Modra in the first quarter to an ACL injury, meaning he would not be available for the grand final. St Kilda won their qualifying final against the eighth-placed Brisbane Lions by 46 points at Waverley Park before a crowd of over 50,000, sending them to a home preliminary final against seventh-placed North Melbourne at the MCG, which they won by 31 points in front of crowd of 87,531. The Saints went into the grand final as heavy favourites. St Kilda's Robert Harvey won the Brownlow Medal earlier in the week for having been deemed by the field umpires as being the best player in the AFL for the 1997 season, a feat he would repeat the following year. Western Bulldogs player Chris Grant polled the highest number of votes, but as he had been suspended for a one-match ban—in Round 7 against Hawthorn for striking—he was deemed ineligible for the award. Teams Both sides were missing key players from their teams. Match summary With over 99,000 in attendance, the crowd was the largest for a VFL/AFL Grand Final since 1986. On a sombre note, it was revealed during the pre-match coverage that St Kilda star Nicky Winmar's father Neal had died from heart disease at the age of 50 the day before the grand final. The St Kilda players wore black armbands in his honour. In an odd coincidence, the two opposing coaches, Stan Alves and Malcolm Blight, had been premiership teammates for twenty years earlier in 1977. First quarter It was an intense and exciting Grand Final, with Adelaide starting well and leading by 2 points at quarter time (with unlikely goalkicker Shane Ellen, who was playing at full-forward to replace the injured Tony Modra, kicking the Crows first goal—a move which was later regarded as a masterstroke by coach Malcolm Blight). St Kilda's Austinn Jones kicked what was universally considered the goal of the match, or what could have been the goal of the year had the award be eligible for goals kicked in finals. In an effort reminiscent of Phil Manassa in the replayed 1977 Grand Final, Jones ran almost the full length of the ground and kicked the goal on his non-preferred left foot from just inside the 50-metre arc. Second quarter Inspired by Jones's heroics, the Saints began the second term strongly and took control for the only time in the game when Barry Hall