In the season-opener on Thursday night, Carlton easily defeated Richmond, and Richmond's high-profile recruit Ben Cousins injured his hamstring in the final quarter; he had suffered the same injury in his final match with West Coast in 2007.
The opening match between Richmond and Carlton was the highest attended home-and-away game of the season, with a crowd of 86,972 at the MCG, and had the third-highest attendance of all games including finals.
Michael Voss began his Brisbane Lions coaching career with a win; the Lions beat West Coast by 9 points at the Gabba, after trailing by 38 points during the second quarter. For the eleventh straight year, the Lions won their first home game of the season.
St Kilda defeated Fremantle by 83 points, and restricted them to 4.4 (28), their second-lowest ever score at that time, and the equal-lowest score ever recorded at Docklands Stadium (tied with St Kilda's 3.10 (28) in 2002).
Geelong midfielder Gary Ablett, Jr. recorded 46 disposals with 33 handpasses as his side defeated Adelaide by 48 points. It broke West Coast's Matt Priddis' year-old record for most handpasses in a game, and equalled Collingwood's Nathan Buckley's ten-year-old record for the most disposals in a game since the length of the quarters was shortened to twenty minutes in 1994.
North Melbourne defender Daniel Pratt became the first player to give away a free kick for deliberately rushing a behind, in his side's win against Essendon.
Warren Tredrea kicked 6 goals for the 2nd straight week in Port's win over Hawthorn.
Port Adelaide was restricted to its lowest ever losing score (and its second lowest score of all time) , going down to St Kilda 15.12 (102) to 5.6 (36).
Fremantle also won their first match of the season, defeating Sydney by 21 points, in the process snapping a five-match winless streak against the Swans which had stretched back to 2004.
Geelong defeated Brisbane Lions by 93 points. The Brisbane Lions' score of 5.3 (33) was the lowest in club history (although both predecessors of the merged club, the Brisbane Bears and Fitzroy had scored lower). The club's previous lowest score of 5.5 (35) was also scored against Geelong at Skilled Stadium, two years earlier in 2007 AFL season. Additionally, Geelong amassed 490 disposals, smashing the old record of 469 disposals set by West Coast in 2007 and matched by Geelong in 2008; their 254 handpasses was also a record. These two records would stand for seven days.
Cold and rainy conditions in Melbourne saw the MCG host its lowest crowd (14,129) since 2004.
In the Hawthorn-Carlton game, Carlton's Brendan Fevola and Hawthorn's Jarryd Roughead both kicked 8 goals for the game. In the final minute of the game, Fevola had a chance to win the game by a point, but his shot hit the post and Hawthorn held on for a 4-point win.
Brisbane Lions beat Richmond for the first time since 2004, running out 26-point winners. Ben Cousins returned for Richmond and went through the game without injury.
St Kilda and Collingwood played a Monday night game, the AFL's first for several seasons. St Kilda won easily, and Collingwood's score of 5.10 (40) was its lowest with Mick Malthouse as coach.
Sydney defeated West Coast by five points. It was the eighth time in the past ten encounters between the teams that the final margin was less than one goal.
For the second week in a row, Brisbane Lions came back from 25 points down mid-way in the second quarter, defeating Adelaide by 36 points. In the same game, Brisbane's Daniel Bradshaw surpassed Alastair Lynch's record of 460 goals for Brisbane.
Both St Kilda and Essendon wore clash jumpers instead of their traditional strips in their game.
Western Bulldogs lost to Geelong by two points after Brad Johnson missed a shot for goal (from near the behind post) after the siren. It was the second time in twelve months that Johnson had missed a game-winning goal after the siren.
North Melbourne overcame a 26 point quarter-time deficit to record a 13 point victory against Fremantle.
Adelaide snapped a 3 game losing streak to beat Carlton by 44 points. It was the second time for the season that the Crows had kept its opposition goalless to half time (the first being in Round 5 against Melbourne).
Western Bulldogs beat Sydney at Manuka Oval by 40 points. The Bulldogs set up the win with thirteen unanswered goals in the first half, but well after that Sydney's Barry Hall kicked his 600th career goal.
St Kilda held Melbourne goalless in the second half of their 37 point victory. This was Melbourne's second goalless half of the season (the other was the first half against Adelaide in Round 5), and the second time St Kilda had held its opponent goalless for two consecutive quarters this season (the other was the second and third quarters against Sydney in Round 1).
Richmond lost by 68 points against the Western Bulldogs after leading by a mere two points at halftime. It was Terry Wallace's final match in charge of the Tigers, who had announced his retirement earlier in the week.
St Kilda won its 11th consecutive game, breaking the previous club record of 10 set in 2004 by beating North Melbourne by 46 points, despite trailing by almost five goals in the first quarter.
The streak of 11 in a row by both St Kilda and Geelong is the best start to a premiership season since Essendon in 2000.
Carlton won its third straight match against Brisbane Lions, the first time they have done so since 2000.
Adelaide defeated Essendon by 16 points in a game notable for having the highest combined goal-kicking accuracy in VFL/AFL history. The combined score of 39.10 (244) had an overall goalkicking accuracy of 79.6%; the previous best was 76.1%, when Essendon and St Kilda combined for 35.11 (221) in Round 20, 1984.
Geelong and St Kilda became the sixth and seventh clubs to begin a season with twelve consecutive wins, the feat having previously been achieved by Collingwood in 1929, Geelong in 1953, Melbourne in 1956, West Coast in 1991 and Essendon in 2000. All seven clubs reached the Grand Finals in these seasons.
Brisbane Lions recorded its first ever win at Aurora Stadium, defeating Hawthorn by 42 points. The Lions outscored the Hawks 10.6 (66) to 1.4 (10) in the second half, and held Hawthorn goalless in the final quarter; it was Hawthorn's first goalless quarter since Round 14 2007.
In wet weather in Adelaide, North Melbourne was held to 3.6 (24), the club's lowest score since 1971, the lowest score by any team since Round 4 1999, the lowest score ever conceded by the Adelaide Crows, and the lowest score ever at AAMI Stadium. It was also Adelaide's eighth straight win over the Roos.
Collingwood defeated Sydney by 23 points, extending their winning streak against Sydney to 7 games.
St Kilda and Geelong became the sixth and seventh clubs to begin a season with thirteen consecutive wins, the feat having previously been achieved by Collingwood in 1929, Geelong in 1953, Melbourne in 1956, West Coast in 1991 and Essendon in 2000. All seven clubs reached the Grand Finals in their respective seasons.
Sydney lost four matches in a row for the first time since 2004, by going down to Adelaide.
Richmond was held scoreless by St Kilda in both the second and third quarters of their game. For St Kilda, it was the third time they held their opponent goalless in two consecutive quarters this season. For Richmond, they became the first team to be held scoreless in two consecutive quarters in a game since Fitzroy in Round 1 1995 (Note: Fremantle was held scoreless in consective quarters across separate weeks, in Rounds 11 and 12 2004).
The round 14 match between St Kilda and Geelong had a change in timeslot, moving from 2:10pm to 3:10pm so that the Seven Network could broadcast the game live. All capital cities (except Sydney and Brisbane, which received a live telecast of the Sydney vs North Melbourne on the same day) received a live telecast of this match. This game broke the record set in Round 8, 1991 between West Coast and Essendon as being the latest into a season that two undefeated teams have played against each other. This game also broke the previous record of the largest crowd at an AFL game held at Docklands Stadium with an attendance of 54,444. St Kilda won by 6 points. It was the first time Geelong had lost at the stadium since Round 1, 2007.
Western Bulldogs held Hawthorn goalless in the first half of their game, and reigning Coleman MedallistLance Franklin was held goalless for the first time since 2006, breaking a streak of 71 consecutive games scoring at least one goal.
Melbourne won only its second game of the season by 20 points over West Coast in an emotional game after club president, Jim Stynes, announced that he had cancer earlier that week.
Geelong lost 2 consecutive matches for the first time since Rounds 4 and 5, 2007, going down to Brisbane Lions. It was Brisbane's first victory over Geelong since 2005. Brisbane became the second team (after St Kilda) to beat last year's grand finalists.
Melbourne won two games in a row for the first time since 2007, Port Adelaide being their latest victims.
Adelaide's dominant victory against Fremantle saw the latter held to only 1.7 (13). This was the lowest score in Fremantle's history (its previous lowest was 3.7 (25) in 2004), the lowest score by a team at AAMI Stadium and the lowest score ever conceded by the Adelaide Crows (the previous record for each was set by North Melbourne three weeks earlier), and the lowest score by any team since 1961, when Richmond scored 0.8 (8). Fremantle was held to 0.1 (1) in the first half, the lowest half-time score since Fitzroy was scoreless in the first half in 1995, and the third time this season that Adelaide had held its opponent goalless to half time. Fremantle's 117-point loss was the equal worst in club history.
St Kilda extended its winning streak to 15 wins with a hard-fought victory over West Coast. St Kilda became the third club to begin a season with fifteen consecutive wins, the feat having previously been achieved by Collingwood in 1929 and Essendon in 2000.
Carlton broke a twelve-game losing streak against Sydney with its victory. Sydney suffered its heaviest defeat since 2004 by going down to Carlton by 61 points.
The Round 17 match between Collingwood and Carlton was the second-highest attended home-and-away match of the season with a crowd of 84,938 at the MCG. It also marked the 5th match in the 2009 home and away season attended by more than 80,000, the first time this has occurred in VFL/AFL history and the first time it has occurred between the same two teams in the one season, the other match was in Round 8 when Collingwood and Carlton attracted a crowd of 82,834.
An additional estimated 497,000 people watched Collingwood and Carlton on TV in Melbourne alone.[1]
Despite modest crowds at Manuka Oval and the Gabba, Round 17, 2009 had the third largest attendance of any single round of the AFL with an attendance of 361,450. The first and second highest attended rounds were Round 22, 1998 and Round 1, 2007. Over 240,000 people in Melbourne attended AFL matches in a 48 hour period, 6% of the city's population.
Geelong made a memborable Grand Final rematch, winning by a point kicked after the siren by Jimmy Bartel after trailing by as much as 28 in the 4th quarter. This was only the third instance of an AFL team winning the game with an after-the-siren behind (before Ken Newland in 1972 and Tony Lockett in 1996).
St Kilda joined Collingwood in 1929 and Essendon in 2000 by winning eighteen consecutive matches within one season.
Richmond's Jordan McMahon kicked a goal after the final siren from outside the 50-metre arc to hand his team a four-point win over Melbourne.
Brad Johnson became the games record holder for the Western Bulldogs this weekend in the Bulldogs' win over Fremantle. His current mark of 342 games surpassed Chris Grant's old record of 341 games for the club.
Sydney defeated Richmond by 55 points; by doing this the Swans celebrated Michael O'Loughlin's 300th game whilst at the same time spoiling Ben Cousins' 250th game celebrations.
Collingwood produced their biggest win for the year, beating Richmond by 93 points.
Geelong defeated Sydney to secure a top 2 finish and the associated advantages for the third year in succession.
The game between Melbourne and Fremantle, played partially in heavy rain, was the lowest attended match at the MCG since 2004, with an attendance of 13,004.
Carlton defeated Port Adelaide to clinch a position in the finals, ending the club's seven-year finals drought, the longest in club history.
Essendon defeated St Kilda by two points to inflict St Kilda's first loss of the season, ending its 19-game winning streak, the fifth-longest winning streak of all time. St Kilda's captain Nick Riewoldt had the chance to win the game with a 45-metre set shot after the final siren, but he missed the goal. It was also St Kilda's first loss at Docklands Stadium since round 8, 2008.
Western Bulldogs defeated Geelong by 14 points, almost certainly securing a top four position. Geelong's loss secured first position on the ladder for St Kilda, and the 2009 McClelland Trophy, its first since 1997.
Carlton scored its highest score since 2001 in its win against Melbourne.
Brisbane Lions produced its second biggest comeback against Port Adelaide. After a 10 goal first quarter saw Port Adelaide lead as much as by 47 points, Brisbane Lions kicked 13.9 (87) to 4.8 (32) after the first quarter to eventually win by 15 points.
St Kilda was defeated by North Melbourne, losing its second game in a row and kicking its lowest score of the season, 8.11 (59).
Collingwood won its eighth straight match over Sydney. This result confirmed Collingwood's first top four finish since 2003, and Sydney's first bottom eight finish since 2002.
Essendon secured eighth spot and their first finals appearance since 2004 with a 17 point win over Hawthorn in a fiery encounter. Hawthorn is the first team since Adelaide in 1999 to miss the finals after winning the Flag the previous year. It is also the first time in 25 years that Essendon, Carlton and Collingwood have all made the finals.
Western Bulldogs defeated Collingwood by 24 points; the win gave the Bulldogs a 0.31%pt percentage advantage over Collingwood, placing the Bulldogs third and the Magpies fourth. Had Brad Johnson not scored a goal in the final minute, Collingwood would have finished third.
Upon the conclusion of Round 22, the 2009 AFL Season is, on paper, the overall lowest attacking/highest defensive year on record ever recorded in the AFL's history, with St Kilda having the lowest scored against them ever recorded by a team in the AFL, and with the Western Bulldogs having recorded the highest total attack score of the season, their score was 200 points lower than the average highest attack score in the competition's history.
