1976 VFL Grand Final
| 1976 VFL Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 25 September 1976 | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia | |||||||||||||||
| Broadcast in Australia | ||||||||||||||||
| Network | Seven Network | |||||||||||||||
| Commentators | Mike Williamson and Lou Richards | |||||||||||||||
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The 1976 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club and North Melbourne Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 25 September 1976. It was the 80th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1976 VFL season. The match, attended by 110,143 spectators, was won by Hawthorn by a margin of 30 points, marking that club's third premiership victory.
This was North Melbourne's third successive Grand Final, and were the reigning premiers after having defeated Hawthorn in the 1975 VFL Grand Final.
At the conclusion of the regular home-and-away season, Hawthorn had finished second (behind Carlton) on the ladder with 16 wins and 6 losses. North Melbourne had finished third with 15 wins and 7 losses. During the season Hawthorn played North Melbourne in two home and away games, winning by 22 and 8 points respectively.
In the finals series leading up to the Grand Final, North Melbourne lost to Hawthorn by 20 points in the Qualifying Final before defeating Geelong by 33 points in the First Semi-Final. They then met Carlton in the Preliminary Final which they won by just one point to advance to the Grand Final. Hawthorn, after their win in the Qualifying Final, defeated Carlton by 17 points in the Second Semi-Final to advance to the Grand Final.
Both teams made six changes to their respective teams from the 1975 Grand Final.
The match was something of a psychological war, with both teams taking turns to trade blows. North Melbourne went into the match in a somewhat defensive frame of mind; captain Keith Greig was minding Hawthorn's dangerous rover Leigh Matthews, and similarly attacking minded players in Malcolm Blight and Steven Icke also found themselves playing in defence. Hawthorn took the initiative from the start, with Leigh Matthews kicking the first goal of the game after five minutes. Late in the first quarter, Matthews struck Greig on the forehead sending him to the ground, and was reported. Greig was knocked out again later in the match, yet in spite of these heavy blows still played well enough to be among North's best players on the day.
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