. by Collingwood 14.21 (105) Windy Hill (crowd: 29,768) Report
Saturday, 1 July (2:10 pm) Fitzroy 19.27 (141) def. Melbourne 8.13 (61) VFL Park (crowd: 13,933) Report
Saturday, 1 July (2:10 pm) Footscray 33.15 (213) def. St Kilda 16.10 (106) Western Oval (crowd: 16,300) Report
Saturday, 1 July (2:10 pm) Hawthorn 21.14 (140) def. South Melbourne 18.11 (119) Princes Park (crowd: 13,853) Report
Saturday, 1 July (2:10 pm) Richmond 21.16 (142) def. North Melbourne 17.15 (117) MCG (crowd: 27,156) Report
  • Footscray kicked their highest-ever score of 33.15 (213) and Kelvin Templeton also set a club record for most goals in a game by an individual player, kicking 15 goals 9 behinds. It also set the record for the most scoring shots in a game by an individual player. The last Bulldog to kick 10 goals in a game was Ron Grove against Melbourne in Round 5, 1946. The score also broke the VFL record previously held by Carlton who kicked 30.30 (210) against Hawthorn in Round 2, 1969.

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20
  • Richmond were leading Collingwood by 55 points at the 10-minute mark of the second quarter before the Magpies hit back to win by 14 points. It was at the time the third-biggest comeback in League history.[2]

Round 21

Round 22

Ladder
1978 VFL ladder
Pos Team Pld W L D PF PA PP Pts
1 North Melbourne 22 16 6 0 2407 1991 120.9 64 Finals
2 Hawthorn (P) 22 16 6 0 2496 2120 117.7 64
3 Collingwood 22 15 7 0 2347 2072 113.3 60
4 Carlton 22 14 8 0 2329 1994 116.8 56
5 Geelong 22 12 10 0 2153 2104 102.3 48
6 St Kilda 22 11 10 1 2330 2503 93.1 46
7 Richmond 22 10 11 1 2459 2389 102.9 42
8 South Melbourne 22 9 13 0 2390 2383 100.3 36
9 Fitzroy 22 8 14 0 2258 2339 96.5 32
10 Essendon 22 8 14 0 2203 2337 94.3 32
11 Footscray 22 7 15 0 2272 2508 90.6 28
12 Melbourne 22 5 17 0 2025 2929 69.1 20
Source: VFL ladder
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

Ladder progression
  • Numbers highlighted in green indicates the team finished the round inside the top 5.
  • Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished in first place on the ladder in that round.
  • Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round.
  • Subscript numbers indicate ladder position at round's end.
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
 
1North Melbourne 4281121161201241281321321361401441441441481481521521561561601641
2Hawthorn 4182122124129167204205244246285286287326365404443482523562602642
3Collingwood 444134148131210168169206245284286287288289327366405445484524564603
4Carlton 010012410411411411811128168168207246284402402403442444446523563564
5Geelong 094108612312812121610207246285324324325364403442444483522445443485
6St Kilda 4684102105142182222223224283322323362363364365366406387426426466
7Richmond 438485810814814121216101612161316141615201420152413281232103212369387387427
8South Melbourne 080174158121271210121112131610161220102010241024102810329368407447368368368
9Fitzroy 07090114988898108118118122011201120122012201524132811241124112810329329
10Essendon 45478681112516516716112082010247248249287289327329329321032932103210
11Footscray 011011012012412412412412812121024828532432532632836728102810281128112811
12Melbourne 0124849878104178158178171214161320122013201324112810281228131212161220122012

Finals

Elimination final

Qualifying final

Semi finals

Preliminary final

Grand final
Main article: 1978 VFL Grand Final

Hawthorn defeated North Melbourne 18.13 (121) to 15.13 (103), in front of a crowd of 101,704 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Awards

Notes
  1. The Coleman was first awarded in 1981. In 2001, the AFL announced that the Coleman Medal would be awarded retrospectively from 1955 onwards.

Notable events
  • In Round 20, Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser (who was the Number 1 ticket holder for Carlton throughout his time in office) was booed incessantly during the second half of the North Melbourne vs Carlton match at the Arden Street Oval. The booing continued right up to the moment when Mr. Fraser stepped inside his limousine and was driven away from the ground.

See also

References
  1. "History of Rule Changes". afl.com.au. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  2. Lovett (2019), p. 1088
  3. "All the scores". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. 2 October 1978. p. 32.

Bibliography
  • Stephen Rogers and Ashley Brown (1998). Every Game Ever Played. 6th ed. Victoria: Penguin Books.
  • Lovett, Michael, ed. (2019). AFL Record season 2019 : official statistical history of the AFL. Australian Football League. ISBN 9780648465102.
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