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A Grand Final Replay is necessitated when the Grand Final is drawn.

Drawn games in the home and away season are recorded as drawn games in the ladder. However, until 1994, Australian football had no structure in place to break a tied finals game. As such, the teams would reconvene the following week to replay their game, pushing back the schedule by one week. This caused controversy in 1990, when a drawn qualifying final between Collingwood and West Coast meant the minor premiers Essendon had a two-weekend bye instead of one. Insisting that the extended layoff had caused their losses to Collingwood, both in the Second Semi-Final and in the Grand Final, the AFL initiated the use of extra time to decide drawn finals. The extra time rule applies in all finals games, except for the Grand Final; Grand Final Replays are still used for drawn Grand Finals.

Australian Football Grand Final Replays

• 1894, SANFL
  • Grand Final: Norwood 4.8 drew South Adelaide 4.8
  • Grand Final Replay: Norwood 4.7 d. South Adelaide 3.5
• 1919, SANFL
  • Grand Final: Sturt 5.9.39 drew North Adelaide 5.9.39
  • Grand Final Replay: Sturt 3.5.23 d. North Adelaide 2.6.18
• 1948, VFL
  • Grand Final: Essendon 7.27.69 drew Melbourne 10.9.69
  • Grand Final Replay: Melbourne 13.11.89 d. Essendon 7.8.50
• 1958, VFA
  • Grand Final: Williamstown drew Moorabbin
  • Grand Final Replay: Williamstown d. Moorabbin
• 1977, VFL
  • Grand Final: Collingwood 10.16.76 drew North Melbourne 9.22.76
  • Grand Final Replay: North Melbourne 21.25.151 d. Collingwood 19.10.124

Both the 1977 and 1978 New South Wales Rugby League Grand Finals ended in draws, and were subsequently replayed. The 1977 replay was held one week later, the 1978 replay three days later.

In the 1977 decider, 20 minutes of extra time was played, this proviso was dropped for the following season. However, after two games were drawn in the 1978 finals series and hence necessitated replays, extra time was re-instated in 1979. In 2003, the system of golden point overtime was adopted, Grand Finals are now decided on the day.

NSWRL Grand Final Replays

• 1977
  • Grand Final: St. George 9 drew Parramatta 9.
  • Grand Final Replay: St. George 22 d. Parramatta 0.
• 1978
  • Grand Final: Manly 11 drew Cronulla 11.
  • Grand Final Replay: Manly 16 d. Cronulla 0.