<P> The winning club of the grand final receives the AFL's premiership cup and the premiership flag . All players in the winning team receive a gold premiership medallion . </P> <P> Every club has played in the grand final, with the exception of the two recent expansion clubs, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney, and two former clubs, the Brisbane Bears and the short - lived University . </P> <P> The concept of a "grand" final gradually evolved from experimentation by the Victorian Football League (VFL) in the initial years of competition following its inception in 1897 . During the 19th century, Australian football competition adopted the approach that the team on top of the ladder at the end of the home - and - away series was declared the premiers . However, the fledgling VFL decided that a finals series played between the top four teams at the end of the season would generate more interest and gate money . For 1897, the VFL scheduled a round robin tournament whereby the top four played each other once and the team that won the most matches was declared the winner . </P> <P> However, this method had flaws, so the VFL continued to experiment, playing "section" matches after the regular season and then a finals series where first on the ladder played the third team and second met fourth . The winners of these "semi" finals then met in a final to decide the premiership . The first such final was contested in 1898 between the Essendon Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club at the St Kilda Cricket Ground, which Fitzroy won scoring 5.8 (38) to Essendon's 3.5 (23). </P>

How many drawn grand finals have there been in vfl/afl history