Background
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]
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