2016 AFL First Preliminary Final
The 2016 AFL First Preliminary Final was an Australian rules football match contested between the Greater Western Sydney Giants and Western Bulldogs at Spotless Stadium on 24 September 2016. It was staged as part of the 2016 AFL finals series to determine which of the two clubs would qualify for that season's Grand Final.
| 2016 AFL First Preliminary Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Date | 24 September 2016 | ||||
| Stadium | Spotless Stadium Sydney | ||||
| Attendance | 21,790 | ||||
| Broadcast in Australia | |||||
| Network | Seven Network | ||||
In their fifth season in the AFL, and first finals series, the Giants were attempting to reach their first Grand Final, while the Bulldogs were looking to reach their first Grand Final since 1961.
Background
The 2016 AFL season was contested by eighteen clubs between March and October 2016. The top eight clubs qualified for the finals series, which was conducted under the AFL finals system introduced in 2000 AFL season.
At the conclusion of the regular season, the Greater Western Sydney Giants finished fourth on the ladder with sixteen wins and six losses, and caused a major upset in its qualifying final when it defeated cross-town rivals, the Sydney Swans, by 36 points at Stadium Australia, ensuring it received a bye straight into the preliminary final.[1][2]
On the other hand, the Western Bulldogs finished seventh with fifteen wins and seven losses following a regular season in which several key players suffered serious injuries, among them captain Robert Murphy,[3] midfielder Mitch Wallis and forward Jack Redpath,[4] while they were also without forward Stewart Crameri who was serving a season-long suspension for his role in his former club Essendon's controversial sports supplements program during the 2012 AFL season. Despite these setbacks, they would eliminate both of the previous year's Grand Finalists, the West Coast Eagles[5] and Hawthorn,[6] in consecutive sudden death finals to reach their first preliminary final since 2010.
The winner of the preliminary final would progress to the Grand Final on 1 October, against the Sydney Swans, who had won the Second Preliminary FinalN 1 the previous night.
Despite this only being their fifth season in the AFL, and missing Steve Johnson through suspension,[7] Greater Western Sydney was an overwhelming favourite to win the preliminary final and progress to the Grand Final. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, had lost nine of their previous ten preliminary finals, the most recent in 2010.[8]
In the week leading up to the match, bookmakers were offering odds of $1.45 for a GWS victory and $2.85 for a Western Bulldogs victory.[9]
Match summary
First half
First quarter
After over five minutes of play, Greater Western Sydney registered the first score of the match, a behind to Dylan Shiel, before Clay Smith (Western Bulldogs) kicked the first goal of the match less than a minute later. Two goals to each side saw the Bulldogs lead by two points at the quarter-time break.[8]
Second quarter
The Bulldogs then kicked four goals to three in the second quarter, during which two players suffered game-ending injuries: Bulldogs ruckman Jordan Roughead, who had a ball kicked in his face, and Giants co-captain Callan Ward, who was accidentally kneed in the head by Zaine Cordy.[10] At half-time, the Bulldogs led by nine points.[8]
Second half
Third quarter
Three minutes into the third quarter, Rory Lobb kicked a goal for the Giants to bring the margin back to one point, before a rushed behind brought the scores level at 41–apiece. However, Tory Dickson would kick a goal shortly after to give his side back the lead; another goal to Lobb and one to Jonathan Patton would see the Giants open up an eleven-point lead, before late goals to Marcus Bontempelli and Caleb Daniel saw the Giants' lead reduced to one point at three-quarter-time.[8]
Final quarter
Two goals to the Giants to start the final quarter saw them take a 14-point lead, the biggest by any side during the match, before goals to Dickson, Bontempelli and Cordy saw the Bulldogs reclaim the lead. Shortly after, Patton would kick a goal for the Giants and with less than five minutes remaining, scores would be tied at 82–apiece. Jack Macrae, who to that point of the season had only kicked one goal, was then paid a mark inside the Bulldogs' forward 50 despite a late spoil from Nick Haynes; he then kicked the match's final goal and despite some desperation from the Giants, the Bulldogs would ultimately hang on to win by six points.[8]
Aftermath
By winning, the Western Bulldogs progressed to the 2016 AFL Grand Final the following week against the Sydney Swans. It was to be just their third appearance in a Grand Final, but first since 1961.
The Bulldogs ultimately went on to win their second flag, defeating the Swans by 22 points with Jason Johannisen winning the Norm Smith Medal as the best player on ground.[11] They thus became the first team since Adelaide in 1997 to win four consecutive finals, as well as the first ever team to win the premiership after finishing seventh at the conclusion of the home-and-away season.[12]
Subsequent meetings between the two sides saw the Giants won by two points in round six, 2017, by 48 points in round 21, 2017 and by 82 points in round one, 2018, before the Bulldogs won by 61 points in round 22, 2019, in what was their first match at the Sydney Showground Stadium since the 2016 preliminary final.[13] The Giants, however, won their next finals meeting, defeating the Bulldogs by 58 points in the 2019 second elimination final to progress to a semi-final against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba.[14]
Legacy
The match attracted an average television viewership of 2.387 million viewers across the Seven Network and Fox Footy, making it the second-most watched AFL game outside of a grand final ever and the most watched AFL game outside of a grand final since the 2007 preliminary final between Geelong and Collingwood.[15] It was also considered by many fans to be the best AFL match played in the 2010s.[16]
Scorecard
| First preliminary final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 24 September (5:15 pm) | Greater Western Sydney | def. by | Western Bulldogs | Spotless Stadium (crowd: 21,790) | Report |
| 2.1 (13) 5.2 (32) 9.7 (61) 12.11 (83) |
Q1 Q2 Q3 Final |
2.3 (15) 6.5 (41) 9.6 (60) 13.11 (89) |
Umpires: Mathew Nicholls, Justin Schmitt, Simon Meredith Television broadcast: Seven Network, Fox Footy (simulcast) | ||
| 4: Patton 3: Greene, Lobb 1: D. Smith, Shaw |
Goals | 4: C. Smith, Dickson 2: Cordy 1: Daniel, Bontempelli, Macrae | |||
| Kelly, Scully, Patton, Coniglio, Wilson, Greene | Best | C. Smith, Dahlhaus, Dickson, Morris, Wood, Johannisen, Macrae, Picken | |||
| Ward (concussion) | Injuries | Roughead (eye) | |||
| Nil | Reports | Nil | |||
Teams
| B: | 20 Adam Tomlinson | 1 Phil Davis (c) | 19 Nick Haynes |
| HB: | 23 Heath Shaw | 24 Joel Patfull | 32 Ryan Griffen |
| C: | 29 Zac Williams | 3 Stephen Coniglio | 9 Tom Scully |
| HF: | 22 Josh Kelly | 18 Jeremy Cameron | 12 Jonathon Patton |
| F: | 7 Rhys Palmer | 37 Rory Lobb | 10 Devon Smith |
| Foll: | 41 Shane Mumford | 4 Toby Greene | 8 Callan Ward (c) |
| Int: | 2 Jacob Hopper | 5 Dylan Shiel | 6 Lachie Whitfield |
| 16 Nathan Wilson | |||
| Coach: | Leon Cameron | ||
| B: | 39 Jason Johannisen | 30 Joel Hamling | 5 Matthew Boyd |
| HB: | 18 Fletcher Roberts | 38 Dale Morris | 10 Easton Wood (c) |
| C: | 7 Lachie Hunter | 4 Marcus Bontempelli | 42 Liam Picken |
| HF: | 20 Josh Dunkley | 12 Zaine Cordy | 9 Jake Stringer |
| F: | 29 Tory Dickson | 17 Tom Boyd | 14 Clay Smith |
| Foll: | 23 Jordan Roughead | 6 Luke Dahlhaus | 21 Tom Liberatore |
| Int: | 11 Jack Macrae | 16 Toby McLean | 24 Shane Biggs |
| 35 Caleb Daniel | |||
| Coach: | Luke Beveridge | ||
Footnotes
- 1.^ The First and Second Preliminary Finals are named based on the teams competing in them, not based on the chronological order in which they take place. See AFL finals system for more information.
References
- Sharwood, Anthony (10 September 2016). "Giant Shock as GWS Have Big, Big Win Over Sydney Swans". HuffPost Australia. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
- "2016 Season Scores". AFL Tables. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- Niall, Jake; Waterworth, Ben (11 April 2016). "Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says he's optimistic Bob Murphy will play on despite injury". Retrieved 20 April 2016.
- Higgins, Ben; Rendall, Michael; Salemme, Kate (24 July 2016). "Mitch Wallis suffers broken leg, Jack Redpath, Dale Morris also injured for Western Bulldogs". Herald Sun. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
- Malcolm, Alex (8 September 2016). "Match report: Growling Dogs end Eagles' year in stunning fashion". AFL.com.au. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- Schmook, Nathan (16 September 2016). "Match report: Gold and brown era ends as Dogs down Hawks". AFL.com.au. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- "GWS Giants forward Steve Johnson handed one-game ban for hit on Sydney's Josh Kennedy". ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 12 September 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- Sygall, David (24 September 2016). "Match report: Dogs become Giant killers to advance to Grand Final". AFL.com.au. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- "Where is the money going for the 2016 preliminary finals?". Herald Sun. 21 September 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- Kimber, Howard (24 September 2016). "Big Dog in Grand Final doubt, GWS star KO'd in injury carnage". AFL.com.au. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- "Norm Smith: Bulldog Jason Johannisen springs a medal surprise – AFL.com.au". AFL. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
- Jackson, Russell (1 October 2016). "Western Bulldogs beat Sydney for first AFL premiership in 62 years – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
- "Giants set unwanted 108-year first as Bulldogs enter top eight". Seven News. 18 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
- Collins, Ben (7 September 2019). "Giants silence doubters to end Bulldogs' season". Australian Football League. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
- Di Giorgio, Giulio (25 September 2016). "TV ratings record for Dog's epic win over Giants". AFL.com.au. Telstra Media. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
- @7AFL (1 September 2019). ""The Bulldogs go through to a Grand Final! Can you believe it!?!?" Channel Seven's own Luke Darcy, was almost in tears when the Game of the Decade reached its penultimate conclusion. The Dogs went on to end a 62-year premiership drought. #GameDay" (Tweet) – via Twitter.