“The AFL has finally achieved what it set out to do”: Healy has his say on the 2024 finals series

Gerard Healy believes the AFL has found the ideal competitive balance among the league ahead of this finals series.

The top eight consists of four teams from outside Victoria, three of which are in the top four, and many experts in the industry agree it’s incredibly difficult to predict who this year’s premier will be.

“After 40 years of the draft and salary cap, the AFL has finally achieved what it set out to do all those years ago, to get the most even competition possible,” Healy said on SEN’s Sportsday.

“(The season has) produced a top eight where there is no clear favourite, unless you plucked one from the bottom half of the eight.

“You could argue the best two sides are Hawthorn and the Dogs and they’re in the bottom half of the eight, and you could throw Brisbane into the mix.”

But the 1988 Brownlow Medallist admitted it may not be something that we see often in the years to come.

“Why it’s this year is anyone’s guess,” Healy said.

“Is it a one off? Or will we see this regularly? Where the final eight is as even as it’s ever been.”

The 2024 AFL finals series will get underway with Port Adelaide hosting Geelong in a qualifying final on Thursday night.