The 1996

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

(SANFL)

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

saw the

Port Adelaide Magpies Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where it is nicknamed the ...

defeat the

Central District Bulldogs Central District Football Club is an Australian rules football club that plays in the South Australian National Football League. Based in Elizabeth in the City of Playford, about 25 km north of Adelaide, the club's development zones include th ...

by 36 points. The match was played on Sunday 6 October 1996 at

Football Park Football Park, known commercially as AAMI Stadium, was an Australian rules football stadium located in West Lakes, a western suburb of Adelaide, the state capital of South Australia, Australia. It was built in 1973 by the South Australian N ...

in front of a crowd of 46,120. '' The Advertiser'' newspaper 7 October 1996, pages 19, 20, 30 As of the 2020 SANFL Grand Final, this is the highest attendance for an SANFL Grand Final since the first year of the

Adelaide Crows The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia that was founded in 1990. The Crows have fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 199 ...

in the

AFL AFL may refer to: Education * Angel Foundation for Learning, a Canadian Roman Catholic charity * Ankara Science High School, a high school in Ankara, Turkey, natively referred to as ''Ankara Fen Liesi'' * Assessment for learning Military * ...

(1991). This was Port Adelaide's 34th premiership, third premiership in a row, and seventh in nine years. Port would also go on to win in 1998 and 1999. Port had also beaten Central District in the 1995 Grand Final. Thirteen Port players from the 1995 grand final also played in the 1996 grand final. For Central District, 12 players played in both. Central District entered the Grand Final as favourite to win as they were minor premiers (first on the ladder prior to the finals) and had beaten Port on all four occasions that the teams had met in 1996 prior to the grand final.

Match Summary

Jack Oatey Medal

The

Jack Oatey Medal The Jack Oatey Medal is awarded to the best player during the SANFL Grand Final. It has been awarded since 1981. In 2018, Mitch Grigg of Norwood became the first player to win the Jack Oatey Medal on a losing team, after his team were defeated ...

for best player in the Grand Final was awarded to David Brown of Port Adelaide. However,

The Advertiser (Adelaide) ''The Advertiser'' is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format newspaper based in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. First published as a broadsheet named ''The South Australian Advertiser'' on 12 July 1858,

newspaper judged

Fabian Francis Fabian Francis (born 24 October 1973) is a former Australian rules football, rugby league footballer, most notable for his professional career with the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League. Early life Born in Darwin in ...

as the best player on the ground.

Teams

Port Adelaide was captained by

Tim Ginever Timothy Ginever (born 13 April 1966) is a former Australian rules footballer in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), playing for Port Adelaide. Early life Tim Ginever is the seventh of 10 children and says that Australian F ...

and coached by Stephen Williams. Williams assumed the role mid-season following John Cahill's departure, who left to prepare for the

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

AFL team's entry. Central District was captained by Roger Girdham and coached by Steve Wright.

Umpires

The game was umpired by Richard Williams, Michael Avon, and Troy Burton.

Scorecard

Port Adelaide entrance into the AFL

1996 marked the end of an era for Port Adelaide being their last year their senior most team played in the

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

, as the

Port Adelaide Football Club Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where it is nicknamed the ...

started fielding a side the

from 1997 onwards. The Power's inaugural squad included eight players from the 1996 Port Adelaide SANFL premiership team, including

Warren Tredrea Warren Gary Tredrea (born 24 December 1978) is a former Australian Rules Footballer with the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and former Weekday Sports Presenter on ''Nine News Adelaide''. Since his retireme ...

Scott Hodges Scott Lyall Hodges (born 26 April 1968) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and the Port Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian National ...

, Michael Wilson,

, Stephen Carter,

Darren Mead Darren Mead (born 29 March 1971) is a former Australian rules footballer with the Port Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and Australian Football League (AFL). Football career After being a strong p ...

, David Brown and Nigel Fiegert. Fellow Magpies Darryl Poole (who missed the Grand Final via suspension), Peter Burgoyne, Tom Carr, Paul Evans and Jason Dylan (rookie list) would round out the homegrown picks. They would be joined by former Magpies returning from other AFL clubs including inaugural captain Gavin Wanganeen, Brayden Lyle and Shane Bond. Central District would supply the Power with two players from their defeated Grand Final team, Jarrod Cotton and Mark Conway, and juniors Stuart Dew and Nathan Steinberner.

External links

Port Adelaide Magpies Official Website

Central District Football Club Official Website

SANFL Official Website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1996 Sanfl Grand Final South Australian National Football League Grand Finals Sanfl Grand Final, 1996