1996 AFL Grand Final
| 1996 AFL Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
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The Melbourne Cricket Ground, where the 1996 AFL Grand Final took place.
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| Date | 28 September 1996 | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 93,102 | |||||||||||||||
| Ceremonies | ||||||||||||||||
| Pre-match entertainment | A collection of past singers | |||||||||||||||
| Accolades | ||||||||||||||||
| Norm Smith Medallist | Glenn Archer (North Melbourne) | |||||||||||||||
| Jock McHale Medallist | Denis Pagan | |||||||||||||||
| Broadcast in Australia | ||||||||||||||||
| Network | Seven Network | |||||||||||||||
| Commentators | Bruce McAvaney and Sandy Roberts | |||||||||||||||
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The 1996 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the North Melbourne Football Club and the Sydney Swans, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 28 September 1996. It was the 100th annual Grand Final of the Australian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine the premiers for the 1996 AFL season. The match, attended by 93,102 people, was won by North Melbourne by a margin of 43 points, marking that club's third premiership victory. North Melbourne were awarded a gold premiership cup instead of the usual silver in honor of the centenary grand final.
Sydney were playing in a Grand Final for the first time since relocating from South Melbourne. It was the Swans' first appearance in a premiership decider since losing the 1945 VFL Grand Final, while it was North Melbourne's first since losing the 1978 VFL Grand Final.
At the conclusion of the home and away season, Sydney had finished first on the AFL ladder with 16 wins and 5 losses and one draw, winning the McClelland Trophy. North Melbourne had finished second with 16 wins and 6 losses.
The lead-up to the game was dominated by the tribunal case of Sydney defender Andrew Dunkley, who was to be the Swans' match-up for star Kangaroos forward Wayne Carey. On the Wednesday before the Grand Final, Dunkley was reported on video evidence – which was still relatively uncommon practice at the time – for striking Essendon's James Hird in the previous week's preliminary final. On the Thursday, Sydney successfully obtained an Supreme Court injunction to prevent the case from being heard until after the Grand Final, with the judge ruling that requiring Dunkley to face the tribunal only one day after learning of the charge and two days before the Grand Final would deny him natural justice and deny him the time required to prepare a defence. Consequently, Dunkley was free to play. When Dunkley ultimately faced the tribunal, he was suspended for three weeks.
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