By Anna Harrington

Brisbane’s thumping grand final triumph over Sydney was the most-watched AFL decider since 2021.

But the bumper TV audience still fell well short of the benchmark set by the Matildas in their ground-breaking Women’s World Cup run last year.

The Seven Network confirmed Saturday’s game had a national reach of 6.09 million and a national total TV audience of 4.024 million, including 655,000 on 7plus Sport, becoming the most-watched program of 2024.

It was up more than 20,000 total TV viewers on the 2023 decider between Collingwood and Brisbane.

The figure arguably reflected the fact the game was between two non-Victorian sides, attracting interest from Queensland and NSW.

“In a fantastic story for football in Australia’s northern states, we are thrilled to have captured every corner of the nation on Australian sport’s biggest day,” Seven’s head of AFL and sports innovation Gary O’Keeffe said.

The 2021 audience marker (4.11 million) is a difficult one to reach as that year’s grand final between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs occurred in Perth while many Victorians were in COVID-19 lockdowns.

Saturday’s figure was also well short of the Matildas’ efforts last year.

The Matildas’ semi-final against England last August broke new ground as the most-watched TV program in more than two decades.

It had an average audience of 7.2 million and a reach of 11.15 million, which didn’t include viewers on partner Optus Sport.

Excluding Saturday’s match, the AFL finals reached 8.5 million people, with the two preliminary finals reaching more than three million each.