They talked about the Argus Finals Series system on the Dan Does Footy podcast today. What a wild system.
So basically if you're the minor premier you were automatically through to the "final" with a double chance. What seemed to happen a lot (see 1913 finals series) was that the minor premier would lose a "final" but essentially get a 2nd chance "grand final".
A classic St Kilda moment (of bad luck) was this 1913 season when they won the "final" beating Fitzroy but then lost the "grand final" the following week again against Fitzroy.