For the third year in a row, they played their remaining home game at Manuka Oval in the nation's capital, Canberra, against the Sydney Swans during Round 17.

[6] Because the Demons won four games or fewer for the second year in a row, the club received a priority pick at the start of the 2009 National Draft.

However, the Hawks made a successful comeback, keeping the 2008 wooden spooners goal-less in the final quarter as Jarryd Roughead snatched the lead back for Hawthorn with a mark and a goal 30 seconds from full-time.

Despite holding a 31-point lead at half time, the Demons held off a fast finishing Tigers outfit in the final quarter to secure their first win against a Victorian team since round 22, 2007.

He received a harsh welcoming to the AFL when he came off from the interchange bench for the first time in the game: Watts was immediately crunched by the larger bodies of three Collingwood players while the ball came his direction,[7] as Melbourne suffered its biggest loss for the season (66 points).

Round 18: In a match that was criticised for tanking strategies, Jordan McMahon took a mark in Richmond's forward 50 and goaled after the final siren to give the Tigers a 4-point win.

[8] Round 20: In front of a crowd of only 13,004, Melbourne inflicted its only thrashing of the season against fellow cellar dwellers Fremantle after a blowout in the second quarter to win by 63 points.

Round 22: Veterans Russell Robertson, Paul Wheatley and Matthew Whelan played their last ever AFL match, against ladder leaders St Kilda.