The 2026 Toyota AFL Grand Final is Brisbane v Fremantle, at the MCG on Saturday 26 September, first bounce 2.30pm AEST — 12.30pm for anyone watching in Perth. Coverage starts at 2pm.
Here is the detail that frames the whole thing: neither of these clubs won a final in week one. Brisbane were beaten by 53 points at the SCG. Fremantle, the minor premiers, were beaten by 32 at home and scored ten points in the first half doing it. Both then won two straight to get here.
Whatever else this Grand Final is, it is not a coronation for either side.
How Fremantle got here
Three weeks ago Fremantle kicked 1.4 (10) in the first half of a home qualifying final and lost to Hawthorn. Since then they have won a shootout and a comeback.
In the semi-final they beat Geelong 18.12 (120) to 16.10 (106) in front of a club-record 59,725 at Optus Stadium, with Luke Jackson producing a five-minute passage of two goals and an assist to settle it after the Cats had led in the third.
Then the preliminary final at the SCG: Fremantle 12.11 (83) defeated Sydney 10.11 (71), after trailing by 28 points midway through the third quarter. They kicked five unanswered in the final term and had 23 inside 50s to Sydney’s six in that quarter. Mason Cox’s set shot sealed it. Hayden Young and Jackson led it, Andrew Brayshaw had 29 disposals, and Shai Bolton and Isaiah Dudley kicked two each.
It is Fremantle’s second Grand Final. The first was 2013, and they lost it to Hawthorn — the same club that beat them a fortnight ago and has since been eliminated.
How Brisbane got here
Brisbane lost their qualifying final to Sydney by 53 points. They then won their semi-final against Adelaide by 53 points — 21.18 (144) to 13.13 (91), including five goals in the first seven minutes and 13 seconds.
And on Saturday they won a preliminary final that will be argued about for years, 20.11 (131) to Hawthorn’s 19.8 (122), in front of 97,835 at the MCG, off a holding-the-ball free kick against Jarman Impey with 36 seconds left.
This is their fourth consecutive Grand Final. They are chasing a three-peat. Will Ashcroft, Lachie Neale, Josh Dunkley, Hugh McCluggage, Harris Andrews — this is a group that has now played more September football than any list in the competition.
The matchup
Brisbane score in bursts. Five goals in seven minutes against Adelaide, twelve combined goals in the last quarter against Hawthorn, 144 and 131 in consecutive finals. If they get a run going at the MCG, the question is whether Fremantle can absorb it — because they have now twice been behind by four goals or more in a final and come back.
Fremantle’s path runs through the ruck and the middle. Luke Jackson has been the most influential player of their September: 25 disposals, 35 hit-outs and two goals against Geelong, then the passage that broke that game open. Brisbane’s midfield is the best-credentialled left in the competition, and that is the contest that will decide where the football goes.
The travel question favours Brisbane slightly — Fremantle cross the country for the second time in three weeks — but the MCG is neutral for both, and Fremantle have now won finals in Perth and Sydney in consecutive weeks.
