Premiership season

Round 1 (Season Launch/Easter)

Round 2

Round 3 (Rivalry Round)

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6 (ANZAC Round)

Round 7

AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match

Round 9 (Indigenous Round)

Round 10

Round 11 (Queens Birthday)

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14 (Split Round)

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19 (Tom Wills Round)

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Ladder

Finals Series

Qualifying and Elimination Finals

Semi Finals

Grand Final

Game records

• Highest Score: 28.14 (182) - Geelong v West Coast 5.17 (47), Round 13 [582011]
• Lowest Score: 5.9 (39) - Essendon v St Kilda 21.21 (147),Round 22[582012]
• Highest Losing Score: 21.8 (134) - Carlton v Essendon 23.12 (150), Round 3 [582013]
• Lowest Winning Score: 6.15 (51) - St Kilda v Sydney 6.13 (49), Round 1[582014]
• Greatest Margin: 135 points - Geelong 28.14 (182) v West Coast 5.17 (47), Round 13[582015]
• Smallest Margin (excluding draws): 1 point -
  • Fremantle 13.10 (88) v Geelong 13.11 (89), Round 6
  • Melbourne 14.9 (93) v Brisbane 13.14 (92), Round 14[582016]
• Highest Aggregate Score: 44.20 (284) - Essendon 23.12 (150) v Carlton 21.8 (134), Round 3[582017]
• Lowest Aggregate Score: 12.28 (100) - St Kilda 6.15 (51) v Sydney 6.13 (49), Round 1[582018]
• Best Accuracy: 85.71% - 12.2 (74) Hawthorn v Western Bulldogs 15.16 (106), Round 10[582019]
• Worst Accuracy: 22.73% -
  • 5.17 (47) West Coast v Geelong 28.14 (182), Round 13
  • 5.17 (47) Adelaide v West Coast 14.13 (97), Round 9[582020]

Statistics leaders

Leading Goal-kickers and Coleman Medal

^{updated after ' grand final}

Disposals

Kicks

Handballs

Marks

Tackles

Hitouts

Awards

• The 2008 Brownlow Medal for the AFL's fairest and best player was awarded to Adam Cooney, of the Western Bulldogs, who polled 24 votes.
• The Leigh Matthews Trophy as the AFL's most valuable player was awarded to Gary Ablett, Jr., of Geelong.
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Lance Franklin of Hawthorn, who kicked 102 goals during the home and away season.
• The Norm Smith Medal as the player adjudged best afield in the AFL Grand Final was awarded to Luke Hodge, of Hawthorn.
• The McClelland Trophy was awarded to the Geelong Football Club for holding top position on the ladder after 22 rounds.
• The Wooden Spoon was obtained by the Melbourne Football Club who finished the season in last place on the ladder after 22 rounds.
• Chris Judd from the Carlton Football Club was named the captain of the 2008 All-Australian Team, with seven Geelong players named and nine players made their All-Australian debuts.
• The AFL Mark of the Year and Alex Jesaulenko Medal was awarded to Matthew Lloyd of Essendon for a spectacular high mark against Melbourne in Round 19.
• The AFL Goal of the Year and Phil Manassa Medal was awarded to Leon Davis of Collingwood for his chase, tackle and goal against Fremantle in Round 22.
• The AFL Army Award was awarded to Brett Deledio for the footballer who displays the most courageous and/or team related act of the season, for running with the flight of the ball to attempt a mark in the final minutes of Richmond's Round 7 loss to St Kilda.

Rising Star Nominees

Club Best and Fairests

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.
• The highest ever odds for an AFL–VFL game of $34 were offered for to beat in their Round 3 clash at Skilled Stadium. Geelong won by 30 points.
• came back from a 37-point deficit from the Saints at quarter time to come back and win the game by 38 points to make a 75-point turnaround in Round 4.
• produced its biggest ever comeback in Round 4 against when they were down by 47 points late in the third quarter to win by 20 points, a 67-point turnaround.
• forward Barry Hall was suspended for seven weeks, the equal-longest suspension handed out since the tribunal was reconfigured, for striking defender Brent Staker with a clean punch to the head. Later in the season, 's Dean Solomon beat that record, being suspended for eight weeks after hitting 's Cameron Ling in the cheekbone with a reckless bump.
• 's 73-point win over in round 6 was the biggest victory on an Anzac Day Match ever.
• earned a controversial draw against at Telstra Dome in round six, after it was later revealed that the tying behind was scored with nineteen men on the field. As a direct consequence of this, the league amended the interchange laws in round nine.
• won its first game for the season in Round 7 against by six points, after recovering from a 50-point half-time deficit, the second-largest half-time deficit ever overcome in VFL/AFL history.[582021] This was the second in a VFL/AFL-record string of five consecutive games which Fremantle lost after holding a three-quarter time lead.
• suffered its worst ever loss at Subiaco Oval, and worst loss anywhere since 1989, in Round 13, losing to by 135 points.
• Round 14 marked the first time all non-Victorian clubs lost in the same round since entered the competition in 1997. The feat was repeated in Round 15.
• With its final-round victory, matched the 2000 record of 21 wins in a season. Ironically, 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 .
• In the Round 22 match between and , 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 season saw the 8th-placed requiring a win of 90+ points over to claim 4th place going into the finals. They recorded a 108-point victory which stole the Crows' 4th place.
• 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 the West Coast Eagles 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 and 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, 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 (1973) and (1991) (both 19 wins).

• Nathan Bock (Adelaide)
• Matthew Boyd (Western Bulldogs)
• Jared Brennan (Brisbane Lions)
• Campbell Brown (Hawthorn)
• Shaun Burgoyne (Port Adelaide)

Club leadership

Umpires

Player changes

Debuts

Retirements

Sackings/Delistings

2008 Trade Week

Coaching changes

• Surprising some, Leigh Matthews announced his retirement as coach of the Brisbane Lions two days after their final game of the season in what was reported as a move to make way for potential coaching candidate, Michael Voss.

• Despite being newly signed for two years as Assistant Coach of the West Coast Eagles, as expected, former Brisbane Lions captain Michael Voss was appointed as coach of the Brisbane Lions, one day after Leigh Matthews resigned.

See also

• 2008 Australian football code crowds

Footnotes

References

• 2008 Season - AFL Tables
• 2008 AFL season - Finalsiren.com

External links

• AFL (Australian Football League)
• 2008 Interactive Fixture in Excel
• 2008 Schedule By Week as a PDF
• 2008 Schedule By Team as a PDF
• AFL Venue Information