How does the AFL finals work eg. 1st versus fourth etc?

Well mate,

The way it works is, Top four play off in the Qualifying final, and 5 to 8 play in the Elimination Final.

Elimination Finals

5th vs 8th - Carlton Blues vs Essendon Bombers (Lets say Carlton win)

6th vs 7th - Sydney Swans vs St Kilda Saints (Lets say the Swans win)

These two would then go to the Semi Finals and verse the Loosers of the Qualifying finals

Qualifying Finals

1st vs 4th - Collingwood Magpies vs West Coast Eagles (Say Collingwood win)

2nd vs 3rd - Geelong Cats vs Hawthorn Hawks (Say Hawthorn win)

ok so say the resluts go like this, Collingwood DEF West Coast, Geelong DEF Hawthorn

then Collingwood and Geelong would automatically go to the Preliminary Finals and the loosers in this case, Hawthorn and West Coast would then go to the Semi Finals to take on Sydney and Carlton.

Semi Finals

Sydney Swans vs Hawthorn Hawks (Say Sydney win) :D

Carlton Blues vs West Coast Eagles (Say West Coast win)

The semi finalists verse eachother depending on what week their elimination/qualifying finals was played, regardless of who wins the elimination or qualifying finals, the out come would be, the winner of the sydney/st kilda elimination final would play the looser of the geelong/hawthorn qualifying final. Vise Versa, the winner of the carlton/essendon elimination final would play the looser of the collingwood/west coast qualifying final.

Preliminary Final

Collingwood Magpies vs Sydney Swans (lets just SAY, Sydney wins) :D

Geelong Cats vs West Coast Eagles (lets say Geelong wins)

Obviously the winners of the Preliminary finals go to the big one, the Grand Final. So the winners of the semi finals obviously verse the two already named preliminary finalists and the winners from here go play the big one. Again, regardless of the results the winners of the Sydney/St kilda vs Geelong/Hawthron semi final would play Collingwood/West Coast in the Preliminary final. Same goes, regardless of results the winners of the Carlton/Essendon vs Collingwood/West Coast semi final would play Geelong/Hawthorn in the Preliminary Final.

Grand Final

SYDNEY SWANS vs Geelong Cats (LETS HOPLE SYDNEY WIN!!!) haha

With regard to Wayne Gs answer.

The Mcintyre system was used by the AFL up until the turn of the Century. they decided to do away with it because they felt that the system that they have now. is a much fairer deal for all clubs playing finals.

cheers.

Q & El Fin - Coll def WCE, Car def Ess, St K def Syd, & Gee def Haw

Semis - WCE def Car & Haw def St K

Prelim - Coll def Haw & Gee def WCE

Coll v Gee with Pies to go B2B

I think the McIntyre system which is used in rugby league is a fairer and better system.I wish it could be used in afl.I think it rewards teams which have performed all year better.

Example 1st plays 8th.............2nd plays 7th........3rd plays 6th.......4th plays 5th and every week 2 lowest ranked teams are eliminated.

the pies would play bombers instead of westcoast,Westcoast would play carlton instead,much fairer for the top finishing teams who have performed better all year

Use the ladder predictor at www.afl.com.au