1996 SANFL season

The 1996 South Australian National Football League season was the 117th season of the top-level Australian rules football competition in South Australia.

1996 SANFL season
Teams	9
Premiers	Port Adelaide 34th premiership
Minor premiers	Central District 3rd minor premiership
Magarey Medallist	Josh Francou North Adelaide (26 votes)
Ken Farmer Medallist	Scott Hodges Port Adelaide (102 Goals)
Matches played	96
Highest	46,210 (Grand Final, Port Adelaide vs. Central District)

The season opened on 30 March and concluded on 6 October with the Grand Final, in which Port Adelaide went on to record its 34th premiership, defeating Central District by 36 points.

Norwood, Woodville-West Torrens, West Adelaide also made the top (final) five teams and participated in the finals series. North Adelaide, Glenelg, South Adelaide, Sturt all missed the top five, with the last of those finishing last to record its 18th wooden spoon.

The 1996 SANFL season marked the end of an era for Port Adelaide being their last year in the SANFL, as the Port Adelaide Football Club joined the AFL in 1997.

Premiership season

Round 1

	Round 1
Saturday, 30 March (2:10 pm)	Central District 13.9 (87)	def. by	Norwood 14.12 (96)	Football Park	[Report]
Saturday, 30 March (2:10 pm)	South Adelaide 16.9 (105)	def.	Sturt 8.4 (52)	Hickinbotham Oval	[Report]
Saturday, 30 March (2:10 pm)	West Adelaide 7.9 (51)	def. by	Woodville-West Torrens 10.10 (70)	Richmond Oval	[Report]
BYE - Port Adelaide, North Adelaide, Glenelg

Round 2

	Round 2
Saturday, 6 April (2:10 pm)	Port Adelaide 4.6 (30)	def. by	Central District 8.9 (57)	Football Park (crowd: 7527)	[Report]
Saturday, 6 April (2:10 pm)	Glenelg 12.13 (85)	def.	Sturt 7.8 (50)	Glenelg Oval	[Report]
Saturday, 6 April (2:10 pm)	Norwood 11.13 (79)	def.	South Adelaide 7.14 (56)	Norwood Oval	[Report]
Saturday, 6 April (2:10 pm)	North Adelaide 9.9 (63)	def.	West Adelaide 9.7 (61)	Prospect Oval	[Report]
BYE - Woodville-West Torrens

Ladder

1996 SANFL Ladder

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts
1	Central District	20	15	5	0	1970	1315	59.97	30
2	Norwood	20	15	5	0	1773	1381	56.21	30
3	Port Adelaide (P)	20	13	7	0	1928	1491	56.39	26
4	Woodville-West Torrens	20	12	8	0	1627	1504	51.96	24
5	West Adelaide	20	10	10	0	1632	1472	52.58	20
6	North Adelaide	20	8	12	0	1521	1734	46.73	16
7	Glenelg	20	7	13	0	1487	1812	45.07	14
8	South Adelaide	20	6	14	0	1449	1891	43.38	12
9	Sturt	20	4	16	0	1360	2147	38.78	8

Source: [1]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

Finals series

Elimination and qualifying Finals

	Elimination and qualifying Finals
	Woodville-West Torrens 20.7 (127)	def.	West Adelaide 9.8 (62)	Football Park	[Report]
	Port Adelaide 10.18 (78)	def.	Norwood 9.11 (65)	Football Park (crowd: 31,245)	[Report]

Semi-finals

	Semi-finals
Saturday, 22 September (2:10 pm)	Norwood 12.8 (80)	def.	Woodville-West Torrens 5.6 (36)	Football Park
Saturday, 22 September (6:10 pm)	Central District 12.15 (87)	def.	Port Adelaide 7.21 (63)	Football Park (crowd: 31604)

Preliminary final

	Preliminary Final
Sunday, 29 September (2:10 pm)	Port Adelaide 9.12 (66)	def.	Norwood 9.8 (62)	Football Park (crowd: 18,338)
At the 29-minute mark of the 4th quarter Scott Hodges had a set shot from the boundary line 40m out to win the game.

Grand Final

Main article: 1996 SANFL Grand Final

	1996 SANFL Grand Final
Sunday 6 October (2:10 pm)	Central District	def. by	Port Adelaide	Football Park (crowd: 46,120)
	2.1 (13) 3.4 (22) 5.6 (36) 6.8 (44)	Q1 Q2 Q3 Final	1.4 (10) 4.6 (30) 7.10 (52) 11.14 (80)	Umpires: Richard Williams, Michael Avon, Troy Burton Jack Oatey Medallist: David Brown Television broadcast: ABC
P. Vardy 2 T. Cook, A, Balkwill, J. Cotton, R. Girdham 1		Goals	7 S. Hodges 2 W. Tredrea 1 D. Smith, R. Smith
S. Schwerdt, S. Lee, R. Girdham		Best	D. Brown, F. Francis, S. Hodges
1996 marked the end of an era for Port Adelaide being their last year their first team played in the SANFL, as the club entered the AFL in 1997. This is the highest attendance for an SANFL Grand Final since the first year of the Adelaide Crows in the AFL (1991).

Attendances

By Club

1996 SANFL Attendances

Club	Total	Games	Avg. Per Game
Port Adelaide	264,410	24	11,017

References

• https://web.archive.org/web/20141205163141/http://australianfootball.com/seasons/season/SANFL/1996/