The 2026 AFL Grand Final is here.
The Brisbane Lions will play the Fremantle Dockers at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.
Both teams have a shot at history, but only one will raise the Premiership Cup.
Here’s what you need to know before the match starts at 2:30pm (AEST).
The Dockers
Let’s start with the Fremantle Dockers.
The Dockers were the competition’s most dominant team this season, winning 19 matches to finish atop the ladder and claim the minor premiership for the second time in the club’s history.
Since entering the AFL in 1995, the WA-based outfit has never won the competition.
Winning their first flag by beating a Brisbane Lions team already considered one of the best this century would make it that much sweeter.
The Lions
Despite some patchy performances this season (including a 76-point loss to Carlton in Round 21), the Lions head into the match as favourites, and for good reason.
Brisbane are playing in their fourth straight Grand Final, having won premierships in 2024 and 2025.
A win on Saturday would make them the second Lions team this century to win three premierships in a row.
Neale’s appeal
Perhaps the biggest storyline this week was Brisbane Lions star Lachie Neale successfully overturning a one-match ban at the AFL’s Appeals Board.
The two-time Brownlow medallist will instead pay a fine of $10,000 for striking Hawthorn’s Jack Ginnivan in last week’s preliminary final.
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The decision, which has been heavily scrutinised, means Neale will take to the field regardless of what fans think.
Wharfie Time
This week, the AFL also gave ’Wharfie Time’ the green light for the Grand Final.
Wharfie Time is an in-stadium activation implemented at Dockers’ home games to rally the team’s fans and spur the players on in tight contests.
It consists of special lighting, a vision of rough seas on the big screen, and the tolling of ACDC’s ’Hells Bells’.
On Saturday, the Dockers will only be allowed to use it once, as a post-goal celebration in the final quarter if the match is close.
At Brisbane Lions home games, every player has a signature goalscoring song.
The AFL gave the Lions the nod of approval to press play on them last year, and the same will apply this time around.
Logan Morris, the Lions’ top goalscorer this season, has Kylie Minogue’s ’On a Night Like This’ as his song.
It’s fitting given Kylie will headline the Grand Final’s pre-match entertainment this year.
Norm Smith Medal
The Norm Smith Medal is the award given to the best on ground in the Grand Final.
It’s usually given to a player on the winning team.
Since its inception in 1979, only four players from a losing Grand Final team have taken home ’The Norm’.
Brisbane’s Will Ashcroft, sometimes referred to as ’Mr. September’ for his exceptional finals performances, has won the award in the past two Grand Finals.
Ashcroft could become the second player ever (after Richmond’s Dustin Martin) to win it three times.
