2011 VFL season

Teams

The league contracted from fourteen teams to thirteen, after the Gold Coast Football Club left and entered the Australian Football League. The fledgling Gold Coast club had used the 2009 TAC Cup season and the 2010 VFL season as preparation for joining the AFL. There was originally speculation that the Greater Western Sydney Giants, which had played TAC Cup in 2010 and was set to join the AFL in 2012, may have spent the 2011 season in the VFL under a similar plan, but instead the club opted to play in the North East Australian Football League.

The VFL continued to serve as both the top state-level football league in Victoria, and as a reserves competition for Victorian-based clubs in the Australian Football League, as had been the case since 2000. The affiliation agreements between VFL and AFL clubs were unchanged from 2010.

The top three teams from 2010 – North Ballarat, Northern Bullants and Williamstown – competed in the inaugural Foxtel Cup competition, with Williamstown winning the event.

Port Melbourne dominated the 2011 season, winning twenty-one games in a row to win the premiership undefeated. In the home-and-away season, the Borough finished with a record of 18–0, finishing four games clear atop the ladder; it was the first time a club had finished the home-and-away season undefeated since Geelong West in 1972 Division 2, and the first to do so in the top division since Williamstown in 1957. The Borough maintained its undefeated record through the finals to claim the premiership, replicating the feat of Geelong West's 1972 team, but becoming the first team to achieve the feat in the top division since North Melbourne in 1918.

Ladder

Finals

|team-width = 110 |score-width = 70 |RD1-text1 = Sep 3, TEAC Oval |RD1-team1 = Port Melbourne |RD1-score1 = 24.16 (160) |RD1-team2 = Casey Scorpions |RD1-score2 = 9.9 (63) |RD1-text2 = 3 Sep, Avalon Airport Oval |RD1-team3 = Werribee |RD1-score3 = 13.11 (89) |RD1-team4 = Box Hill Hawks |RD1-score4 = 9.9 (63) |RD1-text4 = 4 Sep, Box Hill City Oval |RD1-team7 = Williamstown |RD1-score7 = 20.14 (134) |RD1-team8 = North Ballarat |RD1-score8 = 10.7 (67) |RD1-text3 = 4 Sep, TEAC Oval |RD1-team5 = Northern Bullants |RD1-score5 = 14.9 (93) |RD1-team6 = Bendigo Bombers |RD1-score6 = 10.5 (65) |RD2-text1 = 10 Sep, TEAC Oval |RD2-team1 = Casey Scorpions |RD2-score1 = 6.15 (51) |RD2-team2 = Werribee |RD2-score2 = 16.17 (113) |RD2-text2 = 11 Sep, TEAC Oval |RD2-team3 = North Ballarat |RD2-score3 = 12.6 (78) |RD2-team4 = Northern Bullants |RD2-score4 = 14.12 (96) |RD3-text2 = 18 Sep, TEAC Oval |RD3-team3 = Williamstown |RD3-score3 = 23.19 (157) |RD3-team4 = Werribee |RD3-score4 = 11.8 (74) |RD3-text1 = 17 Sep, TEAC Oval |RD3-team1 = Port Melbourne |RD3-score1 = 18.19 (127) |RD3-team2 = Northern Bullants |RD3-score2 = 16.9 (105) |RD4-text1 = 25 Sep, Etihad Stadium |RD4-team1 = Port Melbourne |RD4-score1 = 22.12 (144) |RD4-team2 = Williamstown |RD4-score2 = 13.10 (88)

Grand Final

Awards

• The J. J. Liston Trophy was won for the second consecutive year by Shane Valenti (Port Melbourne), who polled 25 votes. Valenti finished ahead of Matthew Bate (Casey Scorpions), who was second with 15 votes, and Ben Jolley (Williamstown), who was third with 13 votes.
• The Frosty Miller Medal was won by Patrick Rose (Port Melbourne), who kicked 67 goals for the season.
• The Fothergill–Round Medal was won by Ahmed Saad (Northern Bullants)
• The top three teams, Port Melbourne, Williamstown and Werribee, qualified for the 2012 Foxtel Cup tournament.
• The reserves premiership was won by Box Hill. Box Hill 18.10 (118) defeated Coburg 7.11 (53) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain-raiser to the seniors first preliminary final on 17 September at TEAC Oval.

References

References

1. Diamond, Brent. (22 Aug 2010). "GWS Likely to Join Northern League". Football Nation.
2. (26 Aug 2011). "This weekend in the VFL". The Marngrook Footy Show.
3. (27 September 2011). "Norm Goss Medal Votes".
4. Diamond, Brett. (13 September 2011). "Valenti seizes second Liston". The Sydney Morning Herald.
5. (12 September 2011). "2011 J.J. Liston and A. Todd Votes".
6. (2 September 2011). "Jim 'Frosty' Miller Medallist – Patrick Rose".
7. (13 Oct 2011). "Saad a Saint". Sportingpulse.
8. "2011 VFL Reserves – Grand Final". Foxsportspulse.
9. (12 September 2011). "2011 VFL Team of the Year".