How does afl finals fixture work

These four weeks of football cut the top eight teams down to two in time for the grand final in the fourth and final week. Wondering how it works?

The first week The eight teams are typically divided into two groups of four, the top four and the bottom four , who play games among themselves in the first week of finals. In the top four, first plays fourth and second plays third in qualifying finals. The higher-placed teams, first and second, have the right to host these finals in their home state though not necessarily at their preferred home ground.

One of the advantages given to teams in the top four is that they cannot be eliminated if they lose in the first week. However, the winners of these finals have a bye in the second week and host a preliminary final in their home state in the third week. Meanwhile, the losers of these finals must play again in the second week and, if they survive that, may have to travel interstate to play their opponent in the third week — so winning a qualifying final is a significant advantage.

First Qualifying Final : first-ranked team hosts fourth-ranked team Second Qualifying Final : second-ranked team hosts third-ranked team. In the bottom four, fifth plays eighth and sixth plays seventh in elimination finals. Again, the higher-placed teams, fifth and sixth, have the right to host these finals in their home state.

As the name suggests, the loser of these finals will be eliminated from the finals series. The winners go on to play the losers of the qualifying finals in semi-finals in the second week. First Elimination Final : fifth ranked team hosts eighth ranked team Second Elimination Final : sixth ranked team hosts seventh ranked team. These four games are played across four time-slots: Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday day, and Saturday night.

The second week In the second week of the finals series, two semi-finals are played between the two teams that lost the qualifying finals and the two teams that won the elimination finals. Australian Rules Football. AFL Trades All the done deals, free agents, retirements and delistings. All the done deals, free agents, retirements and delistings. Jordan De Goey charge dropped ahead of court appearance in New York. Loser of 2 v 3 plays winner of 6 v 7.

Winners of these semi finals go through to the preliminary finals, while losers are eliminated. The winners of the two semi finals in Week 2 play off in the preliminary finals against the winners of the qualifying finals in Week 1 to see which two teams go through to the AFL Grand Final.

Winner of first qualifying final v winner of second semi final. Winner of second qualifying final v winner of first semi final. The AFL also has a large number of international broadcast partners that show games in overseas countries.

Check local guides. Norm Smith Medal: One of the most prestigious awards in Australian sport, the Norm Smith Medal is awarded to the player judged to be best on ground by an independent panel of experts. Gus Bruno. Your cookie settings are preventing this third party content from displaying.