Procedure
Week One
- Qualification Final: 2nd vs 3rd
- Elimination Final: 4th vs 5th
- Bye: 1st
Week Two
- Major Semi-Final: 1st vs Winners of Qualification Final
- Minor Semi-Final: Losers of Qualification Final vs Winners of Elimination Final
Week Three
- Preliminary Final: Losers of Major Semi-Final vs Winners of Minor Semi-Final
- Bye: Winners of Major Semi-Final
Week Four
- Grand Final: Winners of Major Semi-Final vs Winners of Preliminary Final
This is considered a good playoff system, as while it allows fifth place to take part, it is incredibly difficult for fourth and them to be crowned champions as they must beat every other team at some point.
The only NSWRL team to win the premiership from 5th was Brisbane in 1993.
In elite Australian Rules Football, only twice have the premiers won from fifth - Norwood in 1984 and North Adelaide in 2018. No AFL/VFL team won from fifth under this format (1972–1990), and no WAFL team has won under this format as of 2021.
If all matches have the same odds to win, then Seed 1 has 37.5% to be champion; Seed 2 and 3 have 25% to be champion; Seed 4 and 5 have 6.25%;
Seed 1 has two chances to reach the final, and only needs to win 1 match to clinch it. It is only eliminated before the final if loses against both finalists, and doesn´t win any match.
Seed 2 and 3 need to win 2 out of 3 matches to reach the final (they are like in a best-of-3 semi-final, but with different opponents in any round).
Seed 4 and 5 need to win all other 4 opponents without loss to be crowned. Any loss means its elimination.
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be either a single game, a series of games, or a tournament, and may use a single-elimination system or one of several other different playoff formats. Playoff, in regard to international fixtures, is to qualify or progress to the next round of a competition or tournament.
A bracket or tournament bracket is a tree diagram that represents the series of games played during a knockout tournament. Different knockout tournament formats have different brackets; the simplest and most common is that of the single-elimination tournament. The name "bracket" is American English, derived from the resemblance of the links in the tree diagram to the bracket punctuation symbol ] or [. The closest British term is draw, although this implies an element of chance, whereas some brackets are determined entirely by seeding.
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, whose winner becomes the tournament champion. Each match-up may be a single match or several, for example two-legged ties in European sports or best-of series in American pro sports. Defeated competitors may play no further part after losing, or may participate in "consolation" or "classification" matches against other losers to determine the lower final rankings; for example, a third place playoff between losing semi-finalists. In a shootout poker tournament, there are more than two players competing at each table, and sometimes more than one progressing to the next round. Some competitions are held with a pure single-elimination tournament system. Others have many phases, with the last being a single-elimination final stage, often called playoffs.
A double-elimination tournament is a type of elimination tournament competition in which a participant ceases to be eligible to win the tournament's championship upon having lost two games or matches. It stands in contrast to a single-elimination tournament, in which only one defeat results in elimination.
The McIntyre System, or systems as there have been five of them, is a playoff system that gives an advantage to teams or competitors qualifying higher. The systems were developed by Ken McIntyre, an Australian lawyer, historian and English lecturer, for the Victorian Football League in 1931.
After a top five play-off system was used, a play-off structure involving the top six teams was used to determine the winners of the Super League competition in British rugby league from 2002 through to 2008.
The McIntyre Final Eight System was devised by Ken McIntyre in addition to the McIntyre Four, Five and Six systems. It is a playoff system of the top 8 finishers in a competition to determine which two teams will play in the grand final. The teams play each other over three weeks, with two teams eliminated each week. Teams who finish in a higher position in the competition are given an easier route to the grand final.
The 2005 National Rugby League season consisted of 25 weekly regular season rounds starting in March, followed by four weeks of play-offs that culminated in a grand final on 2 October.
There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the single elimination, the best-of- series, the total points series more commonly known as on aggregate, and the round-robin tournament.
The AFL final eight system is an eight-team championship playoff tournament developed and adopted by the Australian Football League in the 2000 season. The eight teams, which are ranked or seeded in advance of the tournament, participate in a four-week tournament, with two teams eliminated in each of the first three weeks. The grand final is played in the fourth week between the two remaining teams, with the winning team awarded the premiership.
The Page playoff system is a playoff format used primarily in softball and curling at the championship level, the Indian Premier League and Pakistan Super League cricket tournaments. Teams are seeded using a round-robin tournament and the top four play a mix of a single-elimination and double-elimination tournament to determine the winner. It is identical to a four-team McIntyre System playoff, first used by the WANFL, SANFL and VFL in Australia in 1931, originally called the Page–McIntyre system, after the VFL delegate, the Richmond Football Club's Secretary, Percy "Pip" Page, who had advocated its use.
In sport, a bye is the preferential status of a player or team that is automatically advanced to the next round of a tournament, without having to play an opponent in an early round.
The NBA playoffs is the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association (NBA) held to determine the league's champion. An annual best-of-seven elimination tournament, the NBA playoffs are held after the league's regular season and its preliminary postseason tournament, the NBA Play-In Tournament.
The major national club competition in France is the Top 14. The Top 14 is played on a home and away basis between the top fourteen club sides in France. The second major competition in France is the Rugby Pro D2 competition. A relegation system exists between the two tiers of competition. Both competitions are operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR).
Since 1998, a play-off system has been used to determine the Super League champions. The format has changed over the years, starting with a play-off involving first five, then six teams, eight, four and currently back to six. The play-off series culminates in the Super League Grand Final. Use of a play-off system to decide the Championship brought back a rugby league tradition that had previously fallen out of use. The Super League Premiership, which had previously taken place between the highest placed teams in the competition, was discontinued after the introduction of the Super League play-off series. This was because its purpose had been to take the place of the previous Championship-deciding play-off system.
The NRL finals system is the finals series that is currently being used by the National Rugby League competitions of Australia and New Zealand since 2012. The NRL finals system replaced the McIntyre System which was used from 1999 to 2011.
The Argus finals systems were a set of related systems of end-of-season championship playoff tournament used commonly in Australian rules football competitions in the early part of the 20th century. The systems generally comprised a simple four-team tournament, followed by the right of the top ranked team from the home-and-away season to challenge for the premiership. The systems were named after the Melbourne newspaper The Argus, which developed and supported their use.
The 2018 Australian Football League finals series was the 122nd annual edition of the VFL/AFL finals series, the Australian rules football tournament staged to determine the winner of the 2018 AFL season. The finals ran over four weekends in September 2018, culminating with the 2018 AFL Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 29 September 2018.
The 2020 Australian Football League finals series was the 124th annual edition of the VFL/AFL finals series, the Australian rules football tournament staged to determine the winner of the 2020 AFL premiership season. The series was scheduled to be played over 4 weekends in October, culminating in the 2020 AFL Grand Final on 24 October 2020.
The 2021 Australian Football League finals series was the 125th annual edition of the VFL/AFL finals series.
