Preliminary Final, Grand Final and All-Final History by Ladder Position: 2000 to 2013

Hawthorn this week continued the tradition of minor premiers advancing to Grand Finals, making it 11 and 3 for minor premiers in Preliminary Finals over the last 14 seasons.

The Cats' loss meant that runners up from the home-and-away season now have a far less impressive 9 and 5 record in Prelims.

Fremantle, enjoying the fact that they were facing the 4th-placed Swans rather than the 1st-placed Hawks, levelled the Preliminary Finals record of teams finishing 3rd in the home-and-away season at 6 and 6, while the Swans' loss merely added to the already parlous record in Prelims of teams finishing 4th, a record which now stands at 2 and 12.

We're faced then with a GF pitting 1st against 3rd, a pairing that's eventuated only three times previously since 2000. Minor premiers have had the better of these contests but only by a score of 2 to 1.

Overall, however, against all-comers, teams finishing 3rd having a slightly superior winning record in GFs than teams finishing as minor premiers. Teams from 3rd have made 5 GFs, winning 3 and losing 2, while those from 1st have made 10 GFs, winning 5 and losing 5.

Across all Finals, minor premiers have the best record, now having won 71% of contests in which they've taken part across seasons 2000 to 2013, while teams finishing 2nd in the home-and-away season have the next best record at 68%. Teams from 3rd are the only other teams to have won more than they've lost; their winning rate is 51%.

Curiously, the next best winning rate belongs to teams finishing 6th who, collectively, have won 46% of the Finals in which they've played, including two Semi-Finals. Teams finishing 7th have the worst record, having won just 22% of the time and never having progressed beyond the 2nd week of the Finals.