| Sport | Australian rules football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1988 |
| Ceased | 2013 |
| No. of teams | 18 |
| Country | Australia |
| Most titles | Essendon and Hawthorn (4 premierships each) |
In the Australian Football League (AFL), previously the Victorian Football League (VFL), the pre-season competition, known during its history by a variety of sponsored names and most recently as the NAB Cup, was an annual Australian rules football tournament held amongst clubs prior to the premiership season between 1988 and 2013. The pre-season competition culminated annually in a grand final and pre-season premier.
Between 2014 and 2022, the pre-season consisted of a series of matches, usually held over the course of three or four weekends, where results no longer determined each team's next opponent. The series of matches, known most recently as the AAMI Community Series, did not crown a champion or publish any official standings. Currently, just one weekend of games are held.
The AFL scrapped the sponsored series for 2023 in favour of a weekend of "official practice matches", before "welcom[ing] the return of the pre-season competition" in 2024 alongside a renewal from sponsor AAMI.[1]