By Aaron Cordy
IT IS that last Saturday when unapologetic footy tragics rejoice their teams’ triumphs or rue missed opportunities on another season wasted as your team is stuck in a never-ending cycle of rebuilding – like, North Melbourne fans.
While the 2024 AFL home and away season is over for another year, the action is only just beginning with the finals set to kick off 7.40pm AEST at Adelaide Oval between Port Adelaide and Geelong, with eight sides left chasing September glory.
The current AFL finals system was adopted in 2000 with the aim to reward those sides that finished in the top four by giving them the easiest road to the Grand Final, with double chances and home-ground advantages. The system works with the Western Bulldogs being the last team to win the Grand Final from outside the top four back in 2016.
The eight finalists are split into two groups for the opening week of the Finals Series. The top four teams play the two Qualifying Finals. The winners get a bye through to Week Three of the finals and play home Preliminary Finals, while the losers play home Semi-Finals in Week Two. The bottom four teams play the two Elimination Finals, where the winners advance to Week Two away games and the losers’ seasons are over.
After week one it is an elimination with no chance of sides playing each other twice until one team holds aloft the Premiership Cup on that glorious day in September – this year it will be Saturday, September 28.
The AFL introduced the current system in 2000 to address several perceived issues with the McIntyre Final Eight system that had been in use from 1994 to 1999. While it is designed to favour those sides who finished on top, this year may again pull a surprise from the back of the pack with the Doggies and the Hawks, despite finishing sixth and seventh respectively, were the two most in-form teams in the competition for the back end of the season leading into finals. The irony is that they face off on Friday night in the first week of finals.
