2001 Ansett Australia Cup
The 2001 Ansett Australia Cup was contested by all sixteen clubs of the Australian Football League prior to the beginning of the AFLs 2001 season. It ran for five weeks in February and March 2001. The competition took a round-robin format to provide all teams with at least 3 practice games to prepare for the 2001 regular season, with all clubs divided into four groups of four, and the group winners qualifying for the knockout semi finals. Group A comprised the defending premiers , , and . Group B featured , , and . Group C featured , , and while finally Group  D comprised , , and . In the group stages, the , , and finished top of their respective groups and qualified for the semi finals. won Group A with 3 wins out of 3, qualifying ahead of and . The win over that secured a place in the semi finals was marred however by a serious broken leg suffered by key ruckman Brendon Lade. In Group B, won their place in the semi finals after a 28-point win in the final group game against . Group C was won by after they defeated by 13 points in the deciding game of the group. Group D  was secured by after a 100-point thumping of meant they qualified ahead of on percentage. In the knockout semi finals, and beat and respectively to qualify for the Grand Final. trailed at 3/4 time but kicked the first 5 goals of the final term to secure a 16-point victory in front of their own fans at Football Park. In the other semi final at Colonial Stadium, the kicked the final 4 goals of the game against to win by 15 points. The win by was significant as it broke a finals hoodoo in Melbourne, and set up the  first grand final between two Non Victorian/Interstate teams in VFL/AFL history.