Grand final

Awards

• The Coleman Medal was won by Kelvin Templeton
  Kelvin Templeton
  Kelvin Templeton is a former Australian rules footballer. At sixteen years of age Templeton kicked 100 goals for Traralgon in the 1973 Latrobe Valley FL season...
  
   of Footscray
  Western Bulldogs
  The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
  
   with 118 goals
• The Brownlow Medal
  Brownlow Medal
  The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
  
   was won by Malcolm Blight
  Malcolm Blight
  Malcolm Jack Blight AM is a former champion Australian rules football player and coach, and current television commentator. During the 1970s and 1980s Blight played for the Woodville Football Club in the South Australian National Football League and the North Melbourne Football Club in the...
  
   of North Melbourne

Notable events

• The 19th and 20th men were converted into interchange players
  Interchange (Australian rules football)
  Interchange is the term used to describe a team position in Australian rules football, consisting of the players who are off the ground at any time...
  
  , meaning that any two players could be rested at any time, and could return to the field.
• In Round 2, Fitzroy broke South Melbourne's 1976 record for the highest losing score against Melbourne by four points. They became the first team to score a century in one half and lose the match, scoring 15.12 (102) after half-time when they were 44 points down.
• Melbourne's score in that match is the highest by a team winning only one quarter. The Demons were two points down at quarter-time but kicked 10.8 (68) to 3.4 (22) in the second quarter.
• In Round 6, Melbourne
  Melbourne Football Club
  The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
  
   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 Grand Final
  1972 VFL season
  Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1972.-Premiership season:In 1972, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man...
  
  .
• In Round 13, Footscray set the record for highest score in a game, scoring 33.15 (213) against St Kilda. This beat Carlton
  Carlton Football Club
  The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
  
  's nine year old 1969
  1969 VFL season
  -Premiership season:In 1969, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man...
  
   record by three points. The new record was beaten in the following 1979 VFL season
  1979 VFL season
  Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1979.-Grand final:Carlton defeated Collingwood 11.16 to 11.11 , in front of a crowd of 112845 people...
  
  . In this match, Kelvin Templeton
  Kelvin Templeton
  Kelvin Templeton is a former Australian rules footballer. At sixteen years of age Templeton kicked 100 goals for Traralgon in the 1973 Latrobe Valley FL season...
  
   kicks 15.9, breaking 3 records, the most goals in a game for a Footscray player, the equal most goals in a quarter (8 in the last term.) and most shots (24) by any Footscray
  Western Bulldogs
  The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...
  
   player, or in fact, any other player in the league.
• In Round 15, David O Halloran kicks the ball into the goal umpires face. The umpire was helped up and given the all clear.
• Hawthorn's high-flyer, Peter Knights, jumps into a pack and swallows his mouthguard. Trainers, luckily, got the mouthguard out. This occurred in Round 18 and Hawthorn won by a goal.
• In Round 20, Collingwood comes from more than 50 points down to win by 14 points.

See also

• Early VFL Final systems
  Early VFL Final systems
  Throughout its history, the Victorian Football League has used a system of finals after playing a regular season to determine the winner of the premiership....
  
  
• Page-McIntyre "Final Four" system
• McIntyre "Final Five" system