![\"AFLGrandFinal_1800x1000\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AFLGrandFinal_1800x1000.jpg\" "\\"AFLGrandFinal_1800x1000\\"\/")
Fremantle and Brisbane Lions meet at the MCG on Saturday to decide the 2026 premiership.<\/p>\n Fremantle and Brisbane Lions meet at the MCG on Saturday to decide the 2026 premiership.<\/p>\n
Here’s everything you need to know to watch, including the start time in your state and which team has the better chance to win on paper. <\/p>\n
When is the 2026 AFL Grand Final?<\/p>\n
The 2026 AFL Grand Final between Fremantle and Brisbane Lions will take place on Saturday 26 September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.<\/p>\n
The first bounce is 2:30pm AEST.<\/p>\n
The pre-match entertainment starts well before the first bounce, so tune in early if you want the full show.<\/p>\n
This year’s line-up includes Kylie Minogue, G Flip and Mike Brady, with Michael Paynter singing the national anthem.<\/p>\n
How to watch the 2026 AFL Grand Final<\/p>\n
The AFL Grand Final is broadcast live and free on Channel 7, and you can also stream it free on 7plus with ads.<\/p>\n
If you can’t catch it live, you can watch the full replay on Foxtel and Kayo Sports once the match finishes.<\/p>\n
Kayo doesn’t offer a free trial, but new customers can get its Premium plan for $1 for the first month.<\/p>\n
Foxtel offers new customers a 10-day free trial, plus a 12-month discount on its Ultimate bundle. That works out to a saving of $468 over the year.<\/p>\n
It includes live TV channels, sports, on-demand movies, drama, documentaries and kids’ content.<\/p>\n
2026 AFL Grand Final predictions<\/p>\n
Fremantle finished the season as minor premiers with a 19-4 record, but its road to the Grand Final hasn’t been straightforward.<\/p>\n
The Dockers lost their qualifying final to Hawthorn before beating Geelong in the semi-final.<\/p>\n
They then trailed Sydney by 28 points in the preliminary final, only to storm home and win 83-71.<\/p>\n
It’s a huge moment for Fremantle, which has never won a premiership since entering the competition in 1995.<\/p>\n
This is also just the club’s second Grand Final appearance, following its loss to Hawthorn in 2013.<\/p>\n
Brisbane comes into the game as the back-to-back reigning premiers after winning the 2024 and 2025 flags.<\/p>\n
The Lions finished third, lost their qualifying final to Sydney, then beat Adelaide in a semi-final before edging Hawthorn 131\u2013122 in a thrilling preliminary final, sealed by a late Hugh McCluggage goal.<\/p>\n
A win on Saturday would make it three premierships in a row for Brisbane, matching the rare feat achieved by the Lions from 2001 to 2003 and Hawthorn from 2013 to 2015.
So, who do the experts think will win?<\/p>\n
Based on history, Brisbane clearly has the edge, while Fremantle has far less experience at this level.<\/p>\n
But the Dockers have already shown they can beat Brisbane, winning by 25 points when the two teams met at the Gabba earlier this season.<\/p>\n
With both teams arriving off strong finals performances, it could be a close one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fremantle and Brisbane Lions meet at the MCG on Saturday to decide the 2026 premiership. Here’s everything you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":902010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-902009","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\/902009","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=902009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/902010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}