| dbo:abstract
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- The 2021 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match contested between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs at Optus Stadium in Perth, Western Australia, on Saturday 25 September 2021. It was the 126th annual grand final of the Australian Football League (AFL), staged to determine the premiers of the 2021 AFL season. As the top-placed side on the ladder at the end of the 2021 home-and-away season, Melbourne finished minor premiers, whereas the Western Bulldogs faded in the final four home-and-away games to finish 5th, thus needing to win all of their finals games to qualify for the grand final. The match was played at Optus Stadium in Perth because an ongoing COVID-19 lockdown prevented the match from being played with spectators at its contracted ground, the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Victoria. It was the first grand final played in Perth and the second consecutive grand final to be played outside Victoria. The event set a new attendance record for Australian rules football in Western Australia, eclipsing the previous record set in 2018 despite not featuring any WA-based teams and being played during the COVID pandemic. Melbourne won the match by a 74-point margin, defeating the Western Bulldogs 21.14 (140) to 10.6 (66). Christian Petracca won the Norm Smith Medal. The win was Melbourne's first premiership since 1964. (en)
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| dbp:content
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- Chart
| width=220
| height=150
| xAxisTitle=Round
| xAxisMax=23
| yAxisTitle=Position
| yAxisMax=1
| yAxisMin=18
| showSymbols=true
| legend=Club
| type=line
| x=1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23
| y1Title=Melbourne
| y1=3, 4, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1
| y2Title=Western Bulldogs
| y2=6, 5, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 4, 5
| colors= #DE0316, #0D3692 (en)
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