The 2005 AFL season was the 109th season of the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL), the highest level senior

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixteen clubs, ran from 24 March until 24 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs. The premiership was won by the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

for the fourth time, after they defeated by four points in the

AFL Grand Final The AFL Grand Final is an Australian rules football match to determine the premiers for the Australian Football League (AFL) season. Prior to 1990 it was known as the VFL Grand Final, as the league was then known as the Victorian Football Leag ...

. It was the club's first premiership since it won the

1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...

premiership as

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at the 2021 ...

, and ended a 72-year premiership drought which stands as the longest in league history.

Wizard Home Loans Cup

defeated 1.14.18 (111) to 1.11.9 (84) in the Grand Final.

Premiership season

Round 1 (Easter and season launch)

Round 2

Round 3 (Rivalry Round)

Round 4

Round 5 (ANZAC Day)

Round 6

Round 7 (Mother's Day)

Round 8

Round 9 (Community Weekend)

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12 (Queen's Birthday)

Round 13 (Split Round)

Round 14 (Family Round)

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20 (Heritage Round)

Round 21

Round 22

Ladder

Ladder progression

Finals series

Week one

Week two

Week three

Week four

Awards

* The

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...

was awarded to Ben Cousins of . Ben Cousins received 20 votes to beat fellow West Coast midfielder Daniel Kerr. * The

Leigh Matthews Trophy The Leigh Matthews Trophy is an annual award given by the AFL Players Association to the Most Valuable Player in the Australian Football League. It is named in honour of Leigh Matthews, who won the first MVP award in 1982, when the league was s ...

was awarded to Ben Cousins of . * The

Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most Laws of Australian rules football#Scoring, goals in the Australian Football League#Premiership season, home- ...

was awarded to Fraser Gehrig of . * The

Norm Smith Medal The Norm Smith Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best on ground in the grand final of the Australian Football League (AFL). Prior to 1990, the competition was known as the Victorian Footbal ...

was awarded to Chris Judd of . * The

AFL Rising Star award The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 AFL Rising Star, 1993 season, and ...

was awarded to Brett Deledio of . * The

Wooden Spoon A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture. History The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...

was "awarded" to for coming last. They became the first team in AFL history to win the pre-season competition and then finish last in the season proper.

Player moves

* 30 players retired from the game, including Matthew Primus, Nick Holland, Martin Pike, Wayne Campbell, Justin Murphy, Brenton Sanderson, Austinn Jones, Angelo Lekkas, Phil Matera, Jason Ball and Stuart Maxfield. Shane Woewodin, a

list, was delisted.

Post-season matches

* Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy coached the Australians to a 2–0 victory in the 2005 International Rules Series against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Andrew McLeod won the Jim Stynes Medal. *

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

defeated by 17 points in an exhibition match played in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. *

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and the Kangaroos played an exhibition match in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, with the Kangaroos winning by 48 points.

Notable events

Three players celebrated 200th game milestones against eventual premiers the

during the regular season: * Fraser Gehrig (), round 10 * Jeff White (), round 16 * Scott Lucas (), round 19 Additionally, Michael Voss () played his 250th AFL game and Mal Michael his 100th club game for the Lions, both also against the Swans, in round 3. The Swans won the premiership despite being ranked 14th in scoring during the regular season, their 1,974 points scored for being 42 points less than wooden-spooners Carlton which scored 2,016 points from their twenty-two matches.

References

2005 Season – AFL Tables
{{Australian Football League

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

AFL season