Brisbane Win 2026 AFL Grand Final by 7 Points as Bolton Takes Norm Smith in a Loss
The Brisbane Lions won the 2026 AFL Grand Final at the MCG on Saturday 26 September, beating Fremantle 14.12 (96) to 12.17 (89). The seven-point win gave Brisbane a third consecutive premiership, and it came from 17 points down with less than five minutes left. Fremantle’s Shai Bolton won the Norm Smith Medal as best on ground, the first player from a losing Grand Final side to do so since Chris Judd in 2005.
How the match unfolded
According to the AFL’s match report, the scores were level at half-time, 6.7 (43) apiece. Fremantle led 10.12 (72) to 9.8 (62) at three-quarter time and extended the margin to 17 points when Patrick Voss kicked his third goal late in the final quarter. Brisbane then kicked the last four goals of the game. Charlie Cameron and Zac Bailey goaled before Logan Morris kicked two in the final minute, the second a snap in the dying seconds.
Fremantle’s inaccuracy was a factor: the Dockers finished with 29 scoring shots to Brisbane’s 26 but kicked 17 behinds. They also lost key defender Alex Pearce to a suspected Achilles injury midway through the last quarter.
Goalkickers for Brisbane were Cameron 3, Morris 3, Lohmann 2, Allen 2, McKenna, Draper, L. Ashcroft and Bailey. For Fremantle: Voss 3, Young 2, Dudley 2, Amiss 2, Treacy, Reid and Frederick.
Norm Smith Medal from the losing side
Bolton polled 10 votes from the five judges (3, 3, 2, 1, 1), ahead of Brisbane’s Dayne Zorko and Will Ashcroft on six each. Ashcroft had won the previous two Norm Smith Medals. Bolton finished with 26 disposals, 10 contested possessions, nine inside 50s, nine score involvements, seven marks and five tackles.
He is only the fifth player to win the medal in a losing Grand Final, after Maurice Rioli (1982), Gary Ablett Snr (1989), Nathan Buckley (2002) and Chris Judd (2005). Bolton told reporters he was “honoured” but “gutted for our boys”.
Brisbane’s place in history
The win completed Brisbane’s second three-peat after 2001–2003, and the club joins Hawthorn (2013–2015) as the only teams this century to win three flags in a row. Neither finalist took the direct route. Brisbane lost its qualifying final to Sydney before beating Adelaide and Hawthorn, while minor premier Fremantle lost to Hawthorn in week one before beating Geelong and Sydney. Fremantle, in the league since 1995, is still seeking its first premiership.
The betting angle
For punters, the result illustrates two points. First, the team that finishes on top of the ladder is not guaranteed the flag: Fremantle finished first and had beaten Brisbane by 25 points at the Gabba in May, yet lost the game that counted. Second, in-play markets on a match like this can swing hard in the last quarter. A 17-point lead with under five minutes to go is a strong position, but Brisbane’s four late goals show why a “sure thing” is never a sure thing.
Grand Final week also produces the year’s widest range of exotic markets, from first goalkicker to Norm Smith Medal. Bolton’s win from the losing side is a reminder that these markets carry far more uncertainty than a head-to-head bet. Our explainer on sports betting versus casino margins covers how bookmaker margins are built into these prices.
Record audience
The AFL reported a crowd of 100,023, one short of the MCG’s AFL capacity and the highest for a Grand Final between two non-Victorian clubs. Seven reported a national average audience of 4.52 million and a reach of 6.5 million, making it the most-watched Grand Final on record. Home-and-away attendance for the season reached 7,772,015, the highest in VFL/AFL history.
Brisbane Lions 14.12 (96) defeated Fremantle 12.17 (89) by seven points at the MCG on 26 September 2026.
Fremantle’s Shai Bolton won with 10 votes, becoming the fifth player to win the medal in a losing Grand Final side and the first since Chris Judd in 2005.
Three: 2024, 2025 and 2026. It is the club’s second three-peat after 2001 to 2003.
Sources
- AFL.com.au: Match report, Brisbane Lions v Fremantle (26 September 2026)
- AFL.com.au: 2026 Norm Smith Medal voting
- AFL.com.au: Bolton joins rare club by winning Norm Smith in losing team
- AFL.com.au: Record-breaking Toyota AFL Grand Final caps off season
- SBS News: AFL Grand Final 2026
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Header photo: MCG Panorama by Devoindahouse (talk), licensed Public domain.