Wizard Cup

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The Wizard Home Loans Cup (commonly just Wizard Cup) is the pre-season/night series competition of the Australian Football League. It is run for four weeks before the start of the regular premiership season, involving all sixteen clubs. The cup was previously known as the Foster's, and then Ansett Australia Cup. Wizard Home Loans have owned the naming rights to the event since 2001, when Ansett Australia folded.

The competition was run from 1956 to 1971 as the Night Premiership at the Lake Oval, then the home ground of South Melbourne. It wasn't played between 1972 and 1976, before being revived in 1977 at Waverley Park. Up until 1988 the competition was played during the middle of the year, and often involved interstate teams as well as those from the then VFL. Since 1988 it has been run before the regular season as a series of warmup matches, usually in a knockout format.

The pre-season competition has been a place where the AFL has trialed new rules, such as extra players on the interchange bench.

The Wizard Cup has the intentions of being modern and promoting a fast-paced pre-season competition. The nine points for a goal kicked from outside of the 50 metre arc, the requirement of players not needing to wait for the goal umpire to signify a point before playing on, a larger centre circle, and the umpires coming in 10m from the boundary line to throw in the ball all add to this.

See Also

• List of Australian Football League night premiers
• Michael Tuck Medal, awarded to the best player in night series grand final