Red Crow
Modrarator
Every year when finals roll around, all sorts of questions relating to uniform and naming conventions for the Grand Final arise. That means that every year, I go digging through Patrick Keane's tweets and AFL press releases to find evidence to prove points or dispel myths. So I thought it would be a good idea to put it all into one thread which can be referred back to each year.
Now of course, we know that the AFL likes to frequently make things up and change their minds on issues as they go along, so this is all subject to change. What I hope is that this will be a resource to show how things have been done in the past, and also what the current "policy" seems to be.
So lets get into it...
Who has uniform rights for the Grand Final?
Current Policy: The team who finished higher on the ladder
In 2017, it was ruled that Adelaide, as the team who finished higher on the ladder, got to wear their home uniform. The Crows finished on top, while Richmond finished third, and as the two teams are deemed a clash, it was the Tigers who were made to wear their clash guernsey in the Grand Final.
This has been the general policy on numerous occasions, although there has been one occasion where the official word from the AFL suggested otherwise.
Historically, before clash jumpers were in use, the only uniform decision that needed to be made for the Grand Final was which team would wear white shorts. A long held tradition was for the two competing club presidents to toss a coin at the Carbine Club Grand Final week luncheon to decide the shorts, as well as which MCG change rooms the two teams would use.
The first Grand Final for which a uniform decision was made by the AFL was 2007. Geelong (1st) was the higher-ranked team, but they were told to wear white shorts with their predominately-white guernsey, allowing Port Adelaide (2nd) to wear their normal home jumper with black shorts, which avoided the situation of having one team in a clash jumper.
In 2010, with Collingwood (1st) playing St Kilda (3rd), the first clash jumper in a Grand Final was upon us. According to then-Saints CEO Michael Nettlefold, the AFL declared that St Kilda would wear the clash as they were the lower-ranked side. St Kilda were allowed to change into their home guernsey for the presentation in the event of a win, but after the Grand Final was drawn, the Saints fell to the Magpies in the replay.
In 2013, Hawthorn (1st) played Fremantle (3rd) in the Grand Final. On this occasion, it was again determined by the AFL that the higher-ranked team would wear their home uniform. Fremantle were directed to wear white shorts, but given the option of which jumper to wear. They chose to wear their white clash jumper in keeping with their desire to wear only all-purple or all-white.
But it was 2015 where the AFL threw everybody a curveball. West Coast (2nd) played Hawthorn (3rd) in the Grand Final. The two teams had earlier played in the 2nd Qualifying Final at Subiaco Oval. As West Coast's home jumper at the time was a tri-panel of navy, white and gold, this was deemed a clash with Hawthorn's vertical brown and gold stripes, so the Hawks were made to wear their heavily criticised white "power ranger" jumper. With the two teams set to meet again in the Grand Final, the AFL went against previous decisions and declared that uniforms for the Grand Final are solely at the discretion of the AFL, putting the Hawks in home with white shorts, and the Eagles in their royal away jumper with royal shorts.
Despite the tweet from Patrick Keane, the uniforms do still somewhat match the convention of the higher team getting their preferred uniform. Although the royal jumper was West Coast's away jumper at the time, it is said to be their preferred jumper for Grand Finals. The original version of their royal jumper was worn in their 1992 and 1994 premierships, with a modernised version worn in the 2005-06 Grand Finals against Sydney, despite the fact their navy home jumpers at the time didn't clash with the Swans.
2017 returned to an official stance of the higher-placed team having the right to wear their home uniform, and was backed up in 2018 with the higher-ranked West Coast being in full home uniform against Collingwood, who were put in white shorts.
Who gets to be the "home team" for the Grand Final?
Current Policy: The team who finished higher on the ladder
For many years, this was not the case. It was only introduced ahead of the 2016 Grand Final, when Sydney (1st) played the Western Bulldogs (7th). The convention had been that the Grand Final was officially named as "Winner Preliminary Final 1 v Winner Preliminary Final 2". As the Swans lost their Qualifying Final, they ended up on the other side of the draw, and thus won through to the Grand Final via the 2nd Preliminary Final. Going on previous history, the Grand Final should have technically been "Western Bulldogs v Sydney Swans", and early retail versions of the AFL Record were indeed printed in this way.
But the AFL at some point had changed their mind, and all official usage throughout the week and for the matchday edition of the AFL Record was "Sydney Swans v Western Bulldogs". There was no official word from the AFL on this at the time, but journalists from ESPN reported during Grand Final week that the AFL changed their convention to have the higher-ranked team named first.
This rule was finally confirmed by the AFL in 2018. Richmond (1st) had been defeated in the Preliminary Final by Collingwood (3rd). The other Prelim between West Coast (2nd) and Melbourne (5th) was yet to be played. Patrick Keane tweeted to say that the highest ranked team at the end of Round 23 would be named first.
Prior to 2016, the convention for the winner of the 1st Preliminary Final to be named first was true of every year going back to 1996, with the most recent example being 2015 where the Hawthorn (3rd) were the listed home team against West Coast (2nd) after defeating Fremantle (1st) in the 1st Preliminary Final.
What happens with jumpers/naming if a higher-ranked team is beaten by a lower-ranked team in the Qualifying Final, and the teams meet again in the Grand Final?
Current Policy: The team who won the Qualifying Final gets home team status
In early 2024, the rules were codified to determine the home team for the Grand Final under this situation, and it was determined that the team who won the Qualifying Final would indeed be the home team. While the mens Grand Final is permanently at the MCG and Grand Final home team status is for little more than administrative and uniform purposes, it does have a more meaningful impact in AFLW where the higher ranked team actually gets to host the Grand Final, and it was this distinction that led the AFL to permanently amend the rules.
As the finals progress, teams are re-ranked for the purposes of Grand Final hosting and final placings for the draft:
QF winners - seeds 1 and 2
QF losers - seeds 3 and 4
EF winners - seeds 5 and 6
EF losers - seeds 7 and 8
The seeding goes to whoever finished higher on the ladder, so for example a QF winner who finishes fourth would become the second seed, rather than "taking" first seed off the first placed team. Naturally any EF winner that goes on to beat a QF loser continues to climb the seed rankings.
This situation had not actually eventuated after 2015 (when the "winner PF1 v winner PF2" convention was abandoned) and 2024 when the current rules were implemented, so it cannot be said for sure what the policy was during that time. However, Patrick Keane's tweet from 2018 stressed that rankings were determined after the final round of the season, so this suggests that there was no re-ranking during finals, and the team that finished higher on the ladder would still get the benefits. The most recent example of this situation occurring was 2006, where Sydney (4th) defeated West Coast (1st) in the 1st Qualifying Final, before the two sides met again in the Grand Final. Sydney were named first by virtue of winning the 1st Preliminary Final, while both sides wore their preferred uniform as there was no clash.
Does the named home team get uniform rights for the Grand Final?
Current Policy: Yes, by virtue of the individual conventions for uniform and naming standards.
Currently, as the higher-ranked team gets their home uniform and is also named as the "home team", you could argue that this is the case. However, prior to the naming convention change, this was never the case. It was always possible for the "home" team to be the lower-ranked team, and thus not being given uniform rights. The best example of this is 2015 where Hawthorn (3rd) were put in white shorts against West Coast (2nd), despite being the nominal "home" team. The next closest example is the 1997/98 Grand Finals, where Adelaide (4th in 1997, 5th in 1998) was listed first in both games by virtue of winning the 1st Preliminary Final, despite finishing lower than their opponents (both 1st), but wore white shorts against St Kilda (1997) and North Melbourne (1998); however this was in the era of the coin toss.
Now of course, we know that the AFL likes to frequently make things up and change their minds on issues as they go along, so this is all subject to change. What I hope is that this will be a resource to show how things have been done in the past, and also what the current "policy" seems to be.
So lets get into it...
CURRENT AS OF 2025
Who has uniform rights for the Grand Final?
Current Policy: The team who finished higher on the ladder
In 2017, it was ruled that Adelaide, as the team who finished higher on the ladder, got to wear their home uniform. The Crows finished on top, while Richmond finished third, and as the two teams are deemed a clash, it was the Tigers who were made to wear their clash guernsey in the Grand Final.
This has been the general policy on numerous occasions, although there has been one occasion where the official word from the AFL suggested otherwise.
Historically, before clash jumpers were in use, the only uniform decision that needed to be made for the Grand Final was which team would wear white shorts. A long held tradition was for the two competing club presidents to toss a coin at the Carbine Club Grand Final week luncheon to decide the shorts, as well as which MCG change rooms the two teams would use.
The first Grand Final for which a uniform decision was made by the AFL was 2007. Geelong (1st) was the higher-ranked team, but they were told to wear white shorts with their predominately-white guernsey, allowing Port Adelaide (2nd) to wear their normal home jumper with black shorts, which avoided the situation of having one team in a clash jumper.
In 2010, with Collingwood (1st) playing St Kilda (3rd), the first clash jumper in a Grand Final was upon us. According to then-Saints CEO Michael Nettlefold, the AFL declared that St Kilda would wear the clash as they were the lower-ranked side. St Kilda were allowed to change into their home guernsey for the presentation in the event of a win, but after the Grand Final was drawn, the Saints fell to the Magpies in the replay.
In 2013, Hawthorn (1st) played Fremantle (3rd) in the Grand Final. On this occasion, it was again determined by the AFL that the higher-ranked team would wear their home uniform. Fremantle were directed to wear white shorts, but given the option of which jumper to wear. They chose to wear their white clash jumper in keeping with their desire to wear only all-purple or all-white.
But it was 2015 where the AFL threw everybody a curveball. West Coast (2nd) played Hawthorn (3rd) in the Grand Final. The two teams had earlier played in the 2nd Qualifying Final at Subiaco Oval. As West Coast's home jumper at the time was a tri-panel of navy, white and gold, this was deemed a clash with Hawthorn's vertical brown and gold stripes, so the Hawks were made to wear their heavily criticised white "power ranger" jumper. With the two teams set to meet again in the Grand Final, the AFL went against previous decisions and declared that uniforms for the Grand Final are solely at the discretion of the AFL, putting the Hawks in home with white shorts, and the Eagles in their royal away jumper with royal shorts.
Despite the tweet from Patrick Keane, the uniforms do still somewhat match the convention of the higher team getting their preferred uniform. Although the royal jumper was West Coast's away jumper at the time, it is said to be their preferred jumper for Grand Finals. The original version of their royal jumper was worn in their 1992 and 1994 premierships, with a modernised version worn in the 2005-06 Grand Finals against Sydney, despite the fact their navy home jumpers at the time didn't clash with the Swans.
2017 returned to an official stance of the higher-placed team having the right to wear their home uniform, and was backed up in 2018 with the higher-ranked West Coast being in full home uniform against Collingwood, who were put in white shorts.
Who gets to be the "home team" for the Grand Final?
Current Policy: The team who finished higher on the ladder
For many years, this was not the case. It was only introduced ahead of the 2016 Grand Final, when Sydney (1st) played the Western Bulldogs (7th). The convention had been that the Grand Final was officially named as "Winner Preliminary Final 1 v Winner Preliminary Final 2". As the Swans lost their Qualifying Final, they ended up on the other side of the draw, and thus won through to the Grand Final via the 2nd Preliminary Final. Going on previous history, the Grand Final should have technically been "Western Bulldogs v Sydney Swans", and early retail versions of the AFL Record were indeed printed in this way.
But the AFL at some point had changed their mind, and all official usage throughout the week and for the matchday edition of the AFL Record was "Sydney Swans v Western Bulldogs". There was no official word from the AFL on this at the time, but journalists from ESPN reported during Grand Final week that the AFL changed their convention to have the higher-ranked team named first.
This rule was finally confirmed by the AFL in 2018. Richmond (1st) had been defeated in the Preliminary Final by Collingwood (3rd). The other Prelim between West Coast (2nd) and Melbourne (5th) was yet to be played. Patrick Keane tweeted to say that the highest ranked team at the end of Round 23 would be named first.
Prior to 2016, the convention for the winner of the 1st Preliminary Final to be named first was true of every year going back to 1996, with the most recent example being 2015 where the Hawthorn (3rd) were the listed home team against West Coast (2nd) after defeating Fremantle (1st) in the 1st Preliminary Final.
What happens with jumpers/naming if a higher-ranked team is beaten by a lower-ranked team in the Qualifying Final, and the teams meet again in the Grand Final?
Current Policy: The team who won the Qualifying Final gets home team status
In early 2024, the rules were codified to determine the home team for the Grand Final under this situation, and it was determined that the team who won the Qualifying Final would indeed be the home team. While the mens Grand Final is permanently at the MCG and Grand Final home team status is for little more than administrative and uniform purposes, it does have a more meaningful impact in AFLW where the higher ranked team actually gets to host the Grand Final, and it was this distinction that led the AFL to permanently amend the rules.
As the finals progress, teams are re-ranked for the purposes of Grand Final hosting and final placings for the draft:
QF winners - seeds 1 and 2
QF losers - seeds 3 and 4
EF winners - seeds 5 and 6
EF losers - seeds 7 and 8
The seeding goes to whoever finished higher on the ladder, so for example a QF winner who finishes fourth would become the second seed, rather than "taking" first seed off the first placed team. Naturally any EF winner that goes on to beat a QF loser continues to climb the seed rankings.
This situation had not actually eventuated after 2015 (when the "winner PF1 v winner PF2" convention was abandoned) and 2024 when the current rules were implemented, so it cannot be said for sure what the policy was during that time. However, Patrick Keane's tweet from 2018 stressed that rankings were determined after the final round of the season, so this suggests that there was no re-ranking during finals, and the team that finished higher on the ladder would still get the benefits. The most recent example of this situation occurring was 2006, where Sydney (4th) defeated West Coast (1st) in the 1st Qualifying Final, before the two sides met again in the Grand Final. Sydney were named first by virtue of winning the 1st Preliminary Final, while both sides wore their preferred uniform as there was no clash.
Does the named home team get uniform rights for the Grand Final?
Current Policy: Yes, by virtue of the individual conventions for uniform and naming standards.
Currently, as the higher-ranked team gets their home uniform and is also named as the "home team", you could argue that this is the case. However, prior to the naming convention change, this was never the case. It was always possible for the "home" team to be the lower-ranked team, and thus not being given uniform rights. The best example of this is 2015 where Hawthorn (3rd) were put in white shorts against West Coast (2nd), despite being the nominal "home" team. The next closest example is the 1997/98 Grand Finals, where Adelaide (4th in 1997, 5th in 1998) was listed first in both games by virtue of winning the 1st Preliminary Final, despite finishing lower than their opponents (both 1st), but wore white shorts against St Kilda (1997) and North Melbourne (1998); however this was in the era of the coin toss.
Last edited:
