Afl Finals Draw How Does It Work

What happens if the 2021 AFL Grand Final is a draw?

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The 2021 AFL Finals series is here as the eight best teams in the nation do battle to win the competition's Premiership trophy.

However the rules for drawn or tied matches is different from the regular season.

Sporting News examines what will happen if the match score is deadlocked at the final siren.

What if the 2021 AFL Grand Final or finals match finishes in a draw at the final siren?

If both teams have the same score at the end of the fourth quarter, the goal umpires will confer to make sure that both scores are identical.

If a drawn result is confirmed, then both teams will have a six-minute break before the game will resume with two three-minute halves.

Teams will change ends at the end of the first three-minute half, but there will be no break, with play immediately resuming once the players are set.

If the scores are still tied at the end of the two three-minute halves, the process of playing another two three-minute halves will be repeated until a winner is found.

Is this different to what happens during the AFL home-and-away season?

Yes.

If a game finishes drawn during the regular season, the result stands and both teams receive two points toward the competition ladder instead of the four for a win.

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What will happen with interchange rotations in 'extra time'?

AFL teams were permitted to make 75 player interchanges per match in 2021, which was down from 90 in 2021.

If a finals match is drawn and goes into 'extra time', each team will receive 10 extra interchange rotations per three-minute period, not including their one medical substitute for the match.

Unused interchange rotations during the 'extra time' periods do not carry over and must be used within their allotted half.

What other tiebreakers have the AFL used for drawn Grand Finals and finals?

While drawn home-and-away games have always resulted in the points being split, there has been a variety of different tiebreakers for cut-throat finals.

Up until 1991, if a final was drawn, the match would be replayed the following weekend, meaning subsequent finals matches were also delayed by a week.

In 1991, extra time was introduced for finals prior to the grand final, with matches resulting in this tiebreaker happening on three occasions since: 1994 Qualifying Final between North Melbourne v Hawthorn, 2007 Semi-Final between West Coast and Collingwood and 2017 Elimination Final between Port Adelaide and West Coast.

The rule for AFL Grand Finals to be replayed the following week wasn't changed until 2016, with three of them resulting in replays in the competition's history: Melbourne v Essendon (1948), Collingwood v North Melbourne (1977) and Collingwood v St Kilda (2010).

From 2016-19, there was a rule implemented for drawn finals and Grand Finals to be decided with a golden point if scores were level at the end of the second period of extra time, but this stipulation was never used.

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