List of Australian Football League premiers

This page is a complete chronological listing of Australian Football League premiers. The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1990, is now the elite national competition in Australian rules football.

Each year, the premiership is awarded to the club which wins the AFL Grand Final. The grand final has been played in all VFL/AFL seasons except for 1897 and 1924, and has been an annual tradition in its current format since 1931. While Carlton and Essendon have won the most VFL/AFL premierships with 16, Essendon won in 1897 and 1924, meaning Carlton have won the most grand finals of any club.

Since the introduction by the League of equalisation policies of a salary cap and draft in the late 1980s,^[1] every AFL club (except for Gold Coast, which joined the league in only 2011) has made a preliminary final. This has had a significant impact on the spread of premierships: eleven clubs won premierships in the eighteen seasons between 1990 and 2007, compared with only five clubs in the twenty-three seasons between 1967 and 1989.^[2]

List of premiers

The following is a list of the premiers, and the grand final results and circumstances. Most conventional grand finals are a single match at the end of a finals series where the winner of the match wins the premiership.

Under the early VFL finals systems in 1898-1923 and 1925-1930, the circumstances of the grand final were often different: in twenty-nine of these thirty-two years, the minor premiers had the right to challenge the winner of the finals series for the premiership, meaning the grand finals of this era were a mixture of challenge matches, non-challenge matches (which would have been followed by challenge matches had the minor premier been defeated), while in 1901, 1903 and 1906 there was no right of challenge. Regardless of the circumstances at that time, all of these games are now recognised as grand finals.

VFL/AFL Premiers

Premierships by team

This table summarises all senior premierships won by each team. The "Grand Final Matches" column includes all grand finals and grand final replays listed in the previous section, and because of this, the column will not necessarily equal the sum of the premierships and runners-up columns.

Table correct to the end of the 2016 season

^† Grand Final matches is adjusted for the following reasons:

• Essendon - includes 1948 replay, and excludes the 1897 and 1924 seasons in which no Grand Finals were held.
• Collingwood - includes the 1977 and 2010 replays.
• Melbourne - includes 1948 replay.
• Richmond - excludes the 1924 season in which no Grand Final was held.
• Geelong - excludes the 1897 season in which no Grand Final was held.
• North Melbourne - includes the 1977 replay.
• St Kilda - includes the 2010 replay.

Premiership frequency

Longest premiership droughts

• *The duration of the drought is given as the number of full seasons contested between premierships; the season in which the drought is broken is considered to be part of the drought.
• ^a St Kilda did not contest the 1916 and 1917 seasons; the duration of this drought was either 68 contested seasons, or 70 calendar years.

Table correct to the end of the 2016 season

Consecutive premierships

The most VFL/AFL premierships won consecutively is four, achieved only once, by Collingwood (1927–1930). Teams have won three premierships in a row on a further five occasions, and back-to-back premierships have been won on a further seventeen occasions.

Table correct to the end of the 2016 season

Consecutive grand finals

The most consecutive years in which a club has featured in the VFL/AFL grand final is seven, achieved by Melbourne and Hawthorn.

¹ Essendon drew the grand final, and lost the replay to Melbourne.
² North Melbourne drew the grand final, and defeated Collingwood in the replay.

Table correct to the end of the 2016 season

Minor grades

In addition to the seniors, VFL/AFL clubs have competed in premierships at four minor grades:

• Reserves/Seconds (1919–1999)
• Under-19s/Thirds (1946–1991)
• AFL Women's (since 2017)
• Night Series / Pre-Season Competition (1956–1971, 1977–2013)

Reserve grade premierships

The reserve grade premiership was held in various formats between 1919 and 1999. It was known as the Victorian Junior Football League from 1919 until 1923, the Seconds from 1924 until 1959, the VFL Reserves from 1960 until 1989, and as the AFL reserves from 1990 until 1999.^[3] Until 1991, the competition was run by the VFL/AFL, and from 1992 until 1999 it was administered by the Victorian State Football League.

Under-19s

The VFL/AFL's Under-19s competition was held between 1946 and 1991. It was known as the VFL Thirds until 1959, and as the Under-19s thereafter.^[3]

AFL Women's

The AFL Women's competition commenced in 2017, featuring eight AFL clubs.

Night series/preseason

The pre-season and night premiership covers three competitions which are considered historically equivalent in status:

• VFL Night Series, a consolation competition played amongst non-finalists between 1956 and 1971.
• Australian Football Championships Night Series, a mid-season knock-out competition played concurrently with the premiership and involving teams from interstate, played between 1977 and 1987.
• Australian Football League pre-season competition, played before each season from 1988 until 2013.

For a list of premiers in these competitions, see list of Australian Football League pre-season and night series premiers.

Premierships at all levels

Table correct to the end of the 2017 AFL Women's season.

Premierships in three grades in a season

On only two occasions did a club win premierships in three grades in a single year. During the years that it was achievable, no club ever won premiership in all four grades.

See also

• List of Australian Football League premiership captains and coaches
• List of Australian Football League pre-season and night series premiers
• List of Australian Football League wooden spoons
• AFL Grand Final

References

Sources

• Australian Football League
• Full Points Footy
• AFL Tables