<P> This page is a complete chronological listing of Australian Football League premiers . The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1990, is now the elite national competition in Australian rules football . </P> <P> Each year, the premiership is awarded to the club which wins the AFL Grand Final . The grand final has been played in all VFL / AFL seasons except for 1897 and 1924, and has been an annual tradition in its current format since 1931 . While Carlton and Essendon have won the most VFL / AFL premierships with 16, Essendon won in 1897 and 1924, meaning Carlton have won the most grand finals of any club . </P> <P> Since the introduction by the League of equalisation policies of a salary cap and draft in the late 1980s, every AFL club (except for Gold Coast, which joined the league in only 2011) has made a preliminary final . This has had a significant impact on the spread of premierships: eleven clubs won premierships in the eighteen seasons between 1990 and 2007, compared with only five clubs in the twenty - three seasons between 1967 and 1989 . </P>

Who has won the most premierships in afl