THE 2023 VFL Women’s finals are upon us, and one of the six remaining teams – Collingwood, Port Melbourne, Williamstown, Box Hill, Essendon and Carlton – will be the 2023 champion.

However, to even get to the Grand Final they all have to get through a four week finals series that can be complicated to understand.

That is why we here at Rookie Me Central are here to help.

We have created this helpful guide to hopefully make the finals series easier to understand for you.

WEEK 1

Week one of the finals series will see three matches – a qualifying final and two elimination finals.

As the teams that finished in the top two, Collingwood and Port Melbourne will play in the Qualifying Final. This is a double chance game, so both teams play next week regardless of the result.

This leaves Williamstown to face Carlton and Box Hill to face Essendon in the two Elimination Finals. These are do or die matches, so the winner progresses while the loser’s season comes to an end.

WEEK 2

Week two is where the system gets a little more complicated, and is heavily based off what happens in week one.

The winner of the Qualifying Final moves into another Qualifying Final, and will play the highest ranked Elimination Final winner from week one for the right to go straight through to the Grand Final. The loser will play in a Preliminary Final in week three of the finals.

Now that ranking depends on where the teams finished on the ladder in the regular season.

For example, if Williamstown and Box Hill are the Elimination Final winners, Williamstown will play for the right to go through to the Grand Final because it finished higher on the ladder than the Hawks did. If Carlton and Box Hill win though for example, it will be the Hawks that progress through because they finished higher than Carlton.

The other elimination final winner will play whoever lost that week one qualifying final in an Elimination Semi Final. Winner moves on to Week 3, loser heads home.

WEEKS 3 and 4

From here on out things get less complicated.  

In week three the loser of the Week 2 Qualifying Final will play the winner of the Week 2 Elimination Final for one last chance at making the Grand Final. Winner of this match moves on to the Grand Final while the loser’s season is done.

Week 4 of the finals is the Grand Final, which will be between the winner of the Week 2 Qualifying Final and the winner of the Week 3 Preliminary Final.