2012 Sydney Swans Premiership player Josh Kennedy has today been announced as the Premiership Cup Ambassador and have the honour of delivering the Cup to the MCG on Grand Final day.

Kennedy captained the club for four seasons and won the Bob Skilton Medal (Swans’ best and fairest) three times including their 2012 premiership year (2012, 2015, 2016), and was an All Australian on three occasions (2012, 2014, 2016).

Hailing from an exceptional football family, Kennedy is the grandson of Hall of Fame Legend and three-time Hawthorn Premiership Coach John Kennedy senior and the son of four-time Premiership player (Hawthorn) John Junior.

The AFL officially launched the 2023 Toyota AFL Finals Series in Melbourne on Monday morning and AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan unveiled the 2023 Premiership Cup and revealed the icons of our game who will play key roles in the post-match presentations on Toyota AFL Grand Final day.

AFL Hall of Fame member and Norm Smith medallist, Chris Judd, will present the Norm Smith medal to the player judged best on field. The dual Brownlow medallist (2004, 2010) and West Coast Premiership-winning captain continues the tradition created in 2004 whereby a former winner presents the medal.

2007 and 2009 Premiership winning coach (Geelong Cats) Mark Thompson has accepted the invitation to present the Jock McHale medal to this season’s Premiership winning coach. Thompson has a long list of accolades in his career as a player and coach, including winning three premierships on the field for Essendon (1984, 1985, 1993) and being selected as a two-time All Australian as both a player (1986, 1990) and coach (2007, 2009).

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan was thrilled to officially launch the 2023 Toyota AFL Finals Series and announce the greats of the game who will be involved in Grand Final presentations.

“We are coming into this Toyota AFL Finals Series off the back of a record-breaking season. Records broken across the board and some of the best footy of the modern era,” McLachlan said.

“The passion for footy this season is at fever pitch and we have an incredible finals shaping up, all culminating in a full MCG and 100,000 fans at the Toyota AFL Grand Final on September 30.

“I’m delighted Josh, Chris and Mark will be at the ‘G to help us celebrate on the last day in September. They have all provided some of the most iconic moments on this very stage and we’re looking forward to their involvement on Grand Final day.”

It's a blockbuster first week of Finals with the Swans heading to Melbourne to play at a sold-out MCG against Carlton in a Friday Night Elimination Final. The last time the two sides met was at the SCG in Friday Night football back in May, the Swans victors by 26 points. That game was the club's annual Marn Grook match and Chad Warner won best on ground honours, claiming his first Goodes-O'Loughlin medal.

The 2023 Toyota AFL Premiership Cup Tour will also begin tomorrow and will visit four states and territories across a 20-day journey in the lead up to the 2023 Toyota AFL Grand Final, travelling to a host of local communities and iconic destinations in New South Wales, Victoria and, for the first time, Tasmania and the ACT.

For the eighth year running, the AFL announced a price freeze on entry level tickets for all matches across Weeks One to Three of the 2023 Toyota AFL Finals Series.

Match day ticket information for all games across the country can be sourced at afl.com.au/finals.

All matches in Week One of the Toyota AFL Finals Series will be broadcast live nationally on the Seven Network and Fox Footy and streamed live on Kayo.