The AFL officially has itself a parity problem.

As the preliminary finals get underway this weekend, fans will be increasingly more familiar with the final four teams — Collingwood, Hawthorn, Geelong and Brisbane — being here at the business end of the season.

Since the start of the 2001 season, these four clubs have shared an incredible 14 of the 24 premierships on offer. Hawthorn, Geelong and Brisbane have all won four apiece, while the Magpies have two.

This year, for the first time since the AFL expanded to an 18-team competition in 2012, eight teams won less than 10 games during a full home and away season.

The gap in terms of points between the 11th-placed Carlton — the best of the teams that won nine games — and the eighth-placed Hawthorn, was an astounding 24 premiership points

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