The 1979 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Carlton Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 29 September 1979. It was the 83rd annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1979 VFL season. The match, attended by 113,545 spectators, was won by Carlton by a margin of 5 points, marking that club's 13th premiership victory.

Background

This was the first Grand Final appearance by Carlton in six years since losing the 1973 VFL Grand Final. The last time the Blues had been premiers was when they won the 1972 VFL Grand Final against Richmond. Collingwood had last appeared in a Grand Final two years previously, when it was defeated by North Melbourne in the 1977 VFL Grand Final. The Magpies had last won a flag in 1958.

At the conclusion of the home and away season, Carlton had finished first on the VFL ladder with 19 wins and 3 losses. Collingwood had finished third (behind North Melbourne) with 15 wins and 7 losses.

In the finals series leading up to the Grand Final, Collingwood lost to North Melbourne in the Qualifying Final by 39 points before beating Fitzroy in the First Semi-Final by 22 points to progress to the Preliminary Final. There they faced North Melbourne once again, this time winning by 27 points to advance to the Grand Final. Carlton had a much easier finals run, defeating North Melbourne by 38 points in the Second Semi-Final to advance straight through to the Grand Final.

In the week leading up to the Grand Final, Collingwood's Peter Moore was awarded the Brownlow Medal.

Match summary

The game was a tight affair throughout, played in very muddy conditions. Collingwood led by ten points at quarter time, Carlton by one point at half time, and Carlton by 21 points at three quarter time. However, eighteen minutes into the final quarter the Blues led by just four points, with the Magpies having kicked the last three goals of the game.

Team	1	2	3	Final
Carlton	0.4	5.7	10.12	11.16 (82)
Collingwood	2.2	5.6	7.9	11.11 (77)

The final minutes of this game produced one of the most memorable moments in VFL/AFL history. With Carlton leading by four points and kicking to the City end of the ground, Wayne Harmes gathered the ball on the half-forward flank and hurried a kick forward. The kick floated into the right forward pocket, with no player from either team in the vicinity. Harmes chased his own kick as the ball bounced towards the boundary line, and dived to punch the ball back into play just as the ball reached the line. Harmes' punch directed the ball into the goal square, where Ken Sheldon, who was running forward at the time, was able to gather the ball and score a goal, putting Carlton ten points ahead. Collingwood would score one more goal, but Carlton would win by five points. Many Collingwood fans maintain to this day that the ball was out of bounds before Harmes punched it back in. The incident was one of the first two recreated for the Toyota Memorable Moments series of advertisements.

The inaugural Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Harmes for being judged the best player afield.

Carlton's Alex Jesaulenko became the last ever player to captain-coach a team to victory in a Grand Final. During the final quarter he injured his ankle and had to leave the field on a stretcher.

Teams

Goal kickers

Carlton Sheldon 3 Buckley 2 Mclure 2 Francis 1 Harmes 1 Jones 1 Young 1

Collingwood Davis 4 Brewer 1 Carlson 1 Edwards 1 Ireland 1 Kink 1 Ohlsen 1 Wearmouth 1

See also

• 1979 VFL season

References

• The Official statistical history of the AFL 2004

External links

• Article on the 1979 Grand Final from ABC Sport