• For the first time since 1965, no player kicked ten goals or more in a match. • appeared in the finals for the first time since 1994, breaking an eight year drought, the longest in club history. They won their first final in twelve years since their last premiership in 1990, also the longest drought of finals wins in club history. • won the wooden spoon for the first time. Carlton was the last of the twelve traditional Victorian clubs to win the wooden spoon in the VFL/AFL. • played only four home games at
Optus Oval, after arranging a deal to play four home games at
Colonial Stadium. In order for the AFL to meet its contractual obligation to stage nine games per year at Optus Oval, six neutral games between a low-drawing Victorian team and an interstate team were staged at the venue. The unpopular venture was not repeated, as all of the home teams in these neutral games lost money due to poor crowds and, in many cases, conflicting sponsorship deals. • Even though Adelaide was entitled to a home semi-final after losing its qualifying final to Brisbane, the game was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground due to the agreement which required at least one game to be played at the ground during each week of the finals. • At the end of the season, the Carlton Football Club was found to have systematically
breached the salary cap in 2000 and 2001. The club was fined and stripped of draft picks in the following two drafts, hampering their on-field results and long-term playing list rebuild in subsequent seasons. • Sydney coach
Rodney Eade resigned following
round 12, after the Swans slumped to 14th on the ladder. He was eventually replaced by
Paul Roos on a full-time basis, despite the board pushing for
Terry Wallace, who resigned as coach of the
Western Bulldogs with one round to play in the regular season, to be appointed. Roos would later coach the side to the premiership in
2005 before stepping down at the end of the
2010 season. ==References==