The 2013 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between Hawthorn Football Club and Fremantle Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 28 September 2013. It was the 118th annual grand final of the Australian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine the premiers for the 2013 AFL season. The match, attended by 100,007 spectators, was won by Hawthorn by a margin of 15 points, marking the club's eleventh VFL/AFL premiership victory. Hawthorn's Brian Lake was awarded the Norm Smith Medal as the best player on the ground.
Background
Hawthorn entered the 2013 season having lost the 2012 Grand Final to , and for most of the season was seen as the favourites for the premiership. After losing to in Round 1, Hawthorn compiled a 12-match winning streak, until this streak was ended with another loss to Geelong in Round 15. The club's only other loss came against in Round 19, and it finished with a record of 19–3 to win the minor premiership for the second consecutive year. They defeated Sydney in the qualifying final by 54 points and earned a week off. They ended an 11-match losing streak against Geelong since the 2008 AFL Grand Final to win by five points in the preliminary final. The match was Hawthorn's third grand final appearance in six years.
Fremantle entered the 2013 season having come off a semi-final loss to in the previous year's finals series. After winning their first two matches of the season by 28 points, the Dockers lost back-to-back matches against and to be 2–2 after Round 4 – this was the only time they lost consecutive matches during the season. Fremantle recorded its largest ever victory when they defeated in Round 20, then, with a finals berth guaranteed, Ross Lyon rested half of his regular side ahead of its final regular season match against ; the result was a 71-point defeat, which marked the worst defeat in Lyon's coaching career. The team finished third at the end of the home-and-away season, and compiled a club-best record of 16–5–1. They unexpectedly defeated in Geelong by 15 points in the first week of the finals, which earned them a week off and a home preliminary final. Fremantle defeated the reigning premiers, Sydney, by 25 points in the preliminary final. The match was Fremantle's first grand final in its history.
The two teams met once during the regular season, in Round 4 at Aurora Stadium; Hawthorn won by 42 points.
Media Coverage
The match was televised by the Seven Network. The primary match commentary was provided by Bruce McAvaney and Dennis Cometti.
Pre-match entertainment
Two Australian bands, Birds of Tokyo and Hunters & Collectors, performed before the game and at half-time, respectively. The Australian national anthem was sung by Tina Arena.
Match summary
First quarter
Fremantle won the coin toss and chose to kick towards the City End of the MCG in the first quarter. However, it was Hawthorn who got off to a good start, with Jack Gunston kicking the first goal before Lance Franklin kicked the Hawks' second after Luke McPharlin gave away a 50-metre penalty for stepping over the mark. Hawthorn then had a few chances to extend their margin, however a rushed behind and missed opportunities by Shaun Burgoyne and Isaac Smith, had little influence on the scoreboard. Meanwhile, Fremantle were held goalless in the opening quarter with Hayden Ballantyne and Nick Suban missing relatively easy shots on goal whilst Nathan Fyfe missed two shots completely with both going out on the full. At quarter time, the Hawks had a 12-point lead.
Second quarter
Hawthorn started off the quarter strongly, taking a stranglehold of the game against the Dockers. Jack Gunston kicked his second goal on the run from just inside 50 before Cyril Rioli through his manic forward pressure, got himself on the board after catching Lee Spurr for holding the ball, taking the Hawks to a massive 24-point lead. Finally at the 12-minute mark, Tendai Mzungu kicked the Dockers' first goal, before Ryan Crowley kicked yet another behind for Fremantle. This was quickly followed by Jack Gunston slotting his third goal after outpositioning Fremantle's Zac Dawson. The two teams then exchanged behinds with Rioli and Brad Sewell for Hawthorn and Matthew Pavlich and Nat Fyfe for Fremantle all registering minor scores as Hawthorn enjoyed a 23-point lead at half time. Fremantle's first half score of 1.6 (12) was the lowest in a grand final since 1960.