1898 VFL finals series

The finals system introduced this year was used for three seasons until 1900, and it had two drawbacks:

• Firstly, there was confusion over the allocation of the minor placings. On the Monday following the Grand Final between Fitzroy and Essendon, the football correspondent of The Age made it clear that he was not entirely sure which team should be thought to have finished second:

     "The peculiar arrangement by which the premiership [in the 1898 season] was determined has given rise to some discussion as to which club is entitled to second place.

     In the competition for the major premiership both Geelong and Collingwood have better records of wins as against defeats than Essendon, and I have therefore heard it argued that Collingwood must be considered the runners up, with Geelong third and Essendon fourth.
     In winning the minor premiership however, Essendon secured a record which gave them the right to play off with the best performing team in the series of matches played for the major premiership (viz., Fitzroy), and as, moreover, the runners up are by custom recognised in the losers of the final encounter, I do not see how any team but Essendon can be entitled to the honor.
     At the same time the situation is not wholly satisfactory, and without wishing to cavil at the existing system I still favor the old custom of recognising only one premiership, to be won by the club holding the best record for one whole season.

     The premiers for the season which closed on Saturday [Essendon] happen to hold that distinction, but it might not have been so."[6]

• Secondly, and more significantly, the system had the drawback that it allowed a team to claim the major premiership by playing well only at the end of the year, regardless of its form during the home-and-away season. This came to a head after the unsatisfactory conclusion to the 1900 VFL season, when Melbourne won the premiership after having finished sixth out of the eight teams after the home-and-away season with a 6-8 record. A similar outcome could have occurred in 1899, as South Melbourne reached the non-challenge final and lost by one point to Fitzroy, despite having finished sixth with a record of 5-9 at the end of the home-and-away season.[7]

Consequently, from the 1901 season, this scheme was replaced with the Argus system.

The clubs were divided into two groups for the sectional rounds as follows. The minor premiership was won by Essendon.

The two sectional round winners met in the semi-final. Having won the minor premiership, and scoring eight premiership points in the sectional round, Essendon had the right to challenge the semi-final winner in the grand final.

The semi-final saw Fitzroy host Collingwood at the Brunswick Street Oval. The two teams had never met in a finals match before. In a low scoring contest, Fitzroy won with a goal from Potter at the end of the match.[8]

The grand Final saw Fitzroy meet Essendon on a neutral ground. This was the first meeting between the two sides in finals. After much disagreement about which ground should host the grand final, the two teams decided to meet on the Junction Oval. Fitzroy's fast start helped it to win the match by fifteen points.[8]