Reigning premiers Hawthorn and perennial finalists Sydney each qualified for their seventh straight finals appearance, the latter a club record. Two clubs that had reached the finals the previous year, but failed to qualify this year, were Fremantle and Richmond; Geelong returned to the finals after missing out the previous year, while Greater Western Sydney contested its first finals series since entering the AFL in 2012.
The matches of the 2016 AFL finals series were contested at six venues around the country.
As was the case last year, Melbourne hosted only four finals matches, including the Grand Final, with all four played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Adelaide Oval and Domain Stadium each hosted one elimination final, and with the first and second qualifying finals being all-Sydney and all-Melbourne affairs respectively, it meant that each city hosted one semi-final and one preliminary final.
In Sydney, ANZ Stadium hosted the first qualifying final between the Sydney Swans and Greater Western Sydney Giants; the Sydney Cricket Ground hosted the Swans' home semi-final, and Spotless Stadium hosted Greater Western Sydney's home preliminary final.[1] The AFL's contract to play Sydney finals at ANZ Stadium was not due to expire until the end of 2016, but it negotiated an early exit in response to the Sydney Swans having negotiated at the start of the season for an early exit to its own contract with the stadium. Under the renegotiated exit, announced in the week before Round 23 of the regular season, it was agreed that the two Sydney-based clubs would play their 2016 home finals at their own home grounds, except in the case of a Sydney Derby, which would be at ANZ Stadium.[2]
The system used for the 2016 AFL finals series is a final eight system. The top four teams in the eight receive the "double chance" when they play in week-one qualifying finals, such that if a top-four team loses in the first week it still remains in the finals, playing a semi-final the next week against the winner of an elimination final. The bottom four of the eight play knock-out games – only the winners survive and move on to the next week. Home-state advantage goes to the team with the higher ladder position in the first two weeks, to the qualifying final winners in the third week.
In the second week, the winners of the qualifying finals receive a bye to the third week. The losers of the qualifying final plays the elimination finals winners in a semi-final. In the third week, the winners of the semi-finals from week two play the winners of the qualifying finals in the first week. The winners of those matches move on to the Grand Final at the MCG in Melbourne.[3]
Second elimination final (West Coast vs. Western Bulldogs)
The opening match of the 2016 finals series saw the first final played on a Thursday night as opposed to the traditional Friday night start to a finals series with the sixth placed West Coast hosting the seventh placed Western Bulldogs at Domain Stadium. The Eagles had finished the season with a 16-6 win–loss record and searched for consistency throughout the year after finishing runners up to Hawthorn in the 2015 AFL Grand Final, where they lost by 46 points. They headed into the finals in strong form, however, banking two interstate wins over Greater Western Sydney and Adelaide as well as beating the Hawks at home to finish with a home final. The Western Bulldogs had qualified for their second consecutive finals series for the first time since 2010 and battled with injuries throughout the year, finishing with a 15-7 win–loss record. Despite this, they managed to beat the Eagles, Crows and Sydney during the home and away season.
This was the first final between the two sides in ten years, with the Eagles defeating the Bulldogs comfortably in the 2006 First Semi Final, also at Subiaco Oval, by 74 points en route to securing the 2006 premiership. They also met in the 1998 and 1999 Qualifying Finals at the MCG, with the Western Bulldogs and West Coast winning by 70 points and 5 points, respectively.
The only meeting between the two clubs in the regular season saw the Western Bulldogs win a close-fought contest by eight points at Etihad Stadium in round 11.
Geelong vs. Hawthorn. Both teams are lined up listening to the national anthem before the match commences.
The second qualifying final, the only finals match to be played in Melbourne in the first week of the finals series, saw second-placed Geelong face third-placed Hawthorn at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. After missing the finals the previous year for the first time since 2006, Geelong produced a strong home-and-away season to finish in the top two with a record of 17–5. Hawthorn, meanwhile, also finished with a 17–5 record, but its poor percentage of 118.6, caused by a 75-point loss to Greater Western Sydney in round six, meant it finished third on the ladder, 25.2 percentage points behind Geelong. They also headed into the finals series in modest form, losing two of their final four matches, including a 29-point loss to Melbourne in round 20, costing them the minor premiership.
The only meeting between the two clubs in the regular season saw Geelong, on the back of a dominant performance from club debutant Patrick Dangerfield, win by 30 points at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in round one.
Isaac Smith missed the post-siren set-shot which would have sent Hawthorn straight to the Preliminary Final. Smith's previous 11 scoring shots in finals had all been successful goals.
First qualifying final (Sydney vs. Greater Western Sydney)
The first qualifying final saw 2016 minor premiers the Sydney Swans face fourth-placed Greater Western Sydney, who were participating in its first finals series since entering the AFL in 2012, at ANZ Stadium. On 25 August 2016, it was announced that the Swans would play all their finals matches at the Sydney Cricket Ground, which has a capacity of 48,000, except that if their opponent was Greater Western Sydney, it would be played at the larger ANZ Stadium, due to the potential for a large crowd. The all-Sydney final was set up after the Swans and Giants defeated Richmond and North Melbourne by 113 and 37 points respectively, in addition to Adelaide losing to West Coast by 29 points and Hawthorn defeating Collingwood by one point, in the final round of the regular season.
After exiting the 2015 AFL finals series in straight sets, the Swans proved to be the most consistent team throughout the 2016 season, compiling a 17–5 record over 22 matches, having the best percentage of any team with 151.2, and only conceding 1469 points, the fewest of any team and 85 points less than the next-best defensive team, Geelong. The Giants, meanwhile, finished fourth with a record of 16–6 (after losing two of its first three matches) and a percentage of 143.1, the third-best in the AFL only behind the Sydney Swans and Geelong. Both the Swans and Giants were the only teams to have defeated both Geelong and Hawthorn at least once during the regular season.
The two regular season meetings between the Swans and Giants were split, with the Swans winning by 25 points at the Sydney Cricket Ground in round three, and the Giants returning serve with a 42-point win at Spotless Stadium in round twelve; the latter result was Sydney's heaviest defeat for the season, with their other four losses being by ten points or less.
First elimination final (Adelaide vs. North Melbourne)
The first elimination final saw fifth-placed Adelaide face eighth-placed North Melbourne in what was the second final to be played at the Adelaide Oval. The Crows had entered the final round of the regular season in second place, with a chance to confirm its first top-two finish since 2012, but, without suspended midfielder Rory Sloane, lost by 29 points to the West Coast Eagles at home, and, with other results going against them, resulted in the club dropping to fifth on the ladder at the conclusion of the regular season. North Melbourne, meanwhile, entered the finals series in very poor form, winning only three matches after starting the season with nine straight victories, a club record, to finish eighth with a record of 12–10.
This was the first finals meeting between the two clubs since the 1998 AFL Grand Final, which Adelaide won by 35 points for its second (and to date, most recent) premiership.
The two regular season meetings between the two clubs were split, with the Kangaroos winning by ten points at Etihad Stadium in round one and an inaccurate Adelaide winning by 33 points at the Adelaide Oval in round 14.
Minor premiers for the ninth time, the Sydney Swans finished the home-and-away season with a 17-5 record. They were defeated by the GWS Giants in the qualifying final by 36 points, but bounced back with a semi-final victory against Adelaide, and then a 37-point preliminary final win against Geelong at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for their third grand final appearance in five years.
Injuries ended the 2016 season for key Western Bulldogs players: captain Robert Murphy (round 3) and Jack Redpath (round 18) ruptured their anterior cruciate ligament, and midfielder Mitch Wallis (round 18) fractured his left tibia and fibula. Jason Johannisen and Matt Suckling also sat out for extended periods. The Bulldogs nevertheless won 15 games to finish 7th on the home-and-away ladder and qualify for the finals for the second consecutive year. Against the odds, they eliminated both 2015's grand finalists, West Coast and Hawthorn, in the elimination and semi-finals respectively. The Bulldogs then beat the Giants at Spotless Stadium by six points to qualify for their first grand final appearance since 1961. In doing so, the Bulldogs became the first team since Carlton in 1999 to reach a grand final after finishing the home-and-away season outside of the top four and the first team to do so under the current finals format that was introduced in 2000.
Sydney and the Western Bulldogs met in round 15 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Returning from injury and with just four seconds remaining, Bulldogs defender Johannisen kicked a goal to defeat the Swans 11.13 (79) to 13.5 (83).
