The AFL Women's Grand Final is an annual

women's Australian rules football Women's Australian rules football (in areas where it is popular, known simply as women's football or women's footy or women's AFL), is the female-only form of Australian rules football, generally with some modification to the laws of the game. ...

match to determine the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football league for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the league ...

(AFLW) premiers for that year. Each year, the winning club receives a premiership trophy and premiership flag; all players in the winning team receive a premiership medallion. The record attendance is 53,034 set at the

2019 AFL Women's Grand Final The 2019 AFL Women's Grand Final was an Australian rules football match held at Adelaide Oval on 31 March 2019 to determine the premiers of the league's third season. Admission was free to the general public, and the match between and was ...

Method of qualification

In the first two seasons of the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, the grand final was contested by the two highest-ranked teams at the end of the home-and-away season, as no

finals series Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

existed. Since the third season, a finals series has been incorporated into the competition as follows: * In 2019, the top four teams qualified for the preliminary finals, with the two winners playing off in the Grand Final. * An expanded eight-team finals series was abandoned in 2020 due to the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. * In 2021 and 2022 (Season 6), the top six teams qualified for the finals series, which was played under the laws of a single-elimination knockout tournament. * In 2022 (Season 7), the Final Eight system used in the AFL was implemented in the AFLW following the league's expansion to include all 18 AFL clubs. From 2021 onwards, the winners of the two preliminary finals have played off in the Grand Final. 2021 and 2022 (Season 6) process of qualification for AFLW Grand Final

Venues

Unlike the men's Australian Football League (AFL) premiership, which has a customary host venue for the

AFL Grand Final The AFL Grand Final is an Australian rules football match to determine the premiers for the Australian Football League (AFL) season. From its inception until 1989, it was known as the VFL Grand Final, as the league at that time was the Victori ...

every year (that being the Melbourne Cricket Ground), there is no centralised venue that is contracted to host the women's grand final. In 2017 and 2018, the game was technically "hosted" by the minor premier; and respectively. However in both cases alternate venues located in the home team's state were used, owing to the unavailability of the Gabba in Brisbane's case and capacity concerns for the Bulldogs home grand final. In 2019 it was hosted by the preliminary final winner with the most premiership points (percentage would have come into consideration if points were the same), as a conference system was in place for this season grand final. The conference-system was abandoned in favour of a single ladder ahead of the 2021 season. Since 2021 the match is played at the highest-ranked preliminary final winner's home venue (or a larger-capacity venue located nearby), with this ranking based on the ladder at the end of the home-and-away season. Of the four venues to have hosted a grand final, Princes (Ikon) Park, the largest-capacity suburban ground in Melbourne, underwent construction in 2021 and 2022 to turn it into a state-of-the-art precinct that would become the official home of women's football in Victoria, with the idea that all grand finals hosted in Victoria would be played at the stadium.

List of venues to host the grand final

''NOTE: There was no grand final held in 2020 due to the impact of the

.''

Entertainment and traditions

Most grand finals thus far has been accompanied by a musical entertainment act that has performed before the match or at half-time. Musicians and groups to have performed at the grand final include

Megan Washington Megan Alexanda Washington (born 7 January 1986) is an Australian musician and songwriter who has worked mononymously as Washington. Originally performing jazz music, her style shifted to indie pop and alternative rock. She has released three ...

in 2017 and

Amy Shark Amy Louise Billings (born 14 May 1986), known professionally as Amy Shark, is an Australian indie pop singer-songwriter-guitarist and producer from the Gold Coast, Queensland. During 2008 to 2012, her early solo material was released and per ...

in 2019. Australian musician Missy Higgins was booked to perform at the 2018 Grand Final but her gig was cancelled on the day of the match, due to heavy rain and surface conditions at Princes Park. Delta Goodrem performed before the match entertainment at the season seven Grand Final.

Sprint

In 2021 the

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

incorporated a sprint running race (initially known as the Colgate AFLW Grand Final Sprint) into the on-field entertainment on the day of the grand final. In the men's competition, the

Grand Final Sprint The AFL Grand Final Sprint is a sprint running race contested by AFL players as part of the on-field entertainment on the day of the AFL Grand Final. The sprint was held each year from 1979 until 1985 and again in 1987 (when the league was known as ...

has been held since 1979.

Best-on-ground

The best-on-ground medal is presented to the player judged as best on the ground during the grand final by a panel of experts.

References

External links

* {{AFL Women's AFL Women's AFL Women's Grand Finals 2017 establishments in Australia Recurring sporting events established in 2017 Annual sporting events in Australia