2008 AFL Season - Notable Events

Notable Events

• This was the first season since 1998 in which NMFC competed as "North Melbourne" instead of "Kangaroos", following the end of their decade-long experiment with home-away-from-home venues in Sydney, Canberra, and the Gold Coast.
• Western Bulldogs came back from a 37-point deficit against St Kilda at quarter time to come back and win the game by 38 points to make a 75-point turnaround in Round 4.
• Brisbane Lions produced its biggest ever comeback in Round 4 against Port Adelaide when they were down by 47 points late in the third quarter to win by 20 points, a 67-point turnaround.
• Sydney forward Barry Hall was suspended for seven weeks, then the equal-longest suspension handed out since the tribunal was reconfigured, for striking West Coast defender Brent Staker with a clean punch to the head. Later in the season, Fremantle's Dean Solomon beat that record, being suspended for eight weeks after hitting Geelong's Cameron Ling in the cheekbone with an elbow.
• Melbourne won its first game for the season in Round 7 against Fremantle by six points, after recovering from a 50-point half-time deficit, the second-largest half-time deficit ever overcome in VFL/AFL history. This was the second in a VFL/AFL-record string of five consecutive games which Fremantle lost after holding a three-quarter time lead.
• West Coast suffered its worst ever loss at Subiaco Oval, and worst loss anywhere since 1989, in Round 13, losing to Geelong by 135 points.
• In Round 16, Richmond player Joel Bowden deliberately concedes 2 behinds to protect his team's four point lead over Essendon, which leads to the introduction of the rule that allows the umpire to give a free kick for a rushed behind.
• With its final-round victory, Geelong matched the 2000 Essendon record of 21 wins in a home-and-away season. Ironically, Geelong also set the record for the highest average losing margin in a VFL/AFL season, with its only loss coming by 86 points at the hands of Collingwood.
• In the Round 22 match between Carlton and Hawthorn, Hawthorn forward Lance Franklin became the first player since Tony Lockett in 1998 to kick 100 goals in the Home & Away Season. Franklin became the 28th player in VFL/AFL history to reach this milestone, and the first indigenous player to do so.
• In the same game, Brendan Fevola scored seven second-half goals to fall one goal short of the same milestone, becoming the first person in VFL/AFL history to be stranded on 99 goals for a season.
• The final game of the home and away season saw the 8th-placed St Kilda requiring a win of 90+ points over Essendon to claim 4th place going into the finals. St Kilda recorded a new record winning margin over Essendon of 108 points which saw the Saints replace Adelaide in 4th place for the finals series.
• On Monday 1 September, Leigh Matthews announced his resignation from his senior coaching position at the Brisbane Lions. Michael Voss has taken up this position despite committing to West Coast for 2009.
• The second elimination final between Sydney and North Melbourne was the lowest crowd number for a final outside Victoria with only 19,127 despite being at ANZ Stadium where Sydney have averaged 50,000 for finals.
• The Grand Final between Geelong and Hawthorn drew a crowd of 100,012, the first crowd over 100,000 people since the 1986 Grand Final.
• By losing the Grand Final after finishing with a home-and-away record of 21–1, Geelong broke the record set in 1935 and 1936 by South Melbourne (16–2) for best record by a non-premier, and the record for most wins by a non-premier held jointly by Collingwood (1973) and West Coast (1991) (both 19 wins).
• Sydney played in a controversial draw against North Melbourne at Telstra Dome in round six; it was later revealed that Sydney had nineteen men on the field. Sydney had one too many players on the ground for a period of play before, during and after the behind that tied the scores was scored. As a direct consequence of this, the league amended the interchange laws in round nine, appointing interchange stewards to police the players and to signal to the field umpires if an infringement has occurred. Any infringement now results in a free kick being awarded.