2013 AFL Grand Final
| 2013 AFL Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
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View of the Melbourne Cricket Ground moments after gates opened on for the 2013 AFL Grand Final.
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| Date | 28 September 2013, 2:30pm | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 100,007 | |||||||||||||||
| Umpires | Brett Rosebury, Simon Meredith, Matthew Nicholls | |||||||||||||||
| Coin toss won by | Fremantle | |||||||||||||||
| Kicked toward | City End | |||||||||||||||
| Ceremonies | ||||||||||||||||
| Pre-match entertainment | Birds of Tokyo | |||||||||||||||
| National anthem | Tina Arena | |||||||||||||||
| Halftime show | Hunters and Collectors | |||||||||||||||
| Post-match entertainment | Hunters and Collectors, Birds of Tokyo | |||||||||||||||
| Accolades | ||||||||||||||||
| Norm Smith Medallist | Brian Lake | |||||||||||||||
| Jock McHale Medallist | Alastair Clarkson | |||||||||||||||
| Broadcast in Australia | ||||||||||||||||
| Network | Seven Network | |||||||||||||||
| Commentators | Bruce McAvaney and Dennis Cometti | |||||||||||||||
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The 2013 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between Hawthorn Football Club and Fremantle Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 28 September 2013. It was the 117th annual Grand Final of the Australian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine the premiers for the 2013 AFL season. The match, attended by 100,007 spectators, was won by Hawthorn by a margin of 15 points, marking the club's eleventh VFL/AFL premiership victory. Hawthorn's Brian Lake was awarded the Norm Smith Medal as the best player on the ground.
Hawthorn entered the 2013 season having lost the 2012 Grand Final to Sydney, and for most of the season was seen as the favourites for the premiership. After losing to Geelong in Round 1, Hawthorn compiled a 12-match winning streak, until this streak was ended with another loss to Geelong in Round 15. The club's only other loss came against Richmond in Round 19, and it finished with a record of 19–3 to win the minor premiership for the second consecutive year. They defeated Sydney in the qualifying final by 54 points and earned a week off. They ended an 11-match losing streak against Geelong (dating back to 2008) to win by five points in the preliminary final. The match was Hawthorn's third Grand Final appearance in six years.
Fremantle entered the 2013 season having come off a semi-final loss to Adelaide in the previous year's finals series. After winning their first two matches of the season by 28 points, the Dockers lost back-to-back matches against Essendon and Hawthorn to be 2–2 after Round 4 – this was the only time they lost consecutive matches during the season. Fremantle recorded its largest ever victory when they defeated Greater Western Sydney in Round 20, then, with a finals berth guaranteed, Ross Lyon rested half of his regular side ahead of its final regular season match against St Kilda; the result was a 71-point defeat, which marked the worst defeat in Lyon's coaching career. The team finished third at the end of the home-and-away season, and compiled a club-best record of 16–5–1. They defeated Geelong by 15 points in the first week of the finals, earning a week off and a home preliminary final. Fremantle defeated the reigning premiers, Sydney, by 25 points in the preliminary final. The match was Fremantle's first Grand Final in its history.
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