For the 5th consecutive season the four teams participating in the Preliminary Finals are the teams from ladder positions 1 through 4 as at the end of the home-and-away season.

In fact, only twice since 2000 has any team from outside the top 4 made it past the semi-finals: Hawthorn from 6th in 2001, and Collingwood, also from 6th, in 2007. It didn't end well for either of them.

Collectively then in semi-finals, teams from ladder positions 1 to 4 now have a 26 and 2 record over teams from ladder positions 5 to 8.

Next week's Preliminary Finals pair 1st with 2nd, a matchup that's occurred six times previously with honours even, and pair 3rd with 4th, a matchup that's also occurred on six previous occasions, with teams from 3rd having slightly the better of it, holding a 4-2 advantage.

More generally, teams from 4th on the ladder have a sorry record in Preliminary Finals, their disappointing 2 and 4 record against teams finishing 3rd far better than their 0 and 6 record against teams finishing 2nd. All told then, teams from 4th have won in only 2 of 12 appearances.

Finally, an update on the all-Finals performances of teams from each ladder position.