Great VFA and VFL finals comebacks
The opening weekend of the 2019 VFL finals series produced one of the great comebacks, with Richmond somehow claiming a two-point win over Essendon, having trailed by 40 points at the last change of ends. That deficit is now the greatest from which a team has come at three-quarter time to win in the VFL's 24-year finals history. If one includes the results of the VFA, from which the VFL evolved, the record still stands up well.
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Finals were first introduced to the VFA in the 1903 season and, over 117 combined VFA/VFL seasons, The Tigers' remarkable effort has been matched or exceeded only twice, both times by Sandringham. In fact the Zebras feature prominently in the annals of great comebacks in VFA/VFL finals. In the previous six VFA/VFL finals in which the winner has come from more than 30 points behind at the final change, Sandringham has been on the right side of the ledger three times.
Incredibly, two of those victories were in consecutive Preliminary Finals, both at the Junction Oval, and both against Williamstown! The poor old Seagulls must have had nightmares about those two matches for years afterward!
Here is a look at the seven biggest last-quarter comebacks in VFA/VFL finals history.
1946 VFA Preliminary Final
Sandringham d Williamstown
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On the surface of it one would suspect that Sandringham did not come into their 1946 Preliminary Final match against Williamstown with a great deal of confidence. Even though the Zebras were coming off a First Semi-Final win over Port Melbourne, and Williamstown had lost their Second Semi clash against top side Camberwell, they had been on the receiving end of thumpings at the hands of the Seagullls in both of their home-and-away meetings. The first was an 89-point hiding at Williamstown, and in the return encounter at Beach Road Oval, the Zebras fell 38 points short of the visitors.
However, there would be one major difference in this encounter. Seagull spearhead Ron Todd, who had injured his ankle in the loss to Camberwell, would be missing. Todd had kicked 12 goals in the 89-point thrashing in Round 3, and helped himself to another half a dozen majors in the match at Beach Road in Round 14. The absence of the goalkicking superstar evened the odds considerably. In fact, both Roberts Dunstan in The Herald and The Argus's football writer predicted a Sandringham win.
Ultimately, those predictions would prove correct, but at three-quarter time of the match, after an eight-goal third-term blitz from the Seagulls saw them turn for the last time with a 40-point lead, even those two scribes would have been doubting their pre-game predictions. But the Zebras started the final quarter well, gradually whittling away the deficit. Four consecutive goals and a host of misses had Sandringham within 10 points in the middle stages of the term but a relieving goal to Dick Harris, his fifth, saw the 'Towners lead back out to 16.
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Still the Zebras attacked, and three consecutive majors saw them take a two-point lead with time running out. A final forward thrust from Williamstown was thwarted by Sandringham's captain-coach Len Toyne (left), who helped the ball over the Seagulls' goal line for a behind. With the Zebras a point ahead, Toyne then kicked out with a thumping drop kick, at which point the final siren sounded, giving Sandringham a win for the ages.
The following week, the Zebras again came from behind at three-quarter time (albeit by only two points) to defeat Camberwell and clinch its first VFA premiership.
MATCH DETAILS | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | FULL TIME |
Williamstown | 4.6 | 7.11 | 15.16 | 16.18 (114) |
Sandringham | 4.6 | 8.11 | 9.12 | 16.19 (115) |
For full 1946 VFA season results, click here.
1947 VFA Preliminary Final
Sandringham d Williamstown
Exactly a year later, the two sides met again at the same venue in almost identical circumstances. Williamstown and Sandringham finished second and third on the table, as they had in 1946, and they met again in a Preliminary Final at the Junction Oval after the Seagulls had lost their Second Semi-Final and the Zebras were victorious in their First Semi-Final.
The first three quarters of the 1947 Preliminary Final didn't quite follow the same script as its 1946 counterpart, but the teams found themselves in familiar territory come the final break. This time around, the Seagulls were 31 points ahead, not 40 as they had been a year before. Nonetheless, the chances of lightning striking in the same place twice are very slim. Surely Sandringham couldn't do it again?
History shows they did.
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Perhaps with memories of the previous year in his mind, Len Toyne chose to kick into the breeze when he won the coin toss prior to the game. It's a strategy not often employed but Toyne would have been well aware of the doubts in Seagull players' minds if the Zebras came into the final quarter trailing. When Ron Todd (right) booted the first major of the last quarter, Williamstown's lead was an even six goals, and reprise of 1946 looked even less likely.
What followed was perhaps even more unexpected than the events of twelve months earlier. Over the next five minutes, the Zebras stunned their opponents and the 20,000-strong crowd with six unanswered goals. Williamstown made a brief recovery with a goal to Spring, but Sandringham's seventh major of the quarter, kicked by Sales, again had them within a point.
From there a desperate struggle ensued. The Zebras did most of the attacking but for the Seagulls, it was 'death by a thousand cuts'. Sandringham added a behind to tie the scores, and then added three more points to win by that margin, leaving the 'Towners distraught. Incredibly, the final score was almost identical to that of a year prior. The Zebras had won 16.19 to 16.18 in 1946; this time it was 16.21 to 16.18.
Sadly for Sandringham, the similarities to 1946 ended there. A week later the Zebras succumbed to Port Melbourne in the 1947 Grand Final, and they would not win another flag until 1962, when they once again pulled of a last-quarter miracle.
MATCH DETAILS | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | FULL TIME |
Williamstown |
8.3 |
9.7 |
14.14 |
16.18 (114) |
Sandringham |
3.3 |
6.11 |
9.13 |
16.21 (117) |
For full 1947 VFA season results, click here.
1962 VFA Grand Final
Sandringham d Moorabbin
The Zebras saved their greatest comeback of all — and the greatest in VFA/VFL finals history — for a Grand Final. It came 15 years after their back-to-back miracles, and this time, thankfully for Williamstown fans, it was against Moorabbin, not the Seagulls.
Occupying the top two spots on the ladder, Moorabbin and the Zebras met in the 1962 Second Semi-Final, and the Kangaroos made short work of Sandy, winning by six goals. The Zebras bounced back to win the Preliminary Final against Coburg, but went in as underdogs in the Grand Final, with Moorabbin having beaten them twice in the home-and-away season as well as in the semi.
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That favouritism appeared more than justified when, after a fairly even first half, the Kangaroos kicked 5.5 to nil in the third term to turn for home with a 44-point lead. The premiership was seemingly theirs. But they reckoned without the Sandringham spirit.
Perhaps a few old timers were on hand to remind the Zebra players of the deeds of fifteen and sixteen years earlier. Whatever the case, Sandringham came out in the final quarter and, ignited by ruckman Laurie O'Toole (left) and Bob Murray in the centre, turned the match on its head. The Zebras kicked eight goals without reply and incredibly led by seven points late in the game, an unthinkable 51-point turnaround.
A late goal from Ron Kee, Moorabbin's only major of the term, brought the margin back to a point, but Sandringham's defence held firm in the final moments, the Zebras clinching a one-point win in one of the great Grand Finals.
Sparking memories of Sandringham's 1946-47 double, the Zebras and Kangaroos met again in the 1963 Grand Final, but this time, there would be no miracle comeback, and Moorabbin took home the flag in a canter.¹
MATCH DETAILS | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | FULL TIME |
Moorabbin |
3.6 |
7.10 |
12.15 |
13.15 (93) |
Sandringham | 3.4 | 6.7 |
6.7 |
14.10 (94) |
For full 1962 VFA season results, click here.
You can read more about Sandringham's remarkable win in John Devaney's 1962 VFA Grand Final piece here.
1966 VFA First Semi-Final
Preston d Yarraville
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"Make every kick count" is a pretty good adage to abide by when playing footy, especially in finals. That's exactly what Preston's Alan Parris did in 1966. The one and only kick he had in the First Semi-Final was a bullet that went straight down Bullant teammate John Hindmarsh's throat. From fifty yards out, Hindmarsh's true kick gave Preston a two-point lead. Thirty seconds later, the final siren sounded and Preston, who had entered the final quarter 39 points adrift of Yarraville, had won their way through to the Preliminary Final.
Not that Alan Parris had had a bad game until his crucial kick. With the advent of the interchange rule still a decade away, Parris had spent the afternoon 'warming the pine' as a Bullants' reserve. He sat on the bench for three quarters as Yarraville dominated, and for most of the final term as Preston staged a remarkable comeback. Captain-coach Alan Joyce 'pulled the trigger' in time-on, bringing Parris on to replace Thompson, and Parris's solitary kick and Hindmarsh's resultant goal secured an amazing come-from-behind victory.
MATCH DETAILS | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | FULL TIME |
Yarraville |
4.4 |
4.8 |
12.13 | 12.15 (87) |
Preston |
2.3 | 5.7 | 6.10 | 13.11 (89) |
For full 1966 VFA season results, click here.
2007 VFL First Elimination Final
North Ballarat d Bendigo
While the three-quarter time margin in this match was the smallest of the matches featured here, North Ballarat's comeback win is arguably the greatest of them all. Not only did the Roosters rein in a 31-point deficit, they did it so quickly that they had time to kick six further goals to set up a 37-point win!
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Even more remarkable is that Bendigo's three-quarter time lead was nowhere near their biggest of the match. Early in the third quarter, the Bombers lead had been as much as 59 points, but from there North Ballarat embarked on an amazing run in which they kicked 17 of the match's last 19 goals. Still, even with the Roosters making a charge, Bendigo must have felt they were very much in a winning position at the final end-change. They could not have been more wrong.
A week after their amazing comeback, the Roosters (who had limped into the finals on the back of a crushing 63-point loss to Sandringham) then caused another major upset in the Second Semi-Final to turn the tables on the Zebras and win by 17 points. Their run came to an end with a loss to Geelong in the Preliminary Final.
MATCH DETAILS | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | FULL TIME |
North Ballarat |
1.5 |
4.8 | 10.19 |
21.22 (148) |
Bendigo |
7.3 |
13.8 |
16.14 |
16.15 (111) |
For full 2007 VFL season details, click here.
2014 VFL Second Semi-Final
Williamstown d Werribee
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Sixty-seven years after their heartbreaking back-to-back Preliminary Final losses to Sandringham, Williamstown finally got to savour a come-from-nowhere win of their own. Having had slightly the better of their Western suburban neighbours Werribee in the first half of the 2014 VFL Semi-Final, the Seagulls fell apart in the third quarter, and they were 32 points adrift of the Tigers at 'orange time'.
To that point, Williamstown had won 11 consecutive encounters between the two sides and Werribee fans were gearing up to celebrate a drought-breaking win, in a final no less. Alas for the 'Bees, it all went pear-shaped from there. The Seagulls piled on nine last-quarter goals to not only take the lead, but to win running away by 26 points.
Werribee would finally break that drought with a thrilling two-point early in 2015, but the Second Semi-Final loss ended their 2014 season. Williamstown's also ended a week later when they lost narrowly to Box Hill.
MATCH DETAILS | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | FULL TIME |
Williamstown | 4.3 |
6.7 |
6.10 |
15.15 (105) |
Werribee |
2.3 | 5.5 |
11.12 |
11.13 (79) |
For full 2014 VFL season details, click here.
2019 VFL First Qualifying Final
Richmond d Essendon
Having topped the 2019 VFL ladder with 16 wins and only two losses, Richmond's VFL side went into this match as very warm favourites. However, a lacklustre first half saw the Tigers go into the half time break trailing by 31 points, and things got worse from there. The Bombers made good use of the breeze in the third term and had extended their lead to 40 when the teams changed ends for the last time.
Although the Tigers were coming home with the wind, no one believed it was seven goals strong. The first four minutes of the last quarter gave no indication of what was to come, with neither side troubling the scorers. Then Tiger Jake Aarts crafted a magnificent piece of play, eluding three opponents on the boundary before firing a handball to teammate Dan Butler, who broke the stalemate with a goal. Aarts followed up with a major of his own and then Callum Coleman-Jones made it three in three minutes.
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The margin was still 22 points at the stage, but there was a sense that Richmond was brewing something special. And indeed they were. The Tigers peppered the goals for the next 15 minutes, with two further goals to Butler and another to Callum Moore reducing the margin to a single point. Mabior Chol levelled the scores with a behind but then Mark Baguley restored Essendon's lead with a goal, the Bombers' only score of the last term.
From there, the Tigers resumed their last-quarter dominance, attacking incessantly. Behinds to Marlion Pickett and Riley Collier-Dawkins cut the margin to two points before a ruck infringement gave AFL big man Toby Nankervis (left) a shot at goal with time running out. He kicked truly to give Richmond the lead for the first time in the match. Essendon went forward from the centre bounce but the siren sounded before they could conjure a score, giving Richmond the win, setting a new VFL benchmark for greatest comeback from a three-quarter time deficit.
MATCH DETAILS | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | FULL TIME |
Richmond |
2.1 |
4.3 |
8.4 |
15.10 (100) |
Essendon | 4.3 |
9.4 |
14.8 |
15.8 (98) |
For full 2019 VFL season details, click here.
Footnotes
1. Incredibly, the Kangaroos' Grand Final win was their last ever match in the VFA. Soon after the win, the club elected to welcome VFL club St Kilda to Moorabbin, with the Saints to play home games at the venue. The VFA saw this as a betrayal, and promptly expelled Moorabbin from the Association.
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