1984 VFL season
88th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL)
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The 1984 VFL season was the 88th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 31 March until 29 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top five clubs.
| 1984 VFL premiership season | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 12 |
| Premiers | Essendon 13th premiership |
| Minor premiers | Essendon 11th minor premiership |
| Night series | Essendon 2nd Night series win |
| Brownlow Medallist | Peter Moore Melbourne (24 votes) |
| Coleman Medallist | Bernie Quinlan Fitzroy (104 goals) |
| Attendance | |
| Matches played | 138 |
| Total attendance | 3,394,571 (24,598 per match) |
| Highest | 92,685 |
The premiership was won by the Essendon Football Club for the 13th time, after it defeated Hawthorn by 24 points in the 1984 VFL Grand Final.
Night series
Home-and-away season
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Round 14
Round 15
Round 16
Round 17
Round 18
Round 19
Round 20
Round 21
Round 22
Ladder
| (P) | Premiers |
| Qualified for finals |
| # | Team | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | % | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Essendon (P) | 22 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 2556 | 1994 | 128.2 | 72 |
| 2 | Hawthorn | 22 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 2724 | 2069 | 131.7 | 68 |
| 3 | Carlton | 22 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 2332 | 2014 | 115.8 | 52 |
| 4 | Collingwood | 22 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 2260 | 2072 | 109.1 | 52 |
| 5 | Fitzroy | 22 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 2405 | 2345 | 102.6 | 44 |
| 6 | Geelong | 22 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 2112 | 2239 | 94.3 | 44 |
| 7 | Footscray | 22 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 1992 | 2123 | 93.8 | 44 |
| 8 | Richmond | 22 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 2157 | 2373 | 90.9 | 40 |
| 9 | Melbourne | 22 | 9 | 13 | 0 | 2328 | 2233 | 104.3 | 36 |
| 10 | Sydney | 22 | 9 | 13 | 0 | 2223 | 2522 | 88.1 | 36 |
| 11 | North Melbourne | 22 | 5 | 17 | 0 | 2174 | 2661 | 81.7 | 20 |
| 12 | St Kilda | 22 | 5 | 17 | 0 | 1904 | 2522 | 75.5 | 20 |
Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 102.9
Source: AFL Tables
Finals series
Finals week 1
| Elimination final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 9 September (2:30 pm) | Collingwood 23.15 (153) | def. | Fitzroy 15.17 (107) | MCG (crowd: 73,994) | Report |
Finals week 2
Preliminary final
| Preliminary final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 22 September (2:30 pm) | Essendon 28.6 (174) | def. | Collingwood 5.11 (41) | VFL Park (crowd: 73,550) | Report |
| |||||
Grand final
| Grand final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 29 September (2:50 pm) | Essendon 14.21 (105) | def. | Hawthorn 12.9 (81) | MCG (crowd: 92,685) | Report |
| |||||
Season notes
- Fitzroy became the only side to make the finals after winning only one of its first nine games, until Carlton achieved the same feat in 2026.
- Essendon's 133-point win over Collingwood in the Preliminary Final is the largest win in any VFL/AFL final and the first 100-point loss by Collingwood since 1943 when they were depleted by war.
- In Round 17, shocking weather saw the lowest aggregate score for a round since 1961, with a combined total of only 577 points or an approximate average score of 6.12 (48).
Awards
- The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Peter Moore of Melbourne.
- The Coleman Medal was awarded to Bernie Quinlan of Fitzroy.
- The VFL Players Association MVP Award, now known as the Leigh Matthews Trophy, was awarded to Russell Greene of Hawthorn.
- The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Billy Duckworth of Essendon.
- The wooden spoon was "awarded" to St Kilda.
- North Melbourne 17.19 (121) defeated Richmond 7.11 (53) in the under 19's grand final, held as a curtain-raiser to the Reserves Grand final on 29 September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
- Melbourne 11.15 (81) defeated Carlton 6.9 (45) in the Reserves Grand final, held as a curtain-raiser to the grand final on 29 September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.[1]