The 2012 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club and the Sydney Swans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 29 September 2012. It was the 117th annual grand final of the Australian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine the premiers for the 2012 AFL season. The match, attended by 99,683 spectators, was won by Sydney by 10 points, marking the club's fifth VFL/AFL premiership victory. Sydney's Ryan O'Keefe was awarded the Norm Smith Medal as the best player on the ground.
Background
Hawthorn entered the 2012 season having been eliminated in the preliminary finals in 2011 by . Hawthorn's start to the year was average, with a record of 5–4 after nine matches; the team then won its next eight matches by an average of 81 points. A narrow loss against in Round 19 was its only other loss of the season, and Hawthorn finished the regular season on top of the AFL ladder with a win–loss record of 17–5. Hawthorn defeated in its first qualifying final by 38 points to progress to the preliminary final, then beat in a close preliminary final by five points to qualify for the grand final.
Sydney entered the 2012 season having been eliminated in the semi-finals by Hawthorn in 2011. Sydney won its first five matches of the season, before losing three of its next four matches to fall to 6–3; it then won its next nine matches by an average of 46.5 points; this streak took Sydney to the top of the ladder in Round 15, a position that the Swans held for seven weeks. Sydney lost three of its last four matches, including narrow losses to top four teams and , to finish third with a record of 16–6. Sydney led from start to finish and beat by 29 points in the qualifying final, then defeated for the first time in 12 matches by 26 points in the preliminary final to qualify for the grand final.
The two matches between Hawthorn and Sydney were split this season. Sydney recorded a convincing 37-point victory at Aurora Stadium in Launceston, Tasmania in Round 5, and Hawthorn recorded a narrow 7-point victory at the SCG in Round 22; it was the latter result which saw Hawthorn move ahead of Sydney on the premiership ladder.
Hawthorn was contesting its first grand final since its victory in 2008, and Sydney its first since being defeated in 2006. It was the first time the two clubs had met in a grand final.
Media coverage
The match was televised by the Seven Network. The coverage commentators included Brian Taylor, Matthew Richardson, Cameron Ling, Michael Malthouse, Tom Harley, Luke Darcy and Leigh Matthews.
The primary match commentary was by Bruce McAvaney and Dennis Cometti
The network's coverage of the match peaked at 5.084 million viewers as the match neared its conclusion, with Sydney recording 795,000 and Melbourne recording a peak of 1.574 million.
Seven's parent company Seven West Media said the grand final reached "more than 6 million Australians" during the course of coverage.
Pre-match entertainment
Following criticism of the performance of Meat Loaf at the 2011 AFL Grand Final, the AFL changed the format of the entertainment to have a small pre-match show, a larger half-time show, and, for the first time, a free concert open to the public at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after the match. Tim Rogers, who was featured in the AFL's finals series advertising campaign, and Paul Kelly performed before the game, and Marina Prior performed the national anthem; The Temper Trap performed at half-time on a stage on the arena. Kelly and The Temper Trap played at the post match concert.
The annual Grand Final Sprint was moved from half time to pre-match to accommodate the new entertainment schedule. Patrick Dangerfield () won his second consecutive Grand Final Sprint, with Harry Cunningham () second and Angus Litherland () third.
Match summary
The match was played in dry, gusty conditions. Throughout most of the lead-up to the match, weather forecasts had been predicting heavy rain, with potential hail and thunderstorms for the match, but the worst of these predictions did not eventuate. Light rain fell during the halftime entertainment, but the weather for the match itself was primarily cloudy but dry with winds at the MCG trending towards the City End.