The 1978 NFL Championship Series was the third edition of the NFL Night Series, an NFL-organised national club Australian rules football tournament between the leading clubs from the SANFL, the WANFL, the VFA and State Representative Teams.

The 1978 NFL edition continued on a similar basis to the previous season with the VFL again running their own Night Series at VFL Park. However, the first signs of a breakaway appeared with the Tasmanian Representative Side choosing to participate in both the NFL and VFL competitions – making them the first non-VFL team to play in the VFL Night Series.

Qualified teams TeamNicknameLeagueQualificationParticipation (bold indicates winners)1Port AdelaideMagpiesSANFLWinners of the 1977 South Australian National Football League7th GlenelgTigersSANFLRunners-Up in the 1977 South Australian National Football League4th West AdelaideBloodsSANFLThird Place in the 1977 South Australian National Football League5th South AdelaidePanthersSANFLFourth Place in the 1977 South Australian National Football League4th NorwoodRedlegsSANFLFifth Place in the 1977 South Australian National Football League6th PerthDemonsWANFLWinners of the 1977 Western Australian National Football League2nd East FremantleSharksWANFLRunners-Up in the 1977 Western Australian National Football League3rd West PerthFalconsWANFLThird Place in the 1977 Western Australian National Football League4th East PerthRoyalsWANFLFourth Place in the 1977 Western Australian National Football League2nd Port MelbourneBoroughsVFAWinners of the 1977 Victorian Football Association Premiership2nd SandringhamZebrasVFARunners-Up in the 1977 Victorian Football Association Premiership1stCoburgLionsVFAThird Place in the 1977 Victorian Football Association Premiership1stAustralian Capital TerritoryRamsACTAFL State Representative Team2nd New South WalesBluesNSWAFLState Representative Team2nd QueenslandMaroonsQAFLState Representative Team2nd TasmaniaDevilsTANFLState Representative Team3rd 1 Includes previous appearances in the Championship of Australia.

Venues AdelaideMelbournePerthBrisbane Norwood Oval Lake Oval Subiaco Oval Brisbane Cricket Ground Capacity: 22,000 Capacity: 20,000 Capacity: 53,000 Capacity: 35,000

Knockout stage

Round 1

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

NFL Championship Series final

References