{"id":896110,"date":"2026-09-18T04:06:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T04:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/896110\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T04:06:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T04:06:28","slug":"afl-preliminary-finals-teams-2026-team-news-and-lineups-for-preliminary-finals-full-squads-ins-and-outs-selection-news-and-team-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/896110\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL preliminary finals teams 2026: Team news and lineups for preliminary finals, full squads, ins and outs, selection news and team changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The four preliminary final teams are backing in their tried and trusted combinations, with only two forced changes across the contenders.<\/p>\n

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Sydney are the only team to make changes for their do-or-die blockbuster with Fremantle at the SCG on Friday night.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Skipper Callum Mills and Harry Cunningham are the two unlucky stars to miss through injury.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve been replaced by Justin McInerney and Lewis Melican.<\/p>\n

Joel Amartey misses out once again, but it\u2019s a move Fox Footy\u2019s Leigh Montagna said was to be expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was going to be hard to change that three tall forward look after what they did to the Brisbane Lions,\u201d he said on First Crack Preview.<\/p>\n

The Hawks, Dockers and Lions all go in with their last-start line ups – in a move dual premiership Roo David King says \u201cdoesn\u2019t get any better\u201d.<\/p>\n

Noah Answerth misses again for Brisbane after failing to overcome his ankle injury, leaving the Lions to find a new match up for Hawks danger man Nick Watson.<\/p>\n

Brennan Cox has been named as an emergency for Fremantle, but did not make the trip to Sydney and will instead front up for the WAFL grand final on Sunday.<\/p>\n

AFL PRELIMINARY FINALS TEAMS (All times AEST)<\/p>\n

First Preliminary Final<\/p>\n

SYDNEY v FREMANTLE<\/p>\n

Friday September 18, 7:40pm at the SCG<\/p>\n

SWANS<\/p>\n

B: J.Hamling, T.McCartin, D.Rampe – C<\/p>\n

HB: S.Wicks, H.Kyle, J.McInerney<\/p>\n

C: M.Roberts, E.Gulden, J.Serong<\/p>\n

HF: J.Lloyd, L.McDonald, H.McLean<\/p>\n

F: T.Papley, C.Curnow, B.Cootee<\/p>\n

FOLL: B.Grundy, J.Rowbottom, B.Campbell<\/p>\n

I\/C: L.Melican, A.Sheldrick, C.Cleary, T.Hanily, J.Dattoli<\/p>\n

EMG: J.Amartey, W.Green, R.Andrew<\/p>\n

In: – J.McInerney, L.Melican<\/p>\n

Out: – C.Mills (Injured), H.Cunningham (Injured)<\/p>\n

FREMANTLE<\/p>\n

B: J.Clark, A.Pearce – C, O.McDonald<\/p>\n

HB: K.Worner, L.Ryan, H.Chapman<\/p>\n

C: M.Johnson, A.Brayshaw, N.Erasmus<\/p>\n

HF: M.Frederick, M.Reid, S.Switkowski<\/p>\n

F: J.Amiss, J.Treacy, P.Voss<\/p>\n

FOLL: L.Jackson, C.Serong, S.Bolton<\/p>\n

I\/C: J.McVee, C.Wagner, H.Young, I.Dudley, M.Cox<\/p>\n

EMG: B.Cox, C.Scerri, J.O\u2019Meara<\/p>\n

In: – <\/p>\n

Out: –<\/p>\n

Hawks & Lions set for titanic clash | 02:45<\/p>\n

Second Preliminary Final<\/p>\n

HAWTHORN v BRISBANE<\/p>\n

Saturday September 19, 5:15pm at the MCG<\/p>\n

HAWKS<\/p>\n

B: J.Sicily – C, T.Barrass, B.Hardwick<\/p>\n

HB: B.Macdonald, J.Weddle, J.Battle<\/p>\n

C: J.Impey, W.Day, M.D\u2019Ambrosio<\/p>\n

HF: D.Moore, M.Chol, C.Macdonald<\/p>\n

F: N.Watson, M.Lewis, J.Gunston<\/p>\n

FOLL: L.Meek, J.Newcombe, J.Ward<\/p>\n

I\/C: K.Amon, H.Morrison, C.Mackenzie, M.Beattie, J.Ginnivan<\/p>\n

EMG: N.Reeves, N.Mraz, J.Dalton<\/p>\n

In: – <\/p>\n

Out: –<\/p>\n

LIONS<\/p>\n

B: T.Gallop, H.Andrews – C, R.Lester<\/p>\n

HB: D.Wilmot, D.Gardiner, D.Zorko<\/p>\n

C: J.Berry, W.Ashcroft, Z.Bailey<\/p>\n

HF: C.Cameron, L.Morris, O.Allen<\/p>\n

F: E.Hipwood, C.Rayner, K.Lohmann<\/p>\n

FOLL: D.Fort, J.Dunkley, L.Neale<\/p>\n

I\/C: S.Draper, J.Fletcher, H.McCluggage, L.Ashcroft, C.McKenna<\/p>\n

EMG: L.McCarthy, C.Curtin, B.Reville<\/p>\n

In: – <\/p>\n

Out: –<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The four preliminary final teams are backing in their tried and trusted combinations, with only two forced changes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":896111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-896110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=896110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/896111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=896110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=896110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=896110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}