1928 VFL grand final

The 1928 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Collingwood Football Club and Richmond Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 29 September 1928. It was the 32nd annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1928 VFL season. The match, attended by 50,026 spectators, was won by Collingwood by a margin of 33 points, marking that club's seventh premiership victory and second in succession.

Background

Despite winning the 1927 flag, the 1928 season held significant hurdles for the Magpies to overcome – contentious pay cuts, a threatened player’s strike, allegations of bribery against two team members and a long injury list contributed to a late-season slump. Still, they managed to top the ladder by the end of the season, winning 15 of 18 home-and-away games.

In contrast, Richmond was in excellent shape at the end of the home-and-away season. Armed with a swift midfield, they had beaten Carlton by 53 points in the First Semi-Final, and, after the Melbourne v Collingwood Second Semi-Final was drawn and had to be replayed, the Tigers had a 3 week break before the Grand Final. They went into the Grand Final as strong favorites.

Match summary

Collingwood saw Richmond as a skillful, confident team, but also vulnerable to being distracted as well. They set out to taunt the Tigers with name-calling and other verbal challenges while maintaining the ball as their first objective.

The first quarter was a scramble, and the defenses of both sides held. Collingwood used all six of their followers in the ruck for the first half, saving Percy Rowe for the second half. A blistering 10 minutes in the 2nd quarter saw Collingwood seize control of the match to lead by 21 points at half time, with Gordon “Nuts” Coventry kicking 4 goals for the quarter. Rowe repeatedly absorbed the pressure from Richmond’s backs to provide protection for Coventry run to the ball. Despite the Tigers reducing their opponent’s lead to 16 points at 3-quarter time, the Magpies banged on 2 quick goals early in the final quarter to effectively seal the game. Collingwood won by 33 points, and Coventry finished with 9 goals, a Grand Final record that stood for 61 years, until equaled by Gary Ablett in the 1989 VFL Grand Final.

Match statistics

	1st	2nd	3rd	Final
Collingwood	3.3	8.5	9.8	12.13 (85)
Richmond	1.3	3.4	6.8	8.11 (59)

Best	Collingwood	G Coventry, H Collier, S Coventry, Rowe, A Collier, F Murphy, Rumney, Libbis
	Richmond	O’Halloran, Murdoch, Watson, B McCormack, Harris, Lilburne, Fincher
Goals	Collingwood	G Coventry (8), L Murphy (2), Harris, Makeham
	Richmond	Weidner (2), Titus (2), O’Halloran (2), Emprey, , Goding

• Umpire - Jack McMurray
• Attendance - 53,769*
• Gate - ₤2,533

Teams

Collingwood
B:	Harold Rumney	Charlie Dibbs	Albert Lauder
HB:	Albert Collier	George Clayden	Bob Makeham
C:	Norm MacLeod	Jack Beveridge	Bruce Andrew
HF:	John Harris	Frank Murphy	Harry Chesswas
F:	Percy Rowe	Gordon Coventry	Harry Collier
Foll:	Syd Coventry (c)	Len Murphy	Billy Libbis
Res:
Coach:	Jock McHale

Richmond
B:	Don Harris	Donald Don (c)	Jack Bisset
HB:	Joe Murdoch	Bert Foster	Basil McCormackk
C:	Stan Judkins	Les Gallagher	Carl Watson
HF:	Harry Weidner	George Rudolph	Jack Baggott
F:	Ralph Empey	Jack Titus	Fred Goding
Foll:	Thomas O'Halloran	Cyril Lilburne	Jack Fincher
Res:
Coach:	Checker Hughes

See also

• 1928 VFL season

References

• Atkinson, Graeme: The Complete Book of AFL Finals, 1996. ISBN 1-875971-47-5
• McFarlane, Glenn and Roberts, Michael: The Machine - The Inside Story of Football's Greatest Team, 2005. ISBN 0-9586412-3-4