The 2008 VFL season was the 127th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), a second-tier Australian rules football competition played in the states of Victoria and Tasmania.
The premiership was won by the North Ballarat Football Club, defeating Port Melbourne by 45 points in the Grand Final on 26 September. It was the first VFL premiership in North Ballarat's history.
League membership and affiliations Prior to the 2008 season, there were several changes to the VFL-AFL reserves affiliations: ended its seven-year affiliation with Williamstown, and began fielding its own reserves team in the VFL, having previously done so in the 2000 season. ended its eight-year affiliation with Werribee, and entered a new affiliation with Williamstown. ended its two-year partial affiliation with Tasmania. Unlike many other VFL/AFL affiliations, which had strengthened their VFL clubs, the North Melbourne–Tasmania alignment had been very unpopular amongst Tasmanian fans, and significantly harmed the VFL club's standing within the state. Tasmania continued to contest the VFL as a stand-alone senior club, and and entered a new partial affiliation with Werribee. North Melbourne's other partial affiliation with North Ballarat was unchanged.
As a result, the size of the VFL increased to fourteen teams: nine VFL-AFL affiliations, two AFL reserves teams and three stand-alone VFL clubs.
VFL–AFL alignments Bendigo Bombers Essendon Box Hill Hawks Hawthorn Casey Scorpions Melbourne Coburg Tigers Richmond Collingwood Collingwood Frankston Geelong Geelong North Ballarat North Melbourne Northern Bullants Carlton Port Melbourne Sandringham St Kilda Tasmania Werribee North Melbourne Williamstown Western Bulldogs
VFL season
Ladder
Finals series
Season Awards
Best and Fairest The VFL Best and Fairest is awarded the J. J. Liston Trophy.
Rank Player Team Votes1James PodsiadlyWerribee16=2Peter SummersSandringham15=2Brett JohnsonWilliamstown15=4Greg TivendaleCoburg14=4Brett GoodesNorth Ballarat14=4Paul KennedyFrankston14
Leading Goalkickers The VFL Leading Goalkicker at the end of the regular season is awarded the Jim 'Frosty' Miller Medal. The 2008 winner was Nick Sautner of the Sandringham Zebras.Sautner Climbs Mountain Again
Rank Player Team No. Games Total Goals1Nick SautnerSandringham16742James PodsiadlyWerribee20733Justin BerryFrankston20504Adrian BonaddioPort Melbourne2049=5Patrick RoseWilliamstown Seagulls2048=5Robin NahasPort Melbourne2048
Other The Fothergill–Round Medal was won by Robin Nahas (Port Melbourne). Williamstown won the reserves premiership. Williamstown 16.17 (113) defeated Box Hill 11.16 (82) in the Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the Seniors First Preliminary Final on 20 September.
Notable events The timing of the grand final was shifted to the Friday night immediately before the AFL Grand Final, after many years of having been played on the preceding Sunday. This shift in timing lasted only two seasons. Starting from this season, the TAC Cup under-18s grand final was played as a curtain-raiser to the VFL grand final, having previously been a curtain-raiser to the AFL Grand Final. The VFL reserves grand final was shifted to the previous week, and was thereafter played as a curtain-raiser to one of the senior preliminary finals.
References