THE BIGGEST day of the footy year got underway on Saturday morning with a packed North Melbourne Grand Final breakfast at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

A crowd of 1400 greeted Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, opposition leader Bill Shorten, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan and Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.

It was the 50th anniversary of the breakfast.

Although the politicians were on hand, all anyone wanted to talk about was the Sydney Swans and Western Bulldogs decider.

Bulldogs president Peter Gordon and Swans' deputy chairman Andrew McMaster represented the competing clubs.

Most of the sentiment lay with the Bulldogs, but the tips went the Swans' way.

McLachlan walked down the blue carpet alongside AFL Commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick to the cheeky tune of the Greater Western Sydney theme song.

He made light of his own year, joking about the struggles of online ticketing, but sat on the fence when it came to a prediction, saying he hoped the best team won.

Olympic 100m freestyle champion Kyle Chalmers was named Sports Personality of the Year and typified the crowd's feelings, saying "I'm on the Doggies' bandwagon, but I think the Swans might get there".

Turnbull, not surprisingly, backed the Swans, who play in his electorate.

"My loyalty to the Swans trumps my admiration for the Dogs," he said.

Shorten stuck to his Victorian roots, tipping the Bulldogs (because he owns two, he said), and got plenty of cheers by predicting Marcus Bontempelli would win the Norm Smith Medal.

Fox Footy's Sarah Jones was named the Media Personality of the Year, while Bulldogs women's marquee player Katie Brennan was also present.