AFL 25: Glenn McFarlane names the biggest AFL moments of the century so far
Some iconic moments in AFL history have come this century, but which one stands above the rest? Glenn McFarlane picks out the 25 greatest on-field moments of the 21st century.
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Highs, lows, thrills and spills have created some scintillating moments on the AFL field this century.
Glenn McFarlane delves into the top 25 on-field moments of the past 25 seasons.
1. ‘LEO BARRY, YOU STAR’
The VFL-AFL’s longest premiership drought was quenched by one of the most dramatic moments in footy history, and sealed by a mark that will go down in history. The 2005 grand final between Sydney and West Coast was a nailbiting, bone-jarring classic. What it lacked in aesthetics, it made up for in gripping tension. The Swans held sway early before the Chris Judd-inspired Eagles fought back. When Dean Cox kicked long in the dying seconds, it appeared as if West Coast might pinch it. Enter Swans defender Leo Barry, who came in from the side to take one of the most significant marks in grand final history, sealing the Swans’ first premiership in 72 years. As commentator Stephen Quartermain said, ‘Leo Barry, you star!’.
2. THE BOUNCE DELIVERS THE LAST GRAND FINAL DRAW
The 2010 playoff between Collingwood and St Kilda was the grand final ‘hamburger with the lot’ - it had everything. The highlights are etched in folklore - Lenny Hayes’ long goal; Brendon Goddard’s towering mark/goal; Nick Maxwell’s full-stretched dive to save a goal and his mark and instinctive decision to play on late in the game; and most telling of all, the extraordinary bounce of the ball past Stephen Milne’s outstretched hands for the behind that levelled the score. The last one still haunts Saints’ fans desperately craving the club’s elusive second flag. This was the third - and final - grand final draw.
3. DOM SHEED’S GOAL
Has there ever been a more perfect transition of play in the history of VFL-AFL grand finals than the one West Coast reeled off as time ticked down in the 2018 clash with Collingwood? Jeremy McGovern took a big mark and split the middle with a precision kick to Nathan Vardy. Vardy’s kick was marked superbly by Liam Ryan, who played on and delivered to Dom Sheed, who marked, having been shepherded clear by Willie Rioli. Tucked in on the boundary line, with a needle’s eye passage, Sheed spectacularly slotted through a goal for the ages, delivering the unlikely premiership to the Eagles. It was the ultimate clutch goal.
4. THE TOE-POKE
Simple acts of ingenuity can change the course of history. With scores level in the 2009 grand final and time running out, Zac Dawson spoiled a mark to Gary Ablett in the middle of the ground as St Kilda looked set to march towards that elusive second flag. Geelong defender Matthew Scarlett toe-poked the loose Sherrin. It landed in Ablett’s arms and he launched the ball into attack. It spilled off a pack in attack and Travis Varcoe handballed to Paul Chapman, who snapped the match-winning goal. It was spine-tingling for Cats fans and soul-destroying for Saints fans. Earlier that year these two sides also fought a classic contest which stands as one of the great home and away games, which the Saints won after Michael Gardiner sealed the deal late.
5. DOGS’ DROUGHT BREAKER
Even the Brothers Grimm couldn’t have conjured up a fairytale as captivating or unlikely as the Western Bulldogs’ 2016 flag. They had to overcome a myriad of hurdles to break a 62-year premiership drought. They lost key personnel to injury, including skipper Bob Murphy; they won two finals interstate including a classic preliminary final victory over GWS; and they were the first team to win a flag from seventh position. In the grand final, there was Dale Morris’ game-defining tackle on Lance Franklin; Tom Boyd’s 60m last-term goal; Jason Johannisen’s line-breaking run; the tears of the long-suffering fans wearing red, white and blue; and fittingly coach Luke Beveridge’s post-game gesture in handing his Jock McHale Medal to Murphy on the podium. What a day!
6. BUDDY’S 1000TH GOAL
In an age defined by team defence, multi-positional play and coaches unwilling to have one spearhead as the primary focus of a forward line, the man in the No.23 defied conventions. And on a magical night at the SCG in 2022, he joined the five others to reach 1000 career VFL-AFL goals - Gordon Coventry, Doug Wade, Tony Lockett, Gary Ablett Sr and Jason Dunstall. Fans had to wait until the final term as he took a grab, and slotted it through, as tens of thousands of footy fans stormed onto the ground. Franklin was in the midst of the chaos before he was eventually taken from the ground as two Swans Chad Warner and Ollie Florent fled outside the ground to get to the rooms. It was a magical moment which might never be repeated.
7. SMOTHER OF THE CENTURY
Nick Riewoldt ambled in towards goal as he prepared to kick what should have been St Kilda’s first goal 20 minutes into the first term of the 2010 grand final replay. Instinctively, Heath Shaw made a charge towards the Saints captain. Almost from nowhere, he emerged to make what he would later call ‘the smother of the century’. As Dennis Cometti said, Shaw crept up on Riewoldt “like a librarian’ and knocked the ball out of his hands, through for a behind. “I thought ‘You don’t die wondering … I might as well have a crack at it,’” Shaw recounted. That desperate lunge would be the defining moment of the game. It was an extraordinary team-lifting moment for Collingwood, which set the tone for the match.
8. ‘I SEE IT, BUT I DON’T BELIEVE IT’
Nick Davis’ semi-final heroics in the last term of the 2005 semi-final against Geelong still sits as one of the most electrifying moments of the 21st century. He lifted Sydney off the canvas, kicking the last four of the game in a pulsating 20-minute period against Geelong. The Swans had fallen 23 points behind. Enter the opportunist, who was still stinging from a rebuke from teammate Brett Kirk over an earlier clanger. He booted his four goals from the eight-minute-mark of the last quarter until the 29-minute-mark, raking in a 137 SuperCoach-point last term. Paul Roos called it the best individual finals quarter in history.
9. THE BOOING OF ADAM GOODES
What happened to Adam Goodes - dual Brownlow Medallist and 2014 Australian Of The Year - during the final three years of his AFL career was a stain on the game. It’s hard to know where the sustained booing from across the other side of the fence started. But it brought an unsavoury, premature end to the career of one of the game’s greatest players. Goodes stood up against racism on several occasions. He called out a 13-year-old fan during a game in 2013 but the boos gained even more traction in his final season of 2015. It took four more years for the AFL to unreservedly apologise for not taking action.
10. McCARTNEY’S COMEBACK/RETIREMENT
If it was a miracle that Jason McCartney survived the Bali bombings in 2002, how could you possibly describe his emotional AFL comeback the following year? He had been drinking at Paddy’s Bar with his North Melbourne teammate Mick Martyn when an explosion went off, turning the bar into a raging inferno in October 2002. McCartney suffered burns to 50 per cent of his body, and almost died. He spent five days in a coma. Told he would never play football again, he vowed to prove them wrong. Against overwhelming odds, he returned for the round 11, 2003 game against Richmond — 237 days after the bombings — to set up one of the match-defining goals before announcing his retirement on the ground after the game.
11. DUSTY SEALS TIGER DYNASTY AMIDST COVID GLOOM
Richmond had to wait 37 years to win that elusive 11th premiership in 2017, before adding a 12th in 2019. Dustin Martin won the Norm Smith Medal in both of those grand finals, while Marlion Pickett’s AFL debut in the 2019 grand final produced one of the great storylines. But the 2020 season gave us a Covid pandemic that excluded the life blood of the game - the fans - with the Richmond-Carlton opening round game played without fans. The season was paused then restarted months later, but ultimately the AFL had to move base to Queensland after the Victorian lockdowns. It resulted in the first night grand final - between Richmond and Geelong - and the Cats looked ready to take the flag after kicking four goals in a row and leading by 21 points late in the second term. Enter the man considered the greatest finals player of all-time. Martin swooped on the footy, pushed aside Jake Kolodjashnij and screwed a kick around his body for a stunning goal. Dustin and the Tigers went on to deliver a third premiership in four seasons. It was the stuff of legends.
12. SIRENGATE
Fremantle led by a point in the tight clash with St Kilda in Launceston in 2006 when the final siren sounded. The only problem was that the umpires didn’t hear it, though a number of Dockers players had. As the play continued, the Saints registered a point which levelled the scores when Steven Baker’s snap went through for a behind. Freo’s players remonstrated as the umpires awarded Baker a second chance as Dockers coach Chris Connolly stormed onto the ground and was locked in a verbal clash with Lenny Hayes. Baker’s second shot also went through for a point. It was a draw … at least for four days. For only the second time in VFL-AFL history - and the first in 106 years - a result was overturned by the AFL Commission as they handed Fremantle the victory on protest.
13. HALL’S HAYMAKER
It was the punch that shook the footy world. Barry Hall had been “wound up” before he ran out for Sydney against West Coast on April 12, 2008, but he knew it was no excuse for what happened next. “If you keep blowing up a balloon, it will burst,” Hall recalled on the Sacked podcast. In a pique of anger, Hall threw a sickening round-arm punch that smashed into the jaw of his opponent Brent Staker. As Staker’s eyes rolled almost into the back of his head, Hall knew he was in trouble: “I regretted it straight away. As soon as I watched it on the big screen, I thought ‘I’m in a bit of trouble’.” He was suspended for seven matches, and if it happened today, you could double that penalty or more.
14. THE BIRTH OF AFLW, AND TWO AWESOME SELLOUTS
A national women’s competition burst onto the scene in 2017 - 120 years after the men’s competition started - in one of the most spectacular nights in the game’s history. The kick off point was a sellout clash between Carlton and Collingwood, which attracted 24,568 fans and thousands turned away at the gate. AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan had to go outside the ground and apologise to fans who couldn’t get in. Then, just two years later, came another momentous moment. A sellout crowd of 53,034 saw Adelaide defeat Carlton in the 2019 AFLW grand final at Adelaide Oval. At that time, it was the highest crowd for a stand-alone women’s sporting event in Australia.
15. BUDDY’S TON PLUS PLENTY MORE
In the almost 130 years of VFL-AFL football, two players have never reached a century of goals in the same match. But it almost came to fruition on a bizarre, memorable night at Docklands in 2008’s final round. Buddy Franklin needed two; Brendan Fevola needed eight. Franklin got there early as a flood of the 49,000-plus fans ran onto the ground to celebrate the three-figure feat, unfazed by the threat of a $6000 fine. Fevola needed eight, but started slowly before kicking four third-term goals. He kicked his 99th goal with 137 seconds left, by which time Hawks coach Clarkson sent Jarryd Roughead to help deprive the Blues forward. “In those days I was a bit keen for Mad Monday and I was just worried about going out to drink froths with the boys,” Fevola recalled. “I was standing outside Eve nightclub (at 2am) and one of the boys said: ‘You could’ve kicked 100 tonight’, and it just hit me. I said, ‘I really could have’. And then I said, ‘Oh well, let’s go and get another drink’.” Franklin’s other big moments included his superb match-winning goal - his seventh - in the 2007 elimination final, his epic 13 goals against North Melbourne in 2012, and his many maulings of Essendon, including his goal of the year streak away from Cale Hooker.
16. MALCESKI SEALS IT
Hawthorn dominated the 2012 grand final outset, with four goals to one, but Sydney fought their way back with a six-goal second term. It was a high-octane game highlighted by a sprint down the wing from Lewis Jetta with Cyril Rioli chasing. The Swans led by four points with 40 seconds remaining before a snapshot from Nick Malceski sealed the flag. His celebration was almost as good as the goal itself. But that game did one thing for the Hawks - it provided the inspiration for the club’s threepeat - 2013-2015 - that followed.
17. DONS’ EXTRAORDINARY COMEBACK
When Shannon Grant kicked yet another North Melbourne goal at the 10-minute-mark of the second term of the Round 16, 2001 clash with Essendon, the game seemed done and dusted. The Kangaroos led by 69 points; the reigning premiers looked gone. But in one of the matches of the new millennium, Essendon turned in a Lazarus-like performance with the biggest comeback in AFL history. It produced a miracle 12-point win — an 81-point turnaround from Grant’s goal. Matthew Lloyd booted nine goals. The Bombers kicked two in the first term, 10 in the second, seven in the third and came home with eight in the final quarter. The scoreline: Essendon 27.9 (171) to North’s 25.9 (159).
18. ‘MIRACLE ON GRASS’
Geelong looked set to consolidate its spot in second spot as it led Brisbane by 52 points at the 21-minute-mark of the third term. Then something happened. Two goals late in the third term cut the margin to 38 at three-quarter-time. In one of the game’s biggest turnarounds, the Lions kicked seven goals to one in the last term yet still trailed by only a point at the 30-minute-mark of the last quarter. With less than 20 seconds left in the game, the ball was in Dayne Zorko’s hands in the middle of the ground. His kick went to the leading Ash McGrath - who was playing his 200th game - and his shot from 50m after the siren would determine the result. He nailed it, as did commentator Anthony Hudson who dubbed it “the miracle on grass … anything’s possible after this.”
19. CAREY V THE KANGAROOS
It was one of footy’s most awkward on-field moments when Wayne Carey squared off against his old side North Melbourne, and more personally, against former teammates Anthony Stevens and Glenn Archer in 2003. A year earlier Carey had quit North Melbourne after his affair with Stevens’ wife Kelli, became public. He stood out of football in 2002, but returned for Adelaide the following year. There was almost a sense of unease among the supporters who attended Docklands that night. Archer said years later that he asked Stevens half an hour before the game: “Are we playing or are we fighting?’ Channel 9’s Eddie McGuire said in the pre-game: “This isn’t a Don King promotion … this is an absolute battle between a team where hearts were broken last year.” Tempers frayed at stages of the game as Stevens and Archer tangled with Carey on occasions. It was an awkward watch.
20. ‘IF IT BLEEDS’, THE GAME THAT LAUNCHED A DYNASTY
In the lead-up to the Lions’ round 10 clash with an almost unbeatable Essendon, Leigh Matthews stole a line from Arnold Schwarzenegger from the 1987 film, Predator. He said: “If it bleeds we can kill it. And we reckon Essendon can bleed.” It worked as the Lions won that Gabba game by 28 points. It was the start of a 16-game winning streak, which concluded with a stunning 2001 premiership success over the shell-shocked Bombers. But the clinically efficient Lions were only getting warm. They would go on to win a hat-trick from 2001-2003.
21. DEMONS’ DROUGHT-BREAKER
Melbourne’s drought-breaking premiership victory in 2021 was a moment that fans of the team of the red and the blue will never forget. They did it backed by the sentimental sea of support around the country - not just inside a packed Perth Stadium, but from fans in locked-down Melbourne who watched from living rooms. One of those watching from his home in St Kilda was legendary Demon Ron Barassi - the club’s previous flag skipper from 1964. It was a grand new flag after an agonising wait of 20,826 days. This was the Demons’ greatest winning margin in a grand final - a stunning achievement given they were 19-points down after a Marcus Bontempelli goal 12 minutes into the third term. That led to an avalanche of 12 consecutive goals, which saw them win by a staggering 74 points.
22. HIRD EMBRACES FAN AFTER MATCH-WINNING GOAL
James Hird was in the AFL’s sights after his scathing criticism of umpire Scott McLaren on the Wednesday night before Easter in 2004. Hird called AFL boss Andrew Demetriou to apologise on Good Friday, but still faced a massive fine. The following night he was in the spotlight again as he and the Bombers took on West Coast at Docklands. In the dying moments, the scores were tied. With the ball deep in Essendon’s attack, Hird snapped the match-winning goal 31 minutes into the last quarter. He raised his arms and raced towards the boundary where he reached over the fence to hug Essendon fan Drew Wilson. Robert Walls said on Channel 10: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player control a quarter like this.” It was Hird’s 15th disposal of the term, and his 34th for the game.
23. ZAHARAKIS’ ANZAC CLASSIC
Few Essendon-Collingwood games have had as dramatic a conclusion as this Anzac Day clash in 2009. The Bombers trailed by 14 points with less than five minutes remaining. Three goals came almost in the blink of an eye. The last one came from 19-year-old David Zaharakis - in only his fourth game - which wrested the game back for his team with seconds to play. It was Zaharakis’ first career goal - and remained his most important. Jason Winderlich grabbed the ball and gave it off to Heath Hocking who handballed to Nathan Lovett-Murray. He chipped in towards the centre half forward to Zaharakis. Collingwood first gamer Brent Macaffer lunged at Zaharakis, but couldn’t claim him, as he coolly slotted home the match-winning major.
24. DE GOEY’S BULLET GOAL
Collingwood was staring down the barrel of another heartbreaking grand final defeat when Charlie Cameron put the Lions in front almost 19 minutes into the final term in 2023. Nick Daicos was ready to head to the forward line when Scott Pendlebury urged him to be a part of what was to come next. At the centre bounce, Daicos gave a little handball to Pendlebury who floated a ball towards centre half forward. Brody Mihocek was spoiled from behind with the ball flying back towards Daicos. Barely looking at who was near him, but realising it was De Goey, he handball over the top to him, and De Goey launched the kick from 55m to kick the goal that put the Magpies eight points clear. Someone close to it said his contact with the ball sounded like a bullet. Two more goals would come - one to each side - but this was the moment of one of the best grand finals of the modern era.
25. HUNT SINKS THE TIGERS
Cross coder Karmichael Hunt’s AFL venture was a multimillion-dollar failure in on field impact, even if he helped briefly to sell the game up north. But he did provide one of the biggest moments in Gold Coast’s chequered history, kicking a goal after the siren to sink the Richmond Football Club. In a seesawing contest, the Suns fell 18 points down in the final term, before kicking three goals in time-on. The Suns surged forward from the last centre bounce, where Brandon Matera hit Hunt 25m out with a beautiful pass with two seconds left. He nailed the kick as his teammates leapt on him, while the Tigers felt more heartache.
Originally published as AFL 25: Glenn McFarlane names the biggest AFL moments of the century so far
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