2005 AFL season

2005 AFL premiership season
Teams	16
Premiers	Sydney (4th premiership)
Minor premiers	Adelaide (1st minor premiership)
Pre-season cup	Carlton (2nd pre-season cup win)
Matches played	185
Attendance	6,763,852 (36,561 per match)
Highest attendance	91,828 (Grand Final, Sydney vs. West Coast)
Coleman Medallist	Fraser Gehrig (St Kilda)
Brownlow Medallist	Ben Cousins (West Coast)
← 2004 2006 →

The 2005 Australian Football League season was the 109th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.

See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.

AFL Draft

See 2005 AFL Draft for more information.

National Cup

Carlton defeated West Coast 1.14.18 (111) to 1.11.9 (84) (For an explanation of pre-season scoring see Pre-season rule changes)

Premiership Season

Round 1 (Easter and season launch)

Round 2

Round 3 (Rivalry Round)

• Michael Voss of the Brisbane Lions played his 250th game.
• David Neitz of the Melbourne Demons played his 250th game.
• Barry Hall kicked a goal after the siren to defeat the Brisbane Lions.

Round 4

Round 5 (ANZAC Day)

Round 6

Round 7 (Mother's Day)

• 180 is Fremantle's highest ever score.

Round 8

Round 9 (Community Weekend)

• Carlton played its last match at Princes Park (known at the time as Optus Oval), its home ground since 1897. The venue was the last suburban ground in use in Melbourne.
• West Coast suffered its first loss for the season, against Collingwood (who was on the bottom of the ladder at the time).
• At the end of this round, the AFL's three most successful clubs, Essendon, Carlton and Collingwood occupied the bottom three places on the AFL ladder.

Round 10

• Fraser Gehrig of St Kilda played his 200th game.
• AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou famously criticised eventual premiers Sydney Swans' style of play in its loss against St Kilda, stating it could not win a premiership playing in that way.

Round 11

Round 12 (Queen's Birthday)

Round 13 (Split Round)

• Matthew Lloyd of Essendon played his 200th game.

Round 14 (Family Round)

Round 15

• The inaugural Dreamtime at the 'G was played between Richmond and Essendon

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

• Scott Lucas of Essendon played his 200th AFL game.

Round 20 (Heritage Round)

• Melbourne defeated Geelong at Skilled Stadium for the first time since 1988.

Round 21

Round 22

• St Kilda's 139-point win against Brisbane Lions was the largest victory in St Kilda's history, and the heaviest defeat in the Brisbane Lions' history.

Ladder

2005 AFL Ladder
	Team	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	%	Pts
1	Adelaide	22	17	5	0	2070	1517	136.45	68
2	West Coast	22	17	5	0	2261	1824	123.96	68
3	Sydney (P)	22	15	7	0	1974	1696	116.39	60
4	St Kilda	22	14	8	0	2407	1806	133.28	56
5	Kangaroos	22	13	9	0	2053	2069	99.23	52
6	Geelong	22	12	10	0	2134	1906	111.96	48
7	Melbourne	22	12	10	0	2171	2266	95.81	48
8	Port Adelaide	22	11	10	1	2028	2066	98.16	46
9	Western Bulldogs	22	11	11	0	2385	2351	101.45	44
10	Fremantle	22	11	11	0	2041	2038	100.15	44
11	Brisbane Lions	22	10	12	0	2139	2164	98.84	40
12	Richmond	22	10	12	0	2022	2190	92.33	40
13	Essendon	22	8	14	0	2118	2302	92.01	32
14	Hawthorn	22	5	17	0	1904	2317	82.18	20
15	Collingwood	22	5	17	0	1884	2425	77.69	20
16	Carlton	22	4	17	1	2016	2670	75.51	18
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points for, PA = Points against

Ladder progression

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

Finals Series

Qualifying and Elimination Finals (Father's Day)

Semi Finals

Preliminary Finals

Grand Final

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Ben Cousins of West Coast. Ben Cousins received 21 votes to beat fellow West Coast midfielder Daniel Kerr.
• The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Ben Cousins of West Coast.
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Fraser Gehrig of St Kilda.
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Chris Judd of West Coast.
• The AFL Rising Star award was awarded to Brett Deledio of Richmond.
• The Wooden Spoon was "awarded" to Carlton for coming last. They became the first team in AFL history to win the pre-season competition and then finish last in the season proper.

Player moves

• 30 players retired from the game, including Matthew Primus, Nick Holland, Martin Pike, Wayne Campbell, Justin Murphy, Brenton Sanderson, Austinn Jones, Angelo Lekkas, Phil Matera, Jason Ball and Stuart Maxfield. Shane Woewodin, a Brownlow Medallist was delisted.^[1]

Post season matches

• Essendon Coach Kevin Sheedy coaches the Australians to a 2-0 victory in the 2005 International Rules Series against Ireland. Andrew McLeod won the Jim Stynes Medal.
• Fremantle defeated West Coast Eagles by 17 points in an Exhibition match played in London.
• Sydney and the Kangaroos played an Exhibition match in the United States at UCLA, Kangaroos won by 48 points.

Notable events

Three players celebrated 200th game milestones against eventual premiers the Sydney Swans during the regular season:

• Fraser Gehrig (St Kilda), Round 10^[2]
• Jeff White (Melbourne), Round 16^[3]
• Scott Lucas (Essendon), Round 19^[4]

Additionally, Michael Voss (Brisbane Lions) played his 250th AFL game and Mal Michael his 100th club game for the Lions, both also against the Swans, in Round 3.^[5]

References

1. 2005 Trading Places
2. Gehrig runs riot in 200th match, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 28 May 2005
3. Hall bags seven as Swans ride high, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 July 2005
4. No end in sight as Lucas aims up for game 200, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 4 August 2005
5. Cousins named for Derby clash, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 8 April 2005

• 2005 Season – AFL Tables (Archived 2009-08-21)