1978 VFL season

Infobox VFL Premiership Season
year = 1978


imagesize =
caption =
teams = 12
premiers = AFL Haw
count =
minor premiers = AFL Nor
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matches =
top goal scorer = Kelvin Templeton (AFL Foo)
brownlow medalist = Malcolm Blight (AFL Nor)Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1978.

Night Series

AFL Fit defeated AFL Nor 13.18 (96) to 2.8 (20) in the Final.

Premiership 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

Grand Final

Hawthorn defeated North Melbourne 18.13 (121) to 15.13 (103), in front of a crowd of 101704 people. (For an explanation of scoring see Australian rules football).

Ladder

Awards

* The Coleman Medal was won by Kelvin Templeton of Footscray with 118 goals
* The Brownlow Medal was won by Malcolm Blight

Notable Events

* 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.
* In Round 13, Footscray set the record for highest score in a game, scoring 33.15 (213) against St Kilda. This beat Carlton's nine year old 1969 record by three points. The new record was beaten in the following 1979 VFL season. In this match, Kelvin Templeton 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 player, or in fact, any other player in the league.
* In Round 6, 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 Grand Final.
* 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.
* Round 3 was the first round when a team (Carlton) won with a score less than 100 points (Carlton amassed 13.20 (98) and won by 13 points)
* In Round 20, Collingwood comes from more than 50 points down to win by 14 points.

ee also

* Early VFL Final systems
* Page-McIntyre "Final Four" system
* McIntyre "Final Five" system

References

* Stephen Rogers and Ashley Brown (1998). "Every Game Ever Played". 6th ed. Victoria: Penguin Books.
* [http://stats.rleague.com/afl/seas/1978.html 1978 Season - AFL Tables]