1998 AFL season

For the 1998 season of the Arena Football League, see 1998 Arena Football League season.

1998 AFL premiership season
Teams	16
Premiers	Adelaide 2nd premiership
Minor premiers	North Melbourne 4th minor premiership
Pre-season cup	North Melbourne 2nd pre-season cup win
Brownlow Medallist	Robert Harvey (St Kilda)
Leading goalkicker	Tony Lockett (Sydney)
Attendance
Matches played	185
Total attendance	6,691,897 (36,172 per match)
Highest	94,431 (Grand Final, Adelaide vs. North Melbourne)

The 1998 AFL season was the 102nd season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixteen clubs, ran from 27 March until 26 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 Adelaide Football Club for the second time and second time consecutively, after it defeated North Melbourne by 35 points in the 1998 AFL Grand Final.

AFL draft

See 1998 AFL Draft.

Ansett Australia Cup

Main article: 1998 Ansett Australia Cup

North Melbourne defeated St Kilda 14.13 (97) to 12.11 (83) in the final.

Ladder

(P)	Premiers
	Qualified for finals

#	Team	P	W	L	D	PF	PA	%	Pts
1	North Melbourne	22	16	6	0	2486	2117	117.4	64
2	Western Bulldogs	22	15	7	0	2353	2019	116.5	60
3	Sydney	22	14	8	0	2283	2143	106.5	56
4	Melbourne	22	14	8	0	2009	1956	102.7	56
5	Adelaide (P)	22	13	9	0	2172	1763	123.2	52
6	St Kilda	22	13	9	0	2148	2104	102.1	52
7	West Coast	22	12	10	0	1940	1773	109.4	48
8	Essendon	22	12	10	0	2250	2071	108.6	48
9	Richmond	22	12	10	0	2018	1926	104.8	48
10	Port Adelaide	22	9	12	1	1928	2017	95.6	38
11	Carlton	22	9	13	0	2018	2109	95.7	36
12	Geelong	22	9	13	0	1777	1963	90.5	36
13	Hawthorn	22	8	14	0	1992	2083	95.6	32
14	Collingwood	22	7	15	0	1968	2167	90.8	28
15	Fremantle	22	7	15	0	1739	2277	76.4	28
16	Brisbane Lions	22	5	16	1	1860	2453	75.8	22

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 93.6
Source: AFL Tables

Progression by round

  Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 8.

  Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.

  Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round.

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
North Melbourne	4	4	8	12	12	16	16	20	24	24	28	28	28	32	36	40	44	48	52	56	60	64
Western Bulldogs	4	8	12	16	16	20	24	28	32	32	36	40	40	40	44	48	48	52	52	56	60	60
Sydney	4	8	12	16	20	20	24	24	28	28	28	28	32	32	36	40	44	48	52	52	52	56
Melbourne	0	4	8	12	16	20	20	24	24	24	28	28	28	32	32	36	36	40	44	48	52	56
Adelaide	0	4	4	4	8	8	12	12	16	20	20	24	28	32	36	36	36	40	44	48	48	52
St Kilda	4	4	8	12	16	20	20	24	24	28	32	36	40	44	44	48	48	48	48	48	52	52
West Coast	0	4	8	8	8	8	8	12	16	20	24	28	30	32	32	36	36	40	44	48	48	48
Essendon	0	4	8	8	8	8	8	12	16	20	24	24	24	24	28	32	36	40	44	48	48	48
Richmond	4	4	8	8	12	12	16	20	20	24	24	28	28	32	36	36	40	40	44	44	48	48
Port Adelaide	0	4	4	8	8	12	16	16	20	20	20	22	26	30	30	30	34	34	34	34	38	38
Carlton	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	8	8	12	12	16	16	20	24	24	24	28	32	36
Geelong	0	4	4	4	4	8	12	16	20	24	24	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	32	32	32	36
Hawthorn	0	0	0	0	4	4	8	8	8	8	8	8	12	12	12	12	12	16	20	24	28	32
Collingwood	4	4	4	8	12	16	16	16	16	20	20	20	20	20	24	28	28	28	28	28	28	28
Fremantle	4	4	4	8	12	12	12	12	16	16	20	20	24	24	24	24	28	28	28	28	28	28
Brisbane Lions	0	0	0	0	0	4	8	8	8	8	8	10	14	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	22

Source:

Finals series

Main article: 1998 AFL finals series

Grand final

Main article: 1998 AFL Grand Final

Attendance

Team	Hosted	Average	Highest	Lowest	Total	Last Season	+/-
Essendon	11	54,894	83,773	26,241	603,830	52,848	+ 2046
Collingwood	11	49,399	81,542	23,188	543,391	48,708	+ 691
Richmond	11	44,307	70,200	25,723	487,377	34,515	+ 9792
Adelaide	11	41,245	46,850	38,430	453,696	40,173	+ 1072
Melbourne	11	40,085	76,387	16,518	440,931	27,714	+ 12,371
St Kilda	11	36,231	71,488	20,063	398,543	35,232	+ 999
North Melbourne	11	35,791	68,050	11,321	393,703	32,520	+ 3271
West Coast Eagles	11	34,199	37,920	27,059	376,194	32,582	+ 1617
Carlton	11	32,634	69,963	16,058	358,971	33,634	- 1000
Hawthorn	11	32,173	41,780	18,698	353,902	32,380	- 207
Port Adelaide	11	31,799	41,476	28,167	349,794	35,829	- 4030
Sydney	11	31,549	36,505	25,951	347,034	35,818	- 4269
Geelong	11	28,371	61,089	19,449	312,078	28,324	+ 47
Western Bulldogs	11	23,832	36,428	16,131	262,153	19,335	+ 4497
Fremantle	11	23,104	34,710	17,452	254,143	21,982	+ 1122
Brisbane Lions	11	16,675	19,509	14,738	183,424	19,550	- 2875
Totals	176	34,768	83,773	11,321	6,119,164	33,197	+ 1571

Venue	Hosted	Average	Highest	Lowest	Total	Last Season	+/-
MCG	55	47,585	83,773	16,518	2617,182	43,488	+ 4097
Football Park	22	36,522	46,850	28,167	803,490	38,001	- 1479
Waverley Park	26	34,549	71,488	18,698	898,269	33,806	+ 743
SCG	11	31,549	36,505	25,951	347,034	35,818	- 4269
Subiaco Oval	16	29,800	37,920	17,452	476,798	28,371	+ 1429
WACA	6	25,590	28,193	22,037	153,539	23,578	+ 2012
Kardinia Park	9	23,307	26,879	19,449	209,767	21,269	+ 2038
Victoria Park	2	23,241	23,293	23,188	46,481	24,473	- 1233
Optus Oval	17	21,874	27,659	16,058	371,859	20,781	+ 1093
Gabba	11	16,675	19,509	14,738	183,424	19,550	- 2875
Manuka Oval	1	11,321	11,321	11,321	11,321	N/A	N/A
Totals	176	34,768	83,773	11,321	6,119,164	33,197	- 1571

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Robert Harvey of St Kilda
• The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Wayne Carey of North Melbourne
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Tony Lockett of Sydney
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Andrew McLeod of Adelaide
• The AFL Rising Star award was awarded to Byron Pickett of North Melbourne
• The Wooden Spoon was "awarded" to Brisbane Lions

Notes

• Adelaide became the first club since the introduction of the final five in 1972 to win the premiership from outside the top four, despite losing their first final heavily against Melbourne.
• Sydney's 101-point loss to St Kilda in round 10 was, until round 21, 2024, the last time that the club had lost a premiership match by 100 points or more. The Swans enjoyed a 26-year run without a triple-figure margin loss in the intervention.

Sources

• 1998 AFL season at AFL Tables
• 1998 AFL season at Australian Football