AFL FAQ: Twelve Big Questions About Australian Rules Football, Answered
Whether you’re new to Australian Rules football, coming back after a few years away, or just keen to settle a pub argument before the next bounce, the AFL throws up plenty of questions. Our team at Footy Talk gets asked the same handful pretty consistently — how scoring really works, why the season runs the way it does, what the Brownlow night is all about, and whether that was actually a free kick or not. The Footy Talk team have pulled the twelve most common ones together below, written for the everyday fan rather than the rusted-on tragic, and updated for the current era of the league.
Quick links:
- What does AFL stand for, and how is it different from rugby?
- How many teams play in the AFL and how is the competition structured?
- How long does an AFL match actually go for?
- How does scoring work in the AFL?
- What is a mark, and why do umpires keep paying so many?
- When does the AFL season start and finish?
- How does the AFL finals series work?
- What is the Brownlow Medal?
- How does the AFL Draft work?
- What is the AFL salary cap, and does every club have the same one?
- What is the difference between the AFL and the AFLW?
- Who decides the rules of the game, and how often do they change?
What does AFL stand for, and how is it different from rugby?
AFL stands for Australian Football League — the elite professional competition for Australian Rules football, a uniquely Australian code that traces its first written rules to Melbourne in 1858. It is not rugby league or rugby union. The ball is oval but you can kick it, handball it (punch it off the palm of one hand with a closed fist), or tackle a player carrying it. There is no offside rule, no scrums, no try line. Instead, each end of the ground has four upright posts that decide the score. The professional national competition we watch today was rebranded from the VFL to the AFL in 1990, after Sydney, West Coast and the Brisbane Bears made it a genuinely national league.
How many teams play in the AFL and how is the competition structured?
Eighteen men’s clubs currently make up the AFL: ten Victorian sides, two each from South Australia, Western Australia and New South Wales, plus one each in Queensland and the ACT region. The home-and-away season runs over 23 rounds, with every club playing 22 matches and getting one bye. The top eight clubs at the end of round 23 progress into the four-week September finals series, decided on a points-and-percentage ladder. The AFLW — the women’s competition — runs separately with all 18 clubs in a shorter spring season, but is operated by the same league and clubs.
How long does an AFL match actually go for?
A standard AFL match is four 20-minute quarters of running clock, plus “time on” that the timekeeper adds whenever the ball is out of play, the umpire calls a free kick, or there is a goal review. In practice each quarter usually runs 28 to 32 minutes of real time, so a full match takes around two and a quarter hours start to finish, including the quarter-time, half-time and three-quarter-time breaks. Drawn finals are decided by extra time under the current rules — two five-minute halves played back-to-back, repeated if the scores are still level.
How does scoring work in the AFL?
There are four upright posts at each end of the ground. Kick the ball cleanly between the two tall central goalposts, without it being touched on the way through, and you score a goal worth six points. Hit a goalpost, kick the ball through between an outer post and a goalpost, or have the ball touched before it crosses the line, and you score a behind worth one point. A team’s final score is shown like 12.8 (80) — that is twelve goals, eight behinds, and eighty total points. Behinds matter, especially in finals where two or three accurate kicks can be the difference between a flag and a long off-season.
What is a mark, and why do umpires keep paying so many?
A mark is what the AFL calls a clean catch from a kick that has travelled at least 15 metres without being touched in the air or on the ground. When you take a mark, play stops and you are awarded an unimpeded set shot from where you caught it — you can play on immediately, take your shot at goal, or wait while the umpire backs your opponent off “the mark”. High-flying speccies — leaping up onto an opponent’s back to pull down a screamer — are some of the most photogenic plays in any sport, which is why Mark of the Year has been its own annual award since the early 1980s.
When does the AFL season start and finish?
The men’s AFL season generally kicks off in mid-March with Opening Round, runs home-and-away matches through to August, then plays its four-week finals series across September. The Grand Final has traditionally landed on the last Saturday in September, though several recent editions have spilled into early October. The AFLW season runs through August to November. Pre-season practice matches and the AAMI Community Series fill the back end of February. Add it all up and the AFL footprint now stretches across most of the calendar — there are only really six or seven quiet weeks in any given year.
How does the AFL finals series work?
The top eight teams from the home-and-away ladder qualify for finals. Week one features two “qualifying” finals (1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3) and two “elimination” finals (5 vs 8 and 6 vs 7). Winners of the qualifying finals earn a week’s rest and a home semi-final; losers drop into the semis to face the two elimination-final winners. Week three is the preliminary finals, played by the last four standing. The two preliminary winners then meet on Grand Final day at the MCG. The system rewards a top-four finish with a second life — which is why the chase for the four is the whole point of the back half of the season.
What is the Brownlow Medal?
The Brownlow Medal is the AFL’s highest individual honour for the home-and-away season, awarded to the “best and fairest” player on the count of votes cast by the field umpires after every match. Three votes go to the umpires’ best on ground, two for second best, and one for third best. The medal is named after Geelong champion Charles Brownlow and presented at a televised black-tie count on the Monday before the Grand Final. Players who are suspended for an on-field offence during the season become ineligible to win, which has produced some of the most-talked-about near-misses in AFL history.
How does the AFL Draft work?
The national draft is held each November or December and is the main way clubs add young talent, usually 17- and 18-year-olds graduating out of state-based underage programs. Pick order is based on the reverse ladder — the wooden spooner picks first — with priority picks, father-son selections and academy bidding adding twists each year. Trades during the October trade period reshuffle the picks. There is also a pre-season draft, a mid-season rookie draft, and a free agency window that allows out-of-contract veterans to switch clubs without a trade. Together they make up the AFL’s player movement market.
What is the AFL salary cap, and does every club have the same one?
Yes — every AFL club operates under the same Total Player Payments cap, set by the league each year and adjusted for CPI and broadcast revenue. In the current cycle clubs have a pool of around $17 to $18 million for their 38-player primary list, plus separate allowances for rookie-listed players and Additional Service Agreements. The cap is the reason a marquee player cannot simply demand any number they want — the club has to squeeze the whole list under one ceiling. The AFL audits player payments aggressively, and breaches are punished with cash fines and the loss of future draft picks.
What is the difference between the AFL and the AFLW?
The AFL is the men’s professional competition, established in its current form in 1990. The AFLW is the elite national women’s league, which launched in 2017 with eight inaugural clubs and grew to all 18 clubs by the 2022 season. The AFLW runs in spring (roughly August to November), so it sits clear of the men’s calendar. Rules are largely the same, with a handful of format tweaks — shorter quarters, smaller squads, and its own finals series. Both leagues share the same clubs, brands and many of the same home grounds, and most clubs now run fully integrated football departments.
Who decides the rules of the game, and how often do they change?
The AFL Commission, advised by the AFL Competition Committee — a panel of coaches, players, football managers and former greats — reviews and adjusts the laws of the game every off-season. Recent rule tweaks include the 6-6-6 starting positions at centre bounces, the “stand” rule for the player on the mark, the larger goal square and 50-metre arc, and the score review system. Most changes are aimed at speeding the game up, opening it up, and reducing congestion. Whether they actually achieve all of that is, of course, the subject of every footy debate at every pub in the country every winter.
Got a question we haven’t covered?
Drop it in the comments and our team will take a look — odds are if you’re wondering, plenty of other readers are too. For the latest news, rumours, history pieces and hot takes from across the league, follow the rest of our AFL coverage on the Footy Talk home page, or dive straight into AFL News, AFL Finals or Rumours & Gossip.
