How do finals work

What happens for teams who finish from third to sixth? My team has finished in the top two. Who will they play in the preliminary final? I've got my eyes on the prize. Who hosts the Grand Final? Take the survey now Why not share? Latest News Premiers on the hunt: Lions searching for yet another home ground Brisbane's premiership defence will have to be fought from a new base, with the Lions on the hunt for a new home ground 1 hr 15 mins ago.

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Father-daughter bidding war? Another G. The second one was 'excruciating': Luckless Cat on ACL trauma Geelong youngster Nina Morrison recalls the challenges of suffering serious knee injuries 23 hrs 38 mins ago. The playing conditions in the event of a draw at the end of normal time are now the same for all finals matches except the Grand Final and apply as follows:. Teams will have a new rotation cap of 15 interchanges.

The siren will then immediately sound to end the match. AFL General Manager Football Operations Mark Evans said the AFL had also detailed the scenario to clubs that could apply in the rare situation if a player had a set shot after additional time had concluded, that then tied the scores - a player scoring a behind with one point the difference or a scoring a goal with six points the difference. The players would be told the next score wins the game and the siren would sound immediately after confirmation of the next score," he said.

For the record, the drawn games have been in order: Semi-Final between Collingwood and Melbourne won by Collingwood , Semi-Final between Collingwood and Essendon won by Essendon , Grand Final between Essendon and Melbourne won by Melbourne , Preliminary Final between Carlton and Geelong won by Carlton , Semi-Final between Richmond and Carlton won by Richmond , Grand Final between Collingwood and North Melbourne won by North Melbourne , the aforementioned Qualifying Final, the Semi-Final between Collingwood and West Coast in Perth and the first final to use extra time to determine a winner and finally the aforementioned Grand Final which will certainly qualify for a trivia question in the future as the last tied Grand Final to be replayed the following week.

In the event of a tie, an additional time period of 2 x 3 minutes plus time on will be played until the deadlock is broken. In the event of a tied Finals match, the following procedure shall apply:. Goal umpires confirm scores are tied. The teams will change ends for the recommencement of play which will last three minutes plus time on. At the end of the first period, the siren will sound and teams will again change ends without a break.

The second period will then commence. The siren will sound after three minutes, and the team with the highest score is declared the winner. If scores are still tied, the process will be repeated until a final result is determined. The starting positions of players in a distribution across the ground introduced in will apply for the extra time periods. Clubs will be allowed an extra 10 interchanges for each extra time period.

This does not apply to the AFLW which has no interchange cap. Leftover interchanges from one period will not be carried over to the next. Subscribe at. Need Vitamins or Supplements? We recommend iHerb. All major brands. Donate Forums Log in. What is Australian Football? General Info on TV Coverage. AFL Radio over the Net.

These finals are: Week 1: The top two matches are called "Qualifying Finals": 1 hosts 4, and 2 hosts 3. Past systems include: In , the top 4 teams played off in a round robin series, with the best performed side - Essendon which won all 3 of its games - being declared the champion with no Grand Final. From , it was still a top 4 system: First semi-final: 3 rd vs.

The structure was: Elimination Final: 4 th vs. Loser eliminated Qualifying Final: 2 nd vs. A second elimination final was introduced and so it became: First EF: 5 th vs. So the first week of finals in was: Essendon vs. Sydney - Essendon won Kangaroos vs.

Port Adelaide - Kangaroos won Brisbane vs. Carlton - Brisbane won West Coast vs. As a result, the Semi-Finals games of Week 2 were: Carlton vs. West Coast Brisbane vs. Essendon - Carlton won Kangaroos vs. Brisbane - Kangaroos won The Grand Final was then contested between Carlton and the Kangaroos with the Kangaroos winning the premiership. Time To Be Added for Finals and Grand Final Tie In the years of league football, there have been only six tied finals games and just three tied Grand Finals, all of which meant replays the following week.

From to these rules were applied see below for a note on further changes in : The playing conditions in the event of a draw at the end of normal time are now the same for all finals matches except the Grand Final and apply as follows: - If scores are tied at the end of normal time, there will be two periods of additional time played of five minutes each way, plus time-on.

In the event of a tied Finals match, the following procedure shall apply: Goal umpires confirm scores are tied. AFL Finals. The teams that lose these semi-finals will also be eliminated, while the teams that win will go through to face the qualifying final winners in preliminary finals in week three. The loser of first versus fourth will play the winner of fifth versus eighth, and the loser of second versus third will play the winner of sixth versus seventh. The losing qualifying final teams are given the right to host these matches in their home state.

These games are played across two time-slots: Friday night and Saturday night. The third week In the third week the winners of the qualifying finals from the first week play the winners of the semi-finals from the second weeks in preliminary finals. These preliminary finals determine who enters the grand final. The teams who win preliminary finals are through to the grand final, the teams who lose them are eliminated from the finals series.

There are a wide variety of potential preliminary final combinations available depending on how the first two weeks of the finals series pan out. The winner of the first qualifying final plays the winner of the second semi-final, and the winner of the second qualifying final plays the winner of the first semi-final. This guarantees that it is not possible for any of the eight teams to play each other twice in the first three weeks of finals.

The qualifying final winners not only have had a week off as a bye, but also get to host these games in their home state, giving them a significant advantage. The fourth week In the fourth week of finals, the two teams that won the preliminary finals play each other in the grand final.

The grand final could theoretically be between any two teams in the finals series, except for those that play elimination finals against each other in the first week and cannot possibly both progress. It has been played every year at the Melbourne Cricket Ground since except for a few years in the s and once during renovation in Unfortunately, another COVID outbreak means the grand final will be played at a different venue once more.

What happens if the grand final is a draw?