1997 Grand Final (What They Can Do Next Week)

The 1997 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Western Bulldogs and the St. Kilda Saints, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 27 September 1997. It was the 101st annual Grand Final of the Australian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1997 AFL season. The match, attended by 96,027 spectators, was won by Western Bulldgos by a margin of 52 points, marking the club's 2nd premiership.

Background
The 1997 premiership decider was the first for the Saints since the 1971 grand final were they lost, whilst it was the first for the Bulldogs since the 1961 grand final were they to lost.

At the end of the 1997 home-and-away fixtures, St. Kilda finished first with a 15 wins 7 losses record, thus possesing the McClelland trophy. The Bulldogs on the other hand, led by Terry Wallace, finished in 3rd behind Geelong and St. Kilda.

The Saints entered the grand final following a win against 8th placed Brisbane, sending them into a preliminary final against North Melbourne, a game which they won easily.

The Bulldogs on the other hand won their qualifying match against Sydney by 35 points to send them into a home preliminary against 4th placed Adelaide. After leading at all changes, Adelaide almost managed a come from behind win, however, a goal by Chris Grant won them the game by 3 points. They entered the grand final after been given little chance.

Match summary
Despite being in front at first quater time, the Saints failed to put any scoreboard pressure on, and by three quater time the Bulldogs ran away with the game.

Tony Libertore, a Brownlow medalist for the Bulldogs, won the Norm Smith medal after a 5 goal haul in the second and third quaters put the Bulldogs into winning position. Chris grant was runner up after a 3 goal game whilst the most prominant Adelaide player, Andrew McLeod, kicked 4 of his own goals.

The Western Bulldogs went on to win the next 2 grand finals. 1998 and 1999, whilst appearing in but not winning in their fouth consecutive grand final in 2000.