1977 SANFL Grand Final

The 1977 SANFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Port Adelaide Football Club and the Glenelg Football Club, held at Football Park on Saturday 24 September 1977. It was the 79th annual Grand Final of the South Australian National Football League, staged to determine the premiers of the 1977 SANFL season. The match, attended by 56,717 spectators, was won by Port Adelaide by a margin of 8 points, marking that club's twenty-fourth premiership victory.

1977 SANFL Grand Final
Official match program. Pictured top are Port Adelaide's John Cahill and Russell Ebert in discussion. Inset below is Glenelg coach John Nicholls.
Port Adelaide Glenelg 17.11 (113) 16.9 (105)
1 2 3 4 PA 4.3 (27) 9.7 (61) 13.9 (87) 17.11 (113) GLE 5.2 (32) 8.3 (51) 12.6 (78) 16.9 (105)
Date	Saturday, 24 September (2:10 pm)
Stadium	Football Park
Attendance	56,717
Umpires	Peter Mead, Robin Bennet
Coin toss won by	Port Adelaide
Kicked toward	South End
Accolades
Best on Ground	Brian Cunningham
Australian Football Hall of Fame	John Nicholls (1996; Legend) Russell Ebert (1996) John Cahill (2002) Peter Carey (2009) Graham Cornes (2012) Greg Phillips (2020)
← 1976 1978 →

Background

Main article: 1977 SANFL season

Centenary of the SANFL

In 1977 the SANFL celebrated its centenary, commemorating 100 years since the inaugural 1877 SAFA season. All SANFL clubs that year wore a patch commemorating the milestone.

Port Adelaide's premiership drought

The 12-year period leading up to the 1977 SANFL Grand Final included six grand final losses for Port Adelaide, with four to Sturt and two to North Adelaide.

Teams

0Port Adelaide0 B: 24. Anthony Hannan 22. Greg Phillips 3. Randall Gerlach HB: 21. Len Warren 17. Peter Woite 4. Ivan Eckermann C: 26. Bruce Light 1. Russell Ebert (c) 11. Kym Kinnear HF: 31. Trevor Sorrell 18. David Granger 6. Andy Porplycia F: 16. Paul Belton 5. Tim Evans 2. Darrell Cahill Foll: 10. John Spry 27. Max James 8. Brian Cunningham Int: 23. Tony Giles 13. Geoff Blethyn Coach: John Cahill

0Glenelg0 B: Chris Hercock Fred Phillis Rex Voigt HB: Steve Hywood Paul Weston Jim Lihou C: David Johnston David Holst Neville Caldwell HF: Daryl Rady Peter Carey Michael Farquhar F: Peter McInerney Stephen Copping Robert Paech Foll: Wayne Phillis (c) Graham Cornes Kym Hodgeman Int: Syd Jackson Peter Johnston Coach: John Nicholls

Teams listed in the Sunday Mail.

Scorecard

	1977 SANFL Grand Final
Saturday, 24 September (2:10 pm)	Port Adelaide	def.	Glenelg	Football Park (crowd: 56,717)
	4.3 (27) 9.7 (61) 13.9 (87) 17.11 (113)	Q1 Q2 Q3 Final	5.2 (32) 8.3 (51) 12.6 (78) 16.9 (105)
Evans 7 Eckerman 3 Granger, Cunningham 2 James, Blethyn, Sorrell 1		Goals	5 Paech 3 Phillis 2 Rady, Carey 1 Hodgeman, Farquhar, Holst, Jackson
Cunningham, Ebert, Gerlach, Light, Evans		Best	Hodgeman, Voigt, Carey, Cornes

Physicality

The 1977 Grand Final was a physical affair with Port Adelaide wingman Bruce Light reported for striking, Kym Kinnear was concussed by Graham Cornes and taken from the ground, and several other players sustaining injuries throughout the match. Twenty players were involved in a brawl at the half-time siren.

Twenty-four-year-old Randall Gerlach retired after the game after playing for two years with kidney problems.

End of 12-year Premiership Drought for Port Adelaide

The 1977 premiership marked the end of a 12-year period for Port Adelaide without winning a premiership (a long time by club standards). The 1977 premiership was the first of four premierships in five years for Port Adelaide, with premierships in 1979, 1980 and 1981. Port Adelaide supporters voted the 1977 SANFL Grand Final as the fourth-greatest moment of the club's history at Football Park in August 2013.

2007 AFL Heritage Round

In the 2007 AFL Heritage Round, Port Adelaide wore a replica of their 1977 jumper. Playing in the Port Adelaide team were Brett Ebert, son of Russell Ebert; and Chad and Kane Cornes, sons of Graham Cornes.