LIST OF AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE PREMIERS

This page is a chronological listing of 'Australian Football League premiers'. The Australian Football League (formerly Victorian Football League) is the elite competition in Australian rules football. Between 1897, when the VFL was formed, and the 1980s where the VFL expanded nationally and was eventually renamed in 1990 (to the AFL), it was theoretically just one of the state-based competitions. However, Melbourne's superior financial resources and population saw the VFL competition the strongest league in the country for most of that period.
Since the introduction of the salary cap and the draft in the late 80's, every AFL club has played finals football. Since 1998, every club has played in a preliminary final.

Contents

Results

The VFL

The AFL

Premiership Tally

Recent History

Premierships at All Levels

Efficiency of Teams

Longest Premiership Droughts

Notes

References

See also

Sources

Results

The VFL

'Season'	'Premier'	'Runner Up'	'Score'	'Venue'	'Attendance'
1897	Essendon	Geelong	No Grand Final	No Venue	N/A
1898	Fitzroy	Essendon	5.8 (38) - 3.5 (23)	Junction Oval	16,538
1899	Fitzroy	South Melbourne	3.9 (27) - 3.8 (26)	Junction Oval	4,823
1900	Melbourne	Fitzroy	4.10 (34) - 3.12 (30)	East Melbourne	20,181
1901	Essendon	Collingwood	6.7 (43) - 2.4 (16)	Lake Oval	30,031
1902	Collingwood	Essendon	9.6 (60) - 3.9 (27)	MCG	35,202
1903	Collingwood	Fitzroy	4.7 (31) - 3.11 (29)	MCG	32,263
1904	Fitzroy	Carlton	9.7 (61) - 5.7 (37)	MCG	32,688
1905	Fitzroy	Collingwood	4.6 (30) - 2.5 (17)	MCG	30,000
1906	Carlton	Fitzroy	15.4 (94) - 6.9 (45)	MCG	44,437
1907	Carlton	South Melbourne	6.14 (50) - 6.9 (45)	MCG	45,477
1908	Carlton	Essendon	5.5 (35) - 3.8 (26)	MCG	50,261
1909	South Melbourne	Carlton	4.14 (38) - 4.12 (36)	MCG	37,759
1910	Collingwood	Carlton	9.7 (61) - 6.11 (47)	MCG	42,790
1911	Essendon	Collingwood	5.11 (41) - 4.11 (35)	MCG	43,905
1912	Essendon	South Melbourne	5.17 (47) - 4.9 (33)	MCG	54,434
1913	Fitzroy	St Kilda	7.14 (56) - 5.13 (43)	MCG	59,556
1914	Carlton	South Melbourne	6.9 (45) - 4.15 (39)	MCG	30,495
1915	Carlton	Collingwood	11.12 (78) - 6.9 (45)	MCG	39,343
1916	Fitzroy	Carlton	12.13 (85) - 8.8 (56)	MCG	21,130
1917	Collingwood	Fitzroy	9.20 (74) - 5.9 (39)	MCG	25,512
1918	South Melbourne	Collingwood	9.8 (62) - 7.15 (57)	MCG	39,262
1919	Collingwood	Richmond	11.12 (78) - 7.1 (53)	MCG	45,413
1920	Richmond	Collingwood	7.10 (52) - 5.5 (35)	MCG	53,908
1921	Richmond	Carlton	5.6 (36) - 4.8 (32)	MCG	43,122
1922	Fitzroy	Collingwood	11.13 (79) - 9.14 (68)	MCG	50,054
1923	Essendon	Fitzroy	8.15 (63) - 6.10 (46)	MCG	46,566
1924	Essendon	Richmond	No Grand Final	No Venue	N/A
1925	Geelong	Collingwood	10.19 (79) - 9.15 (69)	MCG	64,288
1926	Melbourne	Collingwood	17.17 (119) - 9.8 (62)	MCG	59,632
1927	Collingwood	Richmond	2.13 (25) - 1.7 (13)	MCG	34,551
1928	Collingwood	Richmond	13.18 (96) - 9.9 (63)	MCG	50,026
1929	Collingwood	Richmond	11.13 (79) - 7.8 (50)	MCG	63,336
1930	Collingwood	Geelong	14.16 (100) - 9.16 (70)	MCG	45,022
1931	Geelong	Richmond	9.14 (68) - 7.6 (48)	MCG	60,712
1932	Richmond	Carlton	13.14 (92) - 12.11 (83)	MCG	69,724
1933	South Melbourne	Richmond	9.17 (71) - 4.5 (29)	MCG	75,754
1934	Richmond	South Melbourne	19.14 (128) - 12.17 (89)	MCG	65,335
1935	Collingwood	South Melbourne	11.12 (78) - 7.16 (58)	MCG	54,154
1936	Collingwood	South Melbourne	11.23 (89) - 10.18 (78)	MCG	74,091
1937	Geelong	Collingwood	18.14 (122) - 12.18 (90)	MCG	88,540
1938	Carlton	Collingwood	15.10 (100) - 13.7 (85)	MCG	96,486
1939	Melbourne	Collingwood	21.22 (148) - 14.11 (95)	MCG	78,110
1940	Melbourne	Richmond	15.17 (107) - 10.8 (68)	MCG	70,330
1941	Melbourne	Essendon	19.13 (127) - 13.20 (98)	MCG	79,687
1942	Essendon	Richmond	19.18 (132) - 11.13 (79)	Princes Park	49,000
1943	Richmond	Essendon	12.14 (86) - 11.15 (81)	Princes Park	42,100
1944	Fitzroy	Richmond	9.12 (66) - 7.9 (51)	Junction Oval	43,000
1945	Carlton	South Melbourne	15.13 (103) - 10.15 (76)	Princes Park	62,986
1946	Essendon	Melbourne	22.18 (150) - 13.9(87)	MCG	73,743
1947	Carlton	Essendon	13.8 (86) - 11.19 (85)	MCG	85,815
1948	Melbourne	Essendon	13.11 (89) - 7.8 (50)[1]	MCG	52,226
1949	Essendon	Carlton	18.17 (125) - 6.16 (52)	MCG	90,453
1950	Essendon	North Melbourne	13.14 (92) - 7.12 (54)	MCG	87,601
1951	Geelong	Essendon	11.15 (81) - 10.10 (70)	MCG	84,109
1952	Geelong	Collingwood	13.8 (86) - 5.10 (40)	MCG	81,304
1953	Collingwood	Geelong	11.11 (77) - 8.17 (65)	MCG	89,060
1954	Footscray	Melbourne	15.12 (102) - 7.9 (51)	MCG	80,897
1955	Melbourne	Collingwood	8.16 (64) - 5.6 (36)	MCG	88,053
1956	Melbourne	Collingwood	17.19 (121) - 6.12 (48)	MCG	115,803
1957	Melbourne	Essendon	17.14 (116) - 7.13 (55)	MCG	100,324
1958	Collingwood	Melbourne	12.10 (82) - 9.10 (64)	MCG	97,956
1959	Melbourne	Essendon	17.13 (115) - 11.12 (78)	MCG	103,506
1960	Melbourne	Collingwood	8.14 (62) - 2.2 (14)	MCG	97,457
1961	Hawthorn	Footscray	13.16 (94) - 7.9 (51)	MCG	107,935
1962	Essendon	Carlton	13.12 (90) - 8.10 (58)	MCG	98,385
1963	Geelong	Hawthorn	15.19 (109) - 8.12 (60)	MCG	101,452
1964	Melbourne	Collingwood	8.16 (64) - 8.12 (60)	MCG	102,469
1965	Essendon	St Kilda	14.21 (105) - 9.16 (70)	MCG	104,846
1966	St Kilda	Collingwood	10.14 (74) - 10.13 (73)	MCG	101,655
1967	Richmond	Geelong	16.18 (114) - 15.15 (105)	MCG	109,396
1968	Carlton	Essendon	7.14 (56) - 8.5 (53)	MCG	116,828
1969	Richmond	Carlton	12.13 (85) - 8.12 (60)	MCG	119,165
1970	Carlton	Collingwood	17.9 (111) - 14.17 (101)	MCG	121,696
1971	Hawthorn	St Kilda	12.10 (82) - 11.9 (75)	MCG	118,192
1972	Carlton	Richmond	28.9 (177) - 22.18 (150)	MCG	112,393
1973	Richmond	Carlton	16.20 (116) - 12.14 (86)	MCG	116,956
1974	Richmond	North Melbourne	18.20 (128) - 13.9 (87)	MCG	113,839
1975	North Melbourne	Hawthorn	19.8 (122) - 9.13 (67)	MCG	110,551
1976	Hawthorn	North Melbourne	13.22 (100) - 10.10 (70)	MCG	110,143
1977	North Melbourne	Collingwood	21.25 (151) - 19.10 (124)[2]	MCG	98,366
1978	Hawthorn	North Melbourne	18.13 (121) - 15.13 (103)	MCG	101,704
1979	Carlton	Collingwood	11.16 (82) - 11.11 (77)	MCG	113,545
1980	Richmond	Collingwood	23.21 (159) - 9.24 (78)	MCG	113,461
1981	Carlton	Collingwood	12.20 (92) - 10.12 (72)	MCG	112,964
1982	Carlton	Richmond	14.19 (103) - 12.13 (83)	MCG	107,537
1983	Hawthorn	Essendon	20.20 (140) - 8.9 (57)	MCG	110,332
1984	Essendon	Hawthorn	14.21 (105) - 12.9 (81)	MCG	92,685
1985	Essendon	Hawthorn	26.14 (170) - 14.8 (92)	MCG	100,042
1986	Hawthorn	Carlton	16.14 (110) - 9.14 (68)	MCG	101,861
1987	Carlton	Hawthorn	15.14 (104) - 9.17 (71)	MCG	92,754
1988	Hawthorn	Melbourne	22.20 (152) - 6.20 (56)	MCG	93,754
1989	Hawthorn	Geelong	21.18 (144) - 21.12 (138)	MCG	94,796

The AFL

'Season'	'Premier'	'Runner Up'	'Score'	'Venue'	'Attendance'
1990	Collingwood	Essendon	13.11 (89) - 5.11 (41)	MCG	98,944
1991	Hawthorn	West Coast	20.19 (139) - 13.8 (86)	Waverley Park	75,230
1992	West Coast	Geelong	16.17 (113) - 12.13 (85)	MCG	95,007
1993	Essendon	Carlton	20.13 (133) - 13.11 (89)	MCG	96,862
1994	West Coast	Geelong	20.23 (143) - 8.15 (63)	MCG	93,860
1995	Carlton	Geelong	21.15 (141) - 11.14 (80)	MCG	93,670
1996	North Melbourne	Sydney	19.17 (131) - 13.10 (88)	MCG	93,102
1997	Adelaide	St Kilda	19.11 (125) - 13.16 (94)	MCG	98,828
1998	Adelaide	North Melbourne	15.15 (105) - 8.22 (70)	MCG	94,431
1999	Kangaroos	Carlton	19.10 (124) - 12.17 (89)	MCG	94,228
2000	Essendon	Melbourne	19.21 (135) - 11.9 (75)	MCG	96,249
2001	Brisbane Lions	Essendon	15.18 (108) - 12.10 (82)	MCG	91,482
2002	Brisbane Lions	Collingwood	10.15 (75) - 9.12 (66)	MCG	91,817
2003	Brisbane Lions	Collingwood	20.14 (134) - 12.12 (84)	MCG	79,451
2004	Port Adelaide	Brisbane Lions	17.11 (113) - 10.13 (73)	MCG	77,671
2005	Sydney	West Coast	8.10 (58) - 7.12 (54)	MCG	91,828
2006	West Coast	Sydney	12.13 (85) - 12.12 (84)	MCG	97,431

Premiership Tally

'Club'	'Premierships'	'Most Recent Flag'	'Last Grand Final'	'Runners Up'
'Essendon '	16	2000	2001	14
'Carlton '	16	1995	1999	13
'Collingwood '	14	1990	2003	25
'Melbourne '	12	1964	2000	5
'Brisbane/Fitzroy Lions'	11	2003	2004	6
'Richmond '	10	1980	1982	12
'Hawthorn '	9	1991	1991	5
'Geelong '	6	1963	1995	8
'Sydney/South Melbourne '	4	2005	2006	9
'Kangaroos '	4	1999	1999	5
'West Coast '	3	2006	2006	2
'Adelaide '	2	1998	1998	0
'Port Adelaide '	1	2004	2004	0
'St Kilda '	1	1966	1997	4
'Footscray/Western Bulldogs '	1	1954	1961	1
'Fremantle '	0	N/A	N/A	0
'Brisbane Bears' (Defunct)	0	N/A	N/A	0
'University' (Defunct)	0	N/A	N/A	0

Recent History

The recent history of premiers from 1997 to 2006, with the teams ranked firstly by the number of Premierships won, and secondly by Grand Final appearances.

'Rank'	'Club'	'Premierships'	'Grand Finals'
'1st'	'Brisbane Lions'	'3' (2001, 2002, 2003)	'4' (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)
'2nd'	'Adelaide'	'2' (1997, 1998)	'2' (1997, 1998)
' = 3rd'	'Kangaroos'	'1' (1999)	'2' (1998, 1999)
'= 3rd'	'Essendon'	'1' (2000)	'2' (2000, 2001)
'= 3rd'	'Sydney'	'1' (2005)	'2' (2005, 2006)
'= 3rd'	'West Coast'	'1' (2006)	'2' (2005, 2006)
'7th'	'Port Adelaide'	'1' (2004)	'1' (2004)

Premierships at All Levels

This table summarises the premierships and silverware won by teams in all forms of the VFL/AFL. The minor premiership is not included. This incorporates four competitions:

★ VFL/AFL Seniors (1897-present)

★ VFL/AFL Reserves (1919-1999) (VFL Seconds prior to 1959)

★ VFL/AFL Under-19s (1946-1991) (VFL Thirds prior to 1959)

★ Night Series/Pre-Season (1956-1971, 1977-present)

'Club'	'Seniors'	'Reserves'	'Under 19s'	'Night'	'Total'
'Essendon '	16	8	5	6	'35'
'Carlton '	16	8	6	4	'34'
'Melbourne '	12	12	6	3	'33'
'Richmond '	10	9	11	1	'31'
'Collingwood '	14	7	4	1	'26'
'Hawthorn '	9	4	1	9	'23'
'Kangaroos/North Melbourne '	4	7	7	5	'23'
'Geelong '	6	13	1	2	'22'
'Fitzroy' (defunct)	8	3	2	2	'15'
'Western Bulldogs/Footscray '	1	6	1	4	'12'
'Sydney/South Melbourne '	4	0	1	4	'9'
'St Kilda '	1	3	1	3	'8'
'Brisbane Lions '	3	-	-	0	'3'
'West Coast '	3	0	-	1	'3'
'Adelaide '	2	-	-	1	'3'
'Port Adelaide '	1	-	-	2	'3'
'Brisbane Bears' (defunct)	0	1	0	0	'1'
'Fremantle '	0	-	-	0	'0'
'University' (defunct)	0	-	-	-	'0'

Efficiency of Teams

In the interest of interpreting the premiership tallies to allow comparison between recently added non-Victorian teams, and long-standing Victorian teams, here is the average number of years it takes for each premiership for each team.

'Club'	'Year Joined (Year Left)'	'Premierships'	'Runners Up'	'Average years per Premiership'	'Average years per Grand Final'
'West Coast '	1987	3	2	6.67	4
† 'Brisbane Lions '	1987	3	1	6.67	5
'Essendon '	1897	16	14	6.88	3.67
'Carlton '	1897	16	13	6.88	3.79
'Collingwood '	1897	14	25	7.86	2.82
'Adelaide '	1991	2	0	8	8
'Hawthorn '	1925	9	5	9.11	5.86
'Melbourne '	1897	12	5	9.17	6.47
'Richmond '	1908	10	12	9.9	4.5
'Port Adelaide '	1997	1	0	10	10
'Fitzroy' (Defunct)	1897(1996)	8	5	12.5	7.69
'Geelong '	1897	6	8	18.33	7.86
'Kangaroos '	1925	4	5	20.5	9.11
'Sydney/South Melbourne '	1897	4	9	27.5	8.46
'Western Bulldogs '	1925	1	1	82	41
'St Kilda '	1897	1	4	110	22
'Fremantle '	1995	0	0	N/A	N/A
'University' (Defunct)	1908(1914)	0	0	N/A	N/A

†Includes time as the Brisbane Bears.

Longest Premiership Droughts

'No.'	'Club'	'Years'	'Start'	'End'	'Grand Finals'
'1'	'Sydney/South Melbourne '	'72'	1933	2005	1934, 1935, 1936, 1996
'2'	'St Kilda '	'70'	1897 (ent)	1966	1913, 1965
'3'	'Western Bulldogs '	'52 ★ '	1954	pres	1961
'4'	'Fitzroy'	'51'	1944	1996 (def)	-
'4'	'Kangaroos '	'51'	1925 (ent)	1975	1950
'6'	'Geelong '	'43 ★ '	1963	pres	1967, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1995
'7'	'Melbourne '	'42 ★ '	1964	pres	1988, 2000
'8'	'St Kilda '	'40 ★ '	1966	pres	1971, 1997
'9'	'Hawthorn '	'37'	1925 (ent)	1961	-
'10'	'Collingwood '	'32'	1958	1990	1960, 1964, 1966, 1970, 1977 (twice), 1979, 1980, 1981

''Dates given are the premiership years which started and ended the drought, unless the drought started at entry into the VFL/AFL (ent), or ended at folding/merging (def).''

Notes

★ From 2000 to 2004 a pattern emerged that the team that won the premiership 100 years earlier, lost the premiership 100 years later. In 1900, Melbourne won the premiership, 100 years later in 2000, Melbourne lost the Grand Final. In 1901, Essendon won the premiership, 100 years later in 2001, Essendon lost the Grand Final. Collingwood won the premierships in 1902 and 1903, but lost the Grand Finals in 2002 and 2003. And in 1904, Fitzroy won the premiership, and in 2004 the Brisbane Lions (made from the merger with Fitzroy and The Bears), lost the Grand Final.

★ Collingwood has lost more Grand Finals than any other club: A total of 25, which is 9 more than any other club has won. This included 8 losses and a draw between 1958 and 1990, in a period of time referred to as ''the Colliwobbles''.

★ Collingwood also holds the record for the most consecutive Premierships won with 4 in a row from 1927 to 1930. The closest to matching that was Melbourne from 1955 to 1960. The Demons won 3 in a row from 1955-1957, but Collingwood managed to defend its record by beating the Demons in 1958. Melbourne went on to win the next two flags in 1959-1960. The Brisbane Lions also came close when they won 3 in a row from 2001 to 2003, but lost to Port Adelaide in the 2004 Grand Final. The only other occasion when a team won 3 in a row was Carlton, who won the flag from 1906-1908, and fell two points short of winning in 1909, losing to South Melbourne

★ Only once has a team won 5 premierships in a decade. Melbourne won five in the 1950s.

★ In 1916 there were only 4 teams playing in the league due to World War I. Fitzroy ended the season in last place, but because the top 4 finals system was still in place, the Lions found form in the finals to eventually win the 1916 Premiership against Carlton. This is colloquially known as the only time a team has won the wooden spoon and premiership in the same season (although Fitzroy's finals success leads many to argue that Richmond received the spoon instead.)

References

;Notes & Web references
1. Was the result of the re-played Grand Final. Original scores were Melbourne 10.9 (69) - Essendon 7.27 (69).
2. Was the result of the re-played Grand Final. Original scores were North Melbourne 9.22 (76) - Collingwood 10.16 (76).

#Round Robin finals series in 1897 and 1924 did not allow for a Grand Final.

See also

★ List of Australian Football League night premiers

Sources

★ Australian Football League

★ Full Points Footy

★ AFL Tables