2008 VFL season

The 2008 Victorian Football League (VFL) was a semi-professional Australian Rules Football competition featuring thirteen teams from Victoria and one team from Tasmania.

2008 VFL
Teams14
PremiersNorth Ballarat
(1st premiership)
Minor premiersPort Melbourne
(18th minor premiership)
Matches played149
Leading goalkickerNick Sautner (Sandringham)

It was the 127th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the North Ballarat Football Club, who defeated Port Melbourne by 45 points in the Grand Final on 26 September. It was the first VFL premiership in North Ballarat's history.

League membership and affiliations

Prior to the 2008 season, there were several changes to the VFL-AFL reserves affiliations:[1]

  • Collingwood ended its seven-year affiliation with Williamstown, and began fielding its own reserves team in the VFL, having previously done so in the 2000 season.
  • Western Bulldogs ended its eight-year affiliation with Werribee, and entered a new affiliation with Williamstown.
  • North Melbourne ended its two-year partial affiliation with Tasmania. Unlike many other VFL/AFL affiliations, which had strengthed their VFL clubs, the North Melbourne–Tasmania alignment had been very unpopular amongst Tasmanian fans, and significantly harmed the club's standing within the state.[2] Tasmania continued to contest the VFL as a stand-alone senior club, and North Melbourne and entered a new partial affiliation with Werribee. North Melbourne's other partial affiliation with North Ballarat was unchanged.

As a result, the size of the VFL increased to fourteen teams: nine VFL-AFL affiliations, two AFL reserves teams and three stand-alone VFL clubs.

VFL-AFL alignments
Bendigo Bombers Essendon
Box Hill Hawks Hawthorn
Casey Scorpions Melbourne
Coburg Tigers Richmond
Collingwood Collingwood
Frankston
Geelong Geelong
North Ballarat North Melbourne
Northern Bullants Carlton
Port Melbourne
Sandringham St Kilda
Tasmania
Werribee North Melbourne
Williamstown Western Bulldogs

VFL season
Home \ Away BEN BOX CAS COB COL FRA GEE NBR NBU PMB SAN TAS WER WIL
Bendigo Bombers 92–133 83–80 117–69 99–112 98–66 119–90 90–127
Box Hill Hawks 84–119 94–61 70–122 86–112 90–104 92–140 76–164 85–88 90–82
Casey Scorpions 80–51 122–89 71–28 110–72 117–78 164–46 91–59 137–97
Coburg Tigers 145–94 79–67 98–151 121–68 178–103 91–92 58–133
Collingwood reserves 136–46 98–105 67–123 46–125 42–117 87–74 68–102
Frankston Dolphins 120–63 62–69 92–71 83–100 97–81 92–66 161–95 148–52
Geelong reserves 131–81 51–85 77–78 52–84 100–111 96–68 140–87 112–80
North Ballarat Roosters 112–60 126–56 96–57 129–93 117–86 86–70 115–66 123–94 115–68
Northern Bullants 56–92 107–104 128–77 105–63 52–103 91–87 84–74 87–103 69–115
Port Melbourne Borough 150–65 106–76 155–107 109–51 108–87 109–108 168–108
Sandringham Zebras 159–89 119–82 79–49 90–102 105–60 75–142 163–76 105–119
Tasmanian Devils 111–92 101–95 125–101 86–91 112–115 51–203 56–121 49–200
Werribee Tigers 115–95 131–90 66–103 126–71 108–103 114–93 115–100 93–87 73–129
Williamstown Seagulls 153–90 111–95 92–110 162–94 121–107 123–106 151–114 130–66
Updated to match(es) played on Round 16. Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Ladder
2008 VFL Ladder
Pos Team Pld W L D PF PA PP Pts
1 Port Melbourne 16 13 3 0 1788 1274 140.3 52 Finals
2 North Ballarat (P) 16 13 3 0 1983 1463 135.5 52
3 Williamstown 16 12 4 0 1892 1436 131.8 48
4 Werribee 16 10 6 0 1672 1382 121.0 40
5 Casey Scorpions 16 9 7 0 1588 1683 94.4 36
6 Coburg 16 8 8 0 1568 1445 108.5 32
7 Frankston 16 8 8 0 1624 1538 105.6 32
8 Northern Bullants 16 8 8 0 1351 1510 89.5 32
9 Sandringham 16 7 9 0 1739 1446 120.3 28
10 Geelong reserves 16 6 10 0 1516 1699 89.2 24
11 Bendigo 16 5 11 0 1380 1778 77.6 20
12 Collingwood reserves 16 5 11 0 1221 1625 75.1 20
13 Box Hill 16 4 12 0 1311 1721 76.2 16
14 Tasmania 16 4 12 0 1345 1978 68.0 16
Source:
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers.

Finals series
  Qualifying / Elimination finals Semi-finals Preliminary finals Grand final
                                   
  QF1: September 7, TEAC Oval  
1  Port Melbourne 20.10 (130)  
4  Werribee 6.20 (56)     SF1: September 13, TEAC Oval  
     Williamstown 13.14 (92)    
EF1: September 6, Casey Fields      Frankston 12.19 (91)       PF1: September 20, TEAC Oval
5  Casey Scorpions 13.10 (88)        Port Melbourne 16.21 (117)  
8  Northern Bullants 12.11 (83)          Williamstown 13.18 (96)     GF: September 26, Telstra Dome
         North Ballarat 18.12 (120)
  EF2: September 6, TEAC Oval       PF2: September 21, TEAC Oval      Port Melbourne 11.9 (75)
6  Coburg 14.11 (95)          North Ballarat 13.14 (92)  
7  Frankston 14.17 (101)     SF2: September 14, TEAC Oval        Werribee 11.14 (80)  
     Werribee 19.16 (130)    
QF2: September 7, AUSTAR Arena      Casey Scorpions 9.7 (61)    
2  North Ballarat 15.16 (106)  
3  Williamstown 12.14 (86)  

Season Awards

Best and Fairest

The VFL Best and Fairest is awarded the J. J. Liston Trophy.

Rank Player Team Votes
1 James Podsiadly Werribee 16
=2 Peter Summers Sandringham 15
=2 Brett Johnson Williamstown 15
=4 Greg Tivendale Coburg 14
=4 Brett Goodes North Ballarat 14
=4 Paul Kennedy Frankston 14

Leading Goalkickers

The VFL Leading Goalkicker at the end of the regular season is awarded the Jim 'Frosty' Miller Medal. The 2008 winner was Nick Sautner of the Sandringham Zebras.[3]

Rank Player Team No. Games Total Goals
1 Nick Sautner Sandringham 16 74
2 James Podsiadly Werribee 20 73
3 Justin Berry Frankston 20 50
4 Adrian Bonaddio Port Melbourne 20 49
=5 Patrick Rose Williamstown Seagulls 20 48
=5 Robin Nahas Port Melbourne 20 48

Other

Notable events
  • The timing of the Grand Final was shifted to the Friday night immediately before the AFL Grand Final, after many years of having been played on the preceding Sunday, and also moved to a new venue at Telstra Dome. This shift in timing lasted only two seasons, before the game reverted to the Sunday before the AFL Grand Final.
  • Starting from this season, the TAC Cup Under 18s Grand Final was played as a curtain-raiser to the VFL Grand Final. The VFL Reserves Grand Final was shifted to the previous week, and was thereafter played as a curtain-raiser to one of the senior preliminary finals.

See also

References
  1. "History of the VFL 1877 - 2013". Fox Sports Pulse. 29 October 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  2. Brett Stubbs (15 April 2014). "Dominic Baker reveals changing times in Tasmanian football". The Mercury. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  3. Sautner Climbs Mountain Again
  4. "Fothergill-Round Medallists". Sportingpulse. 29 October 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  5. "Sport". Herald Sun. Melbourne, VIC. 22 September 2008. p. 68.
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