Hawthorn 16.14.110 d Carlton 9.14.68

Coach: Allan Jeans
Captain: Michael Tuck

Backs: Peter Russo (4), Chris Mew (2), Paul Abbott (39)
Half-backs: Peter Schwab (30), Chris Langford (28), Michael Tuck (17)
Centres: Gary Ayres (7), Terry Wallace (16), Robert DiPierdomenico (9)
Half-forwards: Gary Buckenara (11), Dermott Brereton (23), Peter Curran (25)
Forwards: Russell Greene (29), Jason Dunstall (19), John Platten (44)
Followers: Greg Dear (14), Rodney Eade (26), Richard Loveridge (22)

Interchange: John Kennedy Jnr (34), Russell Morris (15)

Goals: Dunstall 6, Buckenara 4, Brereton 3, Ayres 1, Curran 1, Russo 1

Best Players: Ayres, Buckenara, Dunstall, Eade, Langford, Wallace

Norm Smith Medal: Gary Ayres

Umpires: Peter Cameron, John Russo

Attendance: 101,861 (at MCG, Saturday, September 27, 1986)

This was a changing of the guard. Champions such as Leigh Matthews and Peter Knights had retired, leading the experts to believe that Hawthorn was at the end of its successful road.  But a new breed was maturing.

Coach Allan Jeans retired from the police force to coach full-time and he was striving for a more flexible side, telling his young players to go with their selected opponent.

This new breed led by the evergreen Michael Tuck finished the home and away season on top of the ladder but was surprisingly outplayed by Carlton in the Second Semi Final’

The Hawks had returned to form with a 56-point thrashing of Fitzroy in the Preliminary Final, but had never previously won a Grand Final after losing the Second Semi.  

Hawthorn controlled the game all day, sealing it with a 7.1 to 2.2 third term in which Jason Dunstall booted 3 of his 6 goals for the game. A series of positional moves from coach, Allan Jeans, all worked well, completely blanketing Carlton’s chief play makers.?
Gary Ayres, playing on the wing, won the Norm Smith Medal while Rodney Eade, controversially left out of the 1985 Grand Final side, cut his opponent out of the game and won many kicks himself.