2005 AFL season

Wizard Home Loans Cup

Main article: 2005 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)

• David Neitz of the Melbourne Demons played his 250th game.
• Barry Hall kicked a goal after the siren to defeat the Brisbane Lions. He became the first of two players to do it twice and at two different clubs.

Round 4

Round 5 (ANZAC Day)

• At the end of this round, the Brisbane Lions, triple-premiers between 2001–03 and grand finalists in 2004, dropped to the bottom of the ladder.

Round 6

Round 7 (Mother's Day)

• 's 112-point win is its biggest against .
  • Fremantle's score of 180 is also the highest score in the clubs history as of 2025.

Round 8

Round 9 (Community Weekend)

• Carlton played its last match at Princes Park (known at the time as Optus Oval), its home ground since 1897. The venue was the last suburban ground in use in Melbourne.
• West Coast suffered its first loss for the season, against Collingwood (who was on the bottom of the ladder at the time).
• At the end of this round, the AFL's three most successful clubs, , and occupied the bottom three places on the AFL ladder.

Round 10

• Fraser Gehrig of St Kilda played his 200th game.
• AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou, Network 10 television commentators Stephen Quartermain and Tim Lane, and former Carlton great Robert Walls, all famously criticised eventual premiers the Sydney Swans' style of play in its loss against St Kilda, stating it could not win a premiership under Paul Roos' coaching. This was the second last match played by future coach Matthew Nicks, who retired before the end of the season. It proves to be a major turning point in the Swans' season as they would only lose three more matches for the season, all by seven points or less, on its way to its first AFL premiership in 72 years.
• recorded its biggest victory over , winning by 117 points.

Round 11

Round 12 (Queen's Birthday)

Round 13 (Split Round)

• Port Adelaide recorded its biggest ever win over Hawthorn.
• The Brisbane Lions recorded their biggest ever win over Geelong.
• Matthew Lloyd of played his 200th game.

Round 14 (Family Round)

Round 15===

• The inaugural Dreamtime at the 'G was played between and .
• was held goalless in the first half for the first time since Round 22, 1981.

Round 16

• Ben Cousins of played his 200th AFL game.

Round 17===

Round 18

Round 19

• Scott Lucas of played his 200th AFL game.

Round 20 (Heritage Round)

• defeated at Skilled Stadium (Kardinia Park) for the first time since 1988.

Round 21

Round 22

• The match between and saw the two teams play off for the minor premiership, with the Crows winning the game and finishing on top of the ladder on percentage ahead of the Eagles.

Ladder

Ladder progression

Finals series

Main article: 2005 AFL finals series

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Week one

Week two

Week three

Week four

Jolly, Schneider, O'Loughlin, Kennelly, Goodes, Buchanan 1 1 Nicoski, Cox, Embley, Hansen, Cousins

• Sydney won their fourth Premiership – their first in Sydney, their first in the AFL era and their first since they won the VFL as South Melbourne in 1933.
• Tadhg Kennelly became the first Irishman to become an AFL Premiership player. He later also became the first man to be both an AFL Premiership player and an All-Ireland senior (Gaelic) football champion in 2009 with his native Kerry.
• Chris Judd became the fourth player to win the Norm Smith Medal despite being on the grand final losing team, joining Maurice Rioli (Richmond 1982), Gary Ablett Sr. (Geelong 1989) and Nathan Buckley (Collingwood 2002).

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Ben Cousins of . Ben Cousins received 20 votes to beat fellow West Coast midfielder Daniel Kerr.
• The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Ben Cousins of .
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Fraser Gehrig of .
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Chris Judd of .
• The AFL Rising Star award was awarded to Brett Deledio of .
• The Wooden Spoon 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 Brownlow Medallist, 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. Andrew McLeod won the Jim Stynes Medal.
• Fremantle defeated by 17 points in an exhibition match played in London.
• Sydney and the Kangaroos played an exhibition match in the United States at UCLA, with the Kangaroos winning by 48 points.

Notable events

Three players celebrated 200th game milestones against eventual premiers the Sydney Swans 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, and 15th in total possessions.

References

• 2005 Season – AFL Tables

References

1. Berry, Damien. (10 April 2017). "End of an era: A look back at the Brisbane Lions 2005 season". The Drop Punt News.
2. https://afltables.com/afl/teams/fremantle/gamer.html
3. (30 May 2005). "Ugly Swans' flag hopes at half-mast". [[Sydney Morning Herald]].
4. (3 June 2005). "A new face after Roos loses faith". [[Sydney Morning Herald]].
5. (12 September 2005). "Ugly ducklings to make up for the sin of St Kilda". [[Sydney Morning Herald]].
6. O'Shea, Joe. (27 August 2005). "Saints inflict record loss on Lions". ABC News ([[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]).
7. "AFL Tables – 2005 Brownlow Medal".
8. "2005 Trading Places".
9. [http://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-05-28/gehrig-runs-riot-in-200th-match/1581480 Gehrig runs riot in 200th match] {{webarchive. link. (26 November 2014 , ''ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)'', 28 May 2005)
10. [http://www.smh.com.au/news/afl/swans-ride-high/2005/07/16/1121455939936.html Hall bags seven as Swans ride high] {{webarchive. link. (24 September 2015 , ''Sydney Morning Herald'', 17 July 2005)
11. [http://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-08-04/no-end-in-sight-as-lucas-aims-up-for-game-200/2074202 No end in sight as Lucas aims up for game 200] {{webarchive. link. (26 November 2014 , ''ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)'', 4 August 2005)
12. [http://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-04-08/cousins-named-for-derby-clash/1548682 Cousins named for Derby clash] {{webarchive. link. (26 November 2014 , ''ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)'', 8 April 2005)
13. (20 March 2021). "In the 1980 H&A season GEEL scored 2,362 points and won the minor premiership FITZ scored 2,398 points and won the wooden spoon @AFL".
14. Windley, Matt. (18 April 2013). "Swans changed game to win pretty in 2012, Jude Bolton says". news.com.au.