| Competition: | VFLR |
| Year: | 1989 |
| Date: | 1 April – 30 September |
| Teams: | 13 |
| Count: | 3 |
| Prevseason: | 1988 |
| Nextseason: | 1990 |
The 1989 VFL reserves season was the 70th season of the VFL reserve grade competition, the Australian rules football competition operating as the second-tier competition to the Victorian Football League (VFL).[1] [2]
The premiership was won by after they defeated in the 1989 VFL reserves Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the 1989 VFL Grand Final at the MCG on 30 September.[3] This was the last time Fitzroy won a VFL/AFL premiership in any grade before their 1996 merger with the Brisbane Bears.[4]
This was also the last season under the VFL reserves name, before the competition was renamed to the AFL reserves when the VFL was renamed to the Australian Football League (AFL) in 1990.[5]
Following their Round 1 match on 1 April, both and Brisbane were found to have fielded unregistered players. As a result, the VFL fined both clubs and ordered that they receive zero premiership points for the match.[6] [7]
| Team | Qualification | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2312 | 1781 | 129.81 | 64 | Finals series | |
| 2 | 20 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2721 | 1770 | 153.73 | 60 | ||
| 3 | 20 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2057 | 1645 | 125.05 | 60 | ||
| 4 | 20 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2096 | 1541 | 136.02 | 52 | ||
| 5 | 20 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2119 | 1711 | 123.85 | 52 | ||
| 6 | 20 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2062 | 1731 | 119.12 | 48 | ||
| 7 | 20 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1989 | 1781 | 115.77 | 44 | ||
| 8 | 20 | 9 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1987 | 2136 | 93.02 | 38 | ||
| 9 | 20 | 9 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1652 | 1790 | 92.29 | 36 | ||
| 10 | 20 | 7 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 1561 | 2370 | 65.86 | 28 | ||
| 11 | 20 | 4 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 1581 | 2307 | 68.53 | 16 | ||
| 12 | 20 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1779 | 2336 | 76.16 | 12 | ||
| 13 | 20 | 1 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 1708 | 2788 | 61.26 | 6 |