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2026 AFL (Australian Football League) Preview
The 2026 AFL season will be the 130th season and the 36th under the AFL name. It is expected to kick off sometime in March 2026. In the 2025 season, the Brisbane Lions won their fifth premiership and back-to-back titles.
They only finished third in the regular season, winning sixteen of their twenty-three games; they lost their qualifying game to Geelong (112-74), which meant they headed to the semi-final, where they defeated Gold Coast (100-47).
In the Preliminary final, they faced Collingwood, whom they defeated 100-71 to set up another game against Geelong in the Grand Final, and this time they came out on top, crushing them 122-75.
After their dominant win in the 2025 Grand Final and the fact that they have now made the last three grand finals, winning two of those, you would expect the bookies to have the Brisbane Lions as favourites to retain their title in 2026.
The Top Aussie Rules (AFL) Betting Sites 2025
Previous AFL Grand Final Winners
The Essendon Bombers, along with the Carlton Blues, are two of the three most successful teams in the AFL, which includes when the league was known as the VFL (Victorian Football League) since its creation in 1897.
Three teams have won a total of sixteen titles; however, for two of those, recent success has not happened. Essendon's last win was back in 2000, whilst Carlton has gone longer with their last win coming in 1995.
The Bombers have made thirty finals in total, their last being in 2001, whilst the Blues have made twenty-nine finals, their last being in 1999.
With their win in 2023, Collingwood Magpies moved on to sixteen wins and made it a three-way tie for the most successful teams. Before 2023, their last win came in 2010, which ended a twenty-year wait, having not been champions since 1990.
Three teams are currently active that have never been crowned champions. The Fremantle Dockers are the longest-serving and have not won. Since their creation in 1995, they have only made one grand final, which was in 2013, but they were defeated by Hawthorne.
The Greater Western Sydney Giants have been active since 2012; they made their only grand final in 2019 when they were hammered by Richmond 114-25, whilst the Gold Coast Suns joined the AFL in 2011 and are currently the only active team not to make a single grand final.
Last Ten AFL Grand Final Winners
| Season | Premiers (No. of Titles) | Score | Runners-up | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Brisbane Lions (5th) | 18.14 (122) d. 11.9 (75) | Geelong | 100,022 |
| 2024 | Brisbane Lions (4th) | 18.12 (120) d. 9.6 (60) | Sydney | 100,024 |
| 2023 | Collingwood (16th) | 12.18 (90) d. 13.8 (86) | Brisbane Lions | 100,024 |
| 2022 | Geelong (10th) | 20.13 (133) d. 8.4 (52) | Sydney | 100,024 |
| 2021 | Melbourne (13th) | 21.14 (140) d. 10.6 (66) | Western Bulldogs | 61,118 |
| 2020 | Richmond (13th) | 12.9 (81) d. 7.8 (50) | Geelong | 29,707 |
| 2019 | Richmond (12th) | 17.12 (114) d. 3.7 (25) | Greater Western Sydney | 100,014 |
| 2018 | West Coast (4th) | 11.13 (79) d. 11.8 (74) | Collingwood | 100,022 |
| 2017 | Richmond (11th) | 16.12 (108) d. 8.12 (60) | Adelaide | 100,021 |
| 2016 | Western Bulldogs (2nd) | 13.11 (89) d. 10.7 (67) | Sydney | 99,981 |
2026 Brownlow Medal
The Brownlow Medal, which is also known by its full name as the Charles Brownlow Trophy, is awarded to the best AFL player. It's the Australian equivalent of the MVP (Most Valuable Player) and is the highest individual honour in the AFL.
The winner is determined by the umpires, who cast votes after each game. They will pick out their top three players in a game and award them 3, 2 & 1 stars, with 3 stars being the best player of the game.
Since 1930, the countback procedure to determine the winner has been the number of three-star awards received; if it ends in a tie, then they will count the two-star awards received and if still a tie, then the one-star awards.
Only four players have ever won the medal three times (the most), those were Haydn Bunton Sr. (Fitzroy), Dick Reynolds (Essendon), Bob Skilton (South Melbourne) & Ian Stewart (St Kilda/Richmond).
Last Ten Brownlow Medal Winners
| Year | Player | Team | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Matthew Rowell | Gold Coast | 39 |
| 2024 | Patrick Cripps | Carlton | 45 |
| 2023 | Lachie Neale | Brisbane Lions | 31 |
| 2022 | Patrick Cripps | Carlton | 29 |
| 2021 | Ollie Wines | Port Adelaide | 36 |
| 2020 | Lachie Neale | Brisbane Lions | 31 |
| 2019 | Nat Fyfe | Fremantle | 33 |
| 2018 | Tom Mitchell | Hawthorn | 28 |
| 2017 | Dustin Martin | Richmond | 36 |
| 2016 | Patrick Dangerfield | Geelong | 35 |
Contributor Details
Andy Powell, an AFL connoisseur, spearheads the dynamic AFL content on OLBG with expertise and passion. With a deep-rooted understanding of the game's nuances, Andy creates and maintains the AFL content on OLBG.
Andy Powell
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