Minor Premiers

As the histories of some Football Clubs will attest, success is not about finishing the year on top of the ladder – it’s about winning Premierships. Notwithstanding this point, Carlton has achieved the ‘Minor Premiership’ (i.e. finishing first on the ladder) 17 times in our VFL / AFL history. Below we track these performances against our Premiership success:

Overall, from 17 ‘Minor Premierships’ Carlton has converted 11 into Premierships, with 6 ‘chokes’ in 1910, 1916, 1921, 1932, 1941 and 1976. Interestingly, Carlton would contest the Grand Finals in the first four of these occasions - 1910, 1916, 1921 and 1932 - but would miss out on the big day in both 1941 and 1976.

On the other hand, Carlton has won 5 Premierships without being minor premiers – 1915, 1945, 1968, 1970 and 1982.