Geelong and Adelaide will meet in the inaugural AFLX grand final.
The Cats and Crows both won their initial two AFLX games in Thursday night’s debut of the short-format experiment in Adelaide.
Geelong and Adelaide were in different pools, meaning they top their group regardless of other results between Port Adelaide, Fremantle, West Coast and Collingwood.
The Cats earnt a slice of history by winning the first AFLX game, beating Port Adelaide 72-60 at Coopers Stadium – the home of A-League club Adelaide United.
Adelaide then defeated Collingwood 65-37 before the Cats returned for their second and last pool game to down Fremantle 57-40.
The Crows then secured their spot in what has been dubbed the grand final with a 53-46 win against West Coast.
The double Cats-Crows triumphs mean the results of Port’s next fixture against the Dockers, and Collingwood’s match against the Eagles, can’t impact the grand finalists.
A curious crowd of about 10,000 spectators attended the round-robin event.
With both teams allowed seven players on-field, matches were largely bruise-free encounters with few contested possessions.
Instead, players valued finding space and aimed to kick goals from outside the 40m attacking arc worth 10 points.
Another six clubs will contest the same AFLX schedule on Friday night in Melbourne, with the remaining six playing AFLX on Saturday night in Sydney.