2012 AFL Grand Final
| 2012 AFL Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
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The Melbourne Cricket Ground (pictured), where the 2012 AFL Grand Final was played.
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| Date | 29 September 2012, 2:30pm | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 99,683 | |||||||||||||||
| Umpires | Simon Meredith, Brett Rosebury, Matt Stevic | |||||||||||||||
| Coin toss won by | Hawthorn | |||||||||||||||
| Kicked toward | City End | |||||||||||||||
| Ceremonies | ||||||||||||||||
| Pre-match entertainment | Paul Kelly, Tim Rogers | |||||||||||||||
| National anthem | Marina Prior | |||||||||||||||
| Halftime show | The Temper Trap | |||||||||||||||
| Post-match entertainment | Paul Kelly, The Temper Trap | |||||||||||||||
| Accolades | ||||||||||||||||
| Norm Smith Medallist | Ryan O'Keefe (Sydney) | |||||||||||||||
| Jock McHale Medallist | John Longmire (Sydney) | |||||||||||||||
| Broadcast in Australia | ||||||||||||||||
| Network | Seven Network | |||||||||||||||
| Commentators | Bruce McAvaney and Dennis Cometti | |||||||||||||||
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The 2012 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club and the Sydney Swans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 29 September 2012. It was the 116th annual Grand Final of the Australian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine the premiers for the 2012 AFL season. The match, attended by 99,683 spectators, was won by Sydney by 10 points, marking the club's fifth VFL/AFL premiership victory. Sydney's Ryan O'Keefe was awarded the Norm Smith Medal as the best player on the ground.
Hawthorn entered the 2012 season as the premiership favourites following a narrow three-point preliminary final defeat to Collingwood the previous year. Hawthorn experienced an average start to the year, with a record of 5–4 after nine matches; the team then won its next eight matches by an average of 81 points. A narrow loss against Geelong in Round 19 was its only other loss of the season, and Hawthorn finished the regular season on top of the AFL ladder with a win-loss record of 17–5. Hawthorn defeated Collingwood in its first qualifying final by 38 points to progress to the preliminary final. They beat Adelaide in a close preliminary final by five points to qualify for the Grand Final for the first time since 2008.
Sydney entered the 2012 season having come off a semi-final loss to Hawthorn in the previous year's finals series. Sydney won its first five matches of the season, before losing three of its next four matches to fall to 6–3; it then won its next nine matches by an average of 46.5 points; this streak took Sydney to the top of the ladder in Round 15, a position that the Swans held for seven weeks. Sydney lost three of its last four matches, including narrow losses to top four teams Hawthorn and Collingwood, to finish third with a record of 16–6. Sydney led from start to finish and beat Adelaide at AAMI Stadium by 29 points in the qualifying final, and defeated Collingwood (for the first time in 12 matches) at ANZ Stadium by 26 points the preliminary final to qualify for the Grand Final for the first time since 2006. The Swans had not beaten Collingwood since 2005 and had only defeated Adelaide once since 2004.
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