2026 AFL season

In October 2025, the AFL announced two major changes to be brought into the competition for the 2026 season: the substitute rule was removed in favour of a five-player interchange; and the ball would no longer be bounced in the centre of the ground by a field umpire at the start of quarters and after goals, and would be thrown up instead.^[1] The removal of the centre bounce ended a tradition dating back to 1887, with AFL executive general manager of football performance Greg Swann explaining that the skill of bouncing the ball was hindering the development of umpires and that the change would allow umpires to focus more on decision-making and reduce the likelihood of players making accidental umpire contact.^[1] The AFL announced seven rule changes to reduce game length by approximately three minutes:^[2]

• The 6–6–6 rule would no longer require at least one player from each team to be in the goalsquare for centre ball-ups.
• A 'last disposal' free kick would be awarded if the ball crossed the boundary line from a disposal between the 50-metre arcs, unless a nearby player does not attempt to play the ball or blocks an opponent.^[a]
• Ruckmen would no longer be allowed to cross the centre line during centre ball-ups, intended to increase the frequency of jumping ruck contests.
• Players taking kick-ins would only be given eight seconds to restart play, down from approximately twelve seconds.
• Field umpires could immediately restart play at around-the-ground ball-ups if a nominated ruckman was too far away or no nomination was made, however the 'third man up' was still not allowed.^[b]
• Players who shrug a tackle would be deemed to have had prior opportunity when considering holding the ball free kicks.
• Players inside the five-metre protected area after a mark or free kick to an opponent would be required to stand the mark and would no longer be allowed to move out of the area.

Last disposal out of bounds decisions fell within the purview of decisions reviewable by the AFL Review Centre (ARC),^[3] as had all out of bounds decisions since the 2025 finals series.^[4] There was a key error late in the Geelong v Adelaide match in round 3: the boundary umpire incorrectly paid a last disposal free kick to Geelong instead of Adelaide, and Geelong restarted play before ARC had a chance to intervene, ultimately resulting in a goal to Geelong who won by eight points.^[5] The AFL admitted the error the following day and announced a review of its ARC review processes.^[3]

The AFL introduced a wildcard finals round, adding an extra week to the existing finals series and increasing the number of finalists from eight to ten; at the end of the home-and-away season, the seventh-placed team would host the tenth-placed team and eighth would host ninth in wildcard finals, before the remainder of the finals series would continue as per the previous final eight system.^[6] The change was the first change to the AFL finals system since 2000.^[7] The change was negatively received by the AFL Fans Association;^[6] however, sports rights analyst Colin Smith explained that the league was protecting the value of the current $4.5 billion broadcast right deal by implementing the new system, with more finalists meaning fewer dead rubber matches later in the home-and-away season.^[8]

A State of Origin match took place for the first time since 1999, with Western Australia playing Victoria at Optus Stadium in February 2026;^[9] Victoria won the match by 24 points.^[10]

Rules governing voting for the Brownlow Medal were changed, to provide umpires a set of player statistics prior to the lodging of votes.^[11]

All starting times are local time. Source: afl.com.au

Updated to Sydney v Adelaide (round 19).

Updated to Sydney v Adelaide (round 19).

Source: AFL Tables

Updated to Sydney v Adelaide (round 19).

The following table includes all home match attendance figures from the home-and-away season, excluding neutral matches (Gather Round).

More information Team, Home match attendance ...

Team	Home match attendance							Membership
	Hosted	Total	Highest	Lowest	Average			2025[88]	2026	Change
					2025[89]	2026[90]	Change
Adelaide	8	366,866	53,045	40,165	45,120	45,858	738	81,067
Brisbane Lions	8	251,879	34,648	29,221	30,598	31,485	887	75,115
Carlton	8	473,669	78,058	39,217	49,182	59,209	10,027	100,743
Collingwood	8	510,114	90,028	40,860	68,873	63,764	5,109	112,491
Essendon	7	371,922	92,231	25,100	40,034	53,132	13,098	85,568
Fremantle	8	403,697	55,966	35,245	45,758	50,462	4,704	66,179
Geelong	9	314,592	83,166	20,403	35,439	34,955	484	92,379
Gold Coast	9	150,177	21,139	10,672	15,679	16,686	1,007	30,107
Greater Western Sydney	8	95,099	16,157	8,394	12,026	11,877	139	37,705
Hawthorn	8	290,473	84,712	8,263	41,484	36,309	4,175	87,204
Melbourne	8	276,405	68,557	6,374	36,805	34,551	2,254	58,563
North Melbourne	8	243,031	45,919	13,331	25,266	30,379	5,113	56,283
Port Adelaide	8	299,989	50,087	31,350	35,556	37,499	1,943	72,656
Richmond	8	340,170	78,815	10,200	44,398	42,521	1,877	92,531
St Kilda	8	278,174	82,528	17,748	31,644	34,772	3,128	65,509
Sydney	9	352,582	43,986	33,413	34,277	39,176	4,899	76,674
West Coast	8	361,041	54,232	36,781	42,576	45,130	2,554	107,079
Western Bulldogs	8	241,506	43,430	22,761	36,764	30,188	6,576	65,584
Total/overall	146	5,620,862	92,231	6,374	37,306	38,499	1,193	1,363,437

Close

Source: AFL Tables

Updated to Sydney v Adelaide (round 19).

The following table can be sorted from biggest winning margin to biggest losing margin for each round. If multiple matches in a round are decided by the same margin, these margins are sorted by percentage (i.e. the lowest-scoring winning team is ranked highest and the lowest-scoring losing team is ranked lowest).^[d] Home matches are in bold, neutral matches (Gather Round) are underlined and opponents are listed above the margins.