The 2026 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match that was contested between the Fremantle Football Club and the Brisbane Lions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday, 26 September 2026. It was the 131st annual grand final of the Australian Football League, staged to determine the premiers of the 2026 AFL season. Brisbane won by a margin of seven points, after kicking four goals in the final five minutes of the match to overcome a 17-point deficit. It was Brisbane's sixth premiership overall, and third consecutive premiership.
Background Fremantle entered the 2026 season following a one-point elimination final loss to the seventh-placed Gold Coast Suns in 2025. The Dockers claimed the 2026 minor premiership, the second in the club's history, with a 19–4 record. This run included a dominant 14-match winning streak following a first-round loss to Geelong. In their first qualifying final, Fremantle suffered an upset loss at Optus Stadium to Hawthorn, 5.10 (40) to 10.12 (72). The following week, they hosted Geelong in a semi-final; after trailing in the third quarter, the Dockers recovered to narrowly win 18.12 (120) to 16.10 (106). Fremantle then travelled to the Sydney Cricket Ground to face the Sydney Swans in a preliminary final. After the Swans led by a game-high 28 points late in the third quarter, Fremantle kicked six consecutive goals and restricted Sydney to just one behind in the final quarter, triumphing 12.11 (83) to 10.11 (71). It was Fremantle's second-ever grand final appearance and their first since 2013.
Brisbane entered the 2026 season as back-to-back reigning premiers, having won both the 2024 and 2025 grand finals. Brisbane sat at 6–6 after round 12, then won 10 of their next 11 matches, finishing the regular season with a 16–7 record and placing third on the ladder. Their finals campaign commenced against the Sydney Swans at the SCG. Brisbane went in as heavy favourites, as Sydney was missing several key players due to internal suspensions stemming from an investigation into player misconduct. However, in a major upset, the Lions were soundly defeated 21.15 (141) to 13.10 (88). The following week, Brisbane comfortably defeated the Adelaide Crows 21.18 (144) to 13.13 (91) at the Gabba. They then faced Hawthorn in a preliminary final at the MCG, winning a thriller, 20.11 (131) to 19.8 (122), in what is widely considered one of the greatest preliminary finals ever played. Trailing in the third quarter, Brisbane kicked seven consecutive goals to take a 28-point lead early in the final term. Hawthorn responded with five unanswered goals to edge ahead by three points late in the game. In the final minute, a crucial
free kick for holding the ball in the forward line allowed Hugh McCluggage to kick the go-ahead goal with just 18 seconds remaining. Brisbane secured the ensuing centre clearance and kicked another goal after the siren to extend the final margin to nine points. This victory secured Brisbane's fourth consecutive grand final appearance.
Fremantle was seeking its maiden AFL premiership, having appeared in only one previous grand final, a 15-point loss to Hawthorn in 2013. Brisbane was contesting its fourth consecutive grand final, aiming for its sixth premiership overall and attempting to become the seventh VFL/AFL club in history to win three or more consecutive flags. The two sides have never previously met in a finals series.
The two clubs met once during the 2026 regular season, with Fremantle recording a 25-point victory over the Lions at the Gabba in round 12. Brisbane opened as the clear favourite with bookmakers, holding odds of $1.65 compared to Fremantle's $2.30 on the Sunday prior to the game.
Entertainment The match commenced at 2:30 pm AEST as scheduled. + 2026 AFL Grand Final schedule Time (AEST) Event 1:25 pm G Flip performance 1:33 pm Toyota Retiree Motorcade and Mike Brady performance 1:39 pm Telstra Pre-Game Entertainment – Kylie Minogue 2:09 pm AAMI ball delivery 2:11 pm Umpires enter the field 2:13 pm Brisbane Lions enter the field 2:16 pm Fremantle enter the field 2:24 pm Delivery of the 2026 Premiership Cup by Luke Hodge 2:25 pm Welcome to Country performed by Uncle Colin Hunter Jnr 2:26 pm National Anthem performed by Michael Paynter 2:28 pm Coin Toss & Toyota Countdown to Bounce 2:30 pm 2026 Toyota AFL Grand Final starts Half-Time NAB AFL Auskick, Telstra Half-Time Sprint
Pre-match entertainment
The pre-match entertainment was headlined by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. She was accompanied by regular grand final performer Mike Brady, William Barton on guitar during "Confide in Me" and multi-instrumentalist singer G Flip on "Padam Padam". The national anthem was performed by Michael Paynter.
The pre-show entertainment also had appearances from Dom Dolla, who remixed "Can't Get You Out of My Head", and the comedy duo The Inspired Unemployed, who served as conductors during Minogue's performance of "The Loco-Motion".
Match summary The match was played in wet conditions, with light to moderate showers falling throughout the morning and first quarter of the match.
First quarter
An early miss by Fremantle's Patrick Voss led to Brisbane forward Charlie Cameron kicking the first goal of the game three minutes in. Fremantle's Josh Treacy scored less than two minutes later. The game remained close as each side missed shots, and the scores were tied until Isaiah Dudley put Fremantle ahead 18 minutes into the quarter. Brisbane quickly kicked two goals of their own, but another Fremantle goal, and a "play on; not 15 metres" call that prevented Treacy from having another shot at goal on the quarter-time siren, left Brisbane leading Fremantle by one point, 3.5 (23) to 3.4 (22), heading into quarter time.
Second quarter An excellent contested mark by Treacy early in the second quarter led to Fremantle taking the lead with a Patrick Voss goal after a minute. The two sides continued to trade goals, though Fremantle was the stronger of the two in the midfield, with Caleb Serong amassing eight clearances by the end of the half. Voss continued to make an impact on the game, putting Fremantle ahead first with a behind and then a goal midway through the quarter. Brisbane continued to fight back, with a Sam Draper goal shortly after the halfway mark evening the scores once again; the largest margin for either team in the first half was only seven points. Desperate lunges by Brisbane co-captain Josh Dunkley at the top of the 50-metre arc smothered consecutive shots at goal by Fremantle players, with the second smother leaving him bloodied. By the end of the half, the scores were tied at 6.7 (43) apiece. Brisbane's Dayne Zorko had the most disposals of any player to half time with 15, while Fremantle's Murphy Reid and Shai Bolton followed with 14 and 13, respectively.
Third quarter Fremantle took control of general play through the beginning of the third quarter, and over a dominant 12-minute period led inside-50s (7–2) and clearances (8–2). Fremantle managed two goals during this period – by Jye Amiss in the 5th minute and Isaiah Dudley in the 13th minute – but also kicked three behinds and failed to score with several other gettable chances, extending the margin to 15 points. Kai Lohmann kicked Brisbane's first goal in the 16th minute, sparking a run of three goals in eight minutes against the run of play for the Lions: to Lohmann, Allen (20th minute) and Cameron (23rd minute), which gave Brisbane a one-point lead. The lead was short-lived as Hayden Young kicked a goal after Fremantle won the ensuing centre clearance, and kicked another goal in the 31st minute to give Fremantle a 10.12 (72) to 9.8 (62) advantage at three-quarter time.
Fremantle dominated most aspects of the third quarter, recording 21 inside-50s and winning every centre clearance; but errant goalkicking meant they had scored only 4.5 (29), with several other misses, compared with Brisbane's 3.1 (19). Serong continued his dominance in clearances, having now had 12 for the match. Fremantle captain Alex Pearce left the field with an achilles tendon injury early in the quarter, immediately ruling him out for the remainder of the game.
Final quarter The fourth quarter continued as a tight affair. Brisbane had the better of the first fifteen minutes, controlling 70% of territory, but only managed one goal during that time, Logan Morris's first for the match. Both teams missed chances, Brisbane kicking four behinds during that time and Fremantle kicking three, with the margin reduced to two points.
Over the following seven minutes, Fremantle had the better of play. Michael Frederick intercepted an errant attemped rebound and kicked a goal from a 30-metre set shot to extend the lead to nine points in the 17th minute. Three minutes later, Josh Treacy gathered the ball over the back of a pack in the goal square; he went to torpedo the ball into the upper grandstands, but he was barely nudged off his kick by a desperate defensive effort from Brisbane's Ryan Lester, causing him to miss the goal from only a couple of metres out. Matthew Johnson kicked a further behind one minute later; but Bolton intercepted Brisbane's kick-in and passed to Voss at the top of the goal square, who kicked his third goal in the 22nd minute. With 4:18 of game time remaining, Fremantle now led by a game-high 17 points. Fremantle's off-field team chose this moment to activate their crowd support routine "Wharfie Time" after the goal, a once-per-match call for noise accompanied by AC/DC's "Hells Bells", generating excitement from the Fremantle fans.
The celebrations were then quickly silenced, as Brisbane kicked two goals in the next 45 seconds of playing time to bring the margin back to five points: Cameron kicked the first with a 25-metre snap after collecting on the lead; and Zac Bailey kicked the second from a 40-metre snap out of congestion. With two minutes remaining, a quick Brisbane rebound chain from defensive 50 ended with a contested overhead mark by Logan Morris, and he kicked a goal from 35 metres directly in front to put Brisbane one point ahead with 1:04 remaining. Fremantle had one more foray forward inside the final minute, but Brisbane cleared to a stoppage on the wing. Brisbane cleared from the final stoppage, finishing with Morris snapping his third goal of the quarter in the final seconds to extend the margin to seven points. The final score was Brisbane 14.12 (96) def. Fremantle 12.17 (89).
Will Ashcroft was dominant during the final four minutes, with six disposals and four clearances, including three centre clearances; he had twelve disposals across the entire final quarter. Logan Morris kicked three final quarter goals.
Overall Over the match, Brisbane led most basic statistical indicators, including disposals (358–308), kicks (245–203), handballs (113–105) and marks (84–77) – although Fremantle was able to keep Brisbane well below its season average of 108 marks. Fremantle, on the other hand, dominated most of the contested statistics, including free kicks (12–7), contested marks (17–7), inside-50s (62–48), hitouts (51–33), clearances (45–31) and centre clearances (17–9) – for centre clearances in particular, Fremantle won every centre clearance in the second and third quarters, and Brisbane had won only five for the entire match before it won four in a row during the comeback in the final four minutes. Inaccurate goalkicking by Fremantle across the match proved decisive, as the expected result based on the league average for the quality of shots taken at goal would have seen Fremantle win by a score of 97–86. Brisbane coach Chris Fagan, in his post-match speech while receiving the Jock McHale Medal, admitted that Fremantle had probably deserved to win the match.