Instead, the 100,000 capacity MCG - the AFL's biggest and most famous venue - will lie empty during both the semi-final and preliminary final weekends - after Sydney's win over Carlton on Sunday confirmed an all non-Victorian top-four at the end of the home and away season.
It is the first time ever that four non-Victorian teams have filled the top four positions at the end of the home and away season, capping off years of domination by the six non-Victorian clubs.
That means the only finals action that Victorian footy fans will see before this year's grand final will be next weekend's two elimination finals featuring St Kilda, Collingwood, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs.
While the AFL will confirm the exact line-up for the first week of the finals series at 7.30pm on Sunday, there is now no way a Victorian team can host a final in either weeks two or three of this year's finals series.
The two qualifying finals next weekend will be played between West Coast and Sydney at Subiaco and between Adelaide and Fremantle at AAMI Stadium.
The losers of those two games will host the winners of the two elimination finals between the four Victorian clubs in week two of September, while the two winners will earn a week off and host the two preliminary finals in week three.
If the results in the finals go in ladder order that will mean that as well as Perth and Adelaide hosting a qualifying final next weekend, those two cities will also host a preliminary final in a fortnight's time while the two semi-finals would be played in Perth and Sydney.
And there is also the prospect of the two preliminary finals being played in Perth - if West Coast and Fremantle both win next weekend - which in that case would mean the two semi-finals in week two being staged in Adelaide and Sydney.
Victoria has never gone without finals action for two successive weekends since the national competition began and in fact the state has only failed to host a final on a weekend on two previous occasions - the semi-final weekends of 2003 and 2005.
An all non-Victorian top-four caps off years of domination by the competition's newest clubs, with the past two grand finals having been contested by non-Victorian clubs in Port Adelaide and Brisbane in 2004, and Sydney and West Coast last year.
The past five premierships have all been won by non-Victorian clubs with Essendon the last of the ten Victorian clubs to win the premiership in 2000.
That was the same year that six of the eight finals places were filled by Victorian clubs with eight of the nine finals staged in Melbourne that year.
But that seems like a long time ago for what will no doubt be thousands of frustrated Victorian footy fans in September, as the non-Victorian clubs get rightfully rewarded for their dominance throughout the regular season with finals on home soil.
