The 2016 Australian Football League season was the 120th season of the elite Australian rules football competition. There were 18 teams competing in the league, the same as the previous four seasons. The first game was played on Thursday, 24 March, and the 2016 AFL Grand Final was played on Saturday, 1 October with the Western Bulldogs defeating Sydney by 22 points to win its second premiership and first in 62 years, breaking the then-longest active drought in VFL/AFL history.
Patrick Dangerfield won the Brownlow Medal, voted by the umpires to be the best and fairest player in the league for the home-and-away season. Josh Kennedy won the Coleman Medal as the highest goal scorer in the competition.
For the third consecutive year, the NAB Challenge series took place, featuring 27 practice matches played over 25 days, which began on 18 February and ended on 13 March. The matches were stand-alone, with no overall winner of the series. Each team played three games, many of which were played at suburban or regional venues, with all games televised on Fox Footy. The super goal was retained for these pre-season matches.
The following rule changes were made for the 2016 season:
The interchange rules were significantly altered to give each team four interchange players and a maximum of 90 rotations per game (excluding concussion, blood rule and stretcher interchanges). This replaced the 2015 protocol in which teams had three interchange players and a substitute and a maximum of 120 rotations per game.
The scope of tackles covered by the existing 'dangerous tackles' rule was expanded, with both umpires and the tribunal more strictly penalising players for tackles including a lifting, slinging or rotating technique.
A stricter interpretation of the existing "deliberate out of bounds" rule is to be applied.
The width of the protected zone on either side of a player with a mark or free kick was increased from five metres to ten metres. The rule was trialled in the 2016 pre-season before being endorsed shortly for the premiership season.
A provision for the AFL to appeal to the tribunal against an inadequate penalty will be introduced; previously, players had the right to appeal their charges or penalties but the AFL did not have the right to appeal against an acquittal or lenient penalty.
A thirty-second countdown clock, within which a player taking a set shot must begin their approach, was displayed on the scoreboard at most AFL grounds. This replaced the previous system in which the umpire was responsible for judging the thirty second time limit. The change was not implemented at grounds which lacked existing infrastructure to support it. From round 9 onwards, the shot clock was not shown during the final two minutes of any quarter to prevent it from being actively used in end-of-game clock management.
The grand final replay was abolished, with the provisions which were introduced in 1991 for five minutes each way of extra time in drawn finals now also applying to a drawn grand final. A new provision was also introduced to all finals to allow for an untimed period of golden point extra time to decide the game if scores remained level after extra time.
All matches during rounds 13, 14 and 15 (the bye rounds) featured a trial of officiating matches with four field umpires instead of three.
Notable features of the draw include:
Due to the weighted rule, Collingwood and Essendon met only once in the regular season for the first time since 1991, on Anzac Day.
Due to poor results in the Friday night timeslot in 2015, Carlton will not feature on Friday nights during the regular season, but will still play the annual Thursday night season opener against Richmond in round 1.
Melbourne and Richmond again met on Anzac Eve, which this season fell on a Sunday night. It was the only Sunday night match for the season, with the timeslot's unpopularity causing it to be scrapped after the 2014 season. The New Zealand Anzac Day match was scrapped from the fixture.
Due to the Sydney Royal Easter Show, Greater Western Sydney's primary home ground (Spotless Stadium) was unavailable until round 6, therefore the club's first two home games were played at its secondary home ground, Manuka Oval.
One month prior to the season, the Sydney Swans and ANZ Stadium came to an agreement to end their contract one year earlier than its scheduled conclusion, resulting in all eleven Sydney home games being played at the Sydney Cricket Ground, instead of eight at the SCG and three at ANZ Stadium. ANZ Stadium was still used for finals matches during 2016.
The inclusion of the first ever AFL sanctioned LGBT pride game for premiership points was held in round 21 between St Kilda and Sydney.
There will be a bye round between round 23 and the first week of the finals, to ensure that teams participating in the finals field their strongest side possible ahead of their first final. It was since announced in February 2016 that the annual E. J. Whitten Legends Game would be played in the football-free weekend, shifting from its mid-season slot.
All starting times are local.
Bold – Home game
X – Bye
Opponent for round listed above margin
This table can be sorted by margin, winners are represented in the first half of each column, and losers are represented in the second half of each column once sorted
Numbers highlighted in green indicates the team finished the round inside the top 8.
Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished in first place on the ladder in that round.
Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round.
Underlined numbers indicates the team had a bye during that round.
The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Patrick Dangerfield of Geelong, who received 35 votes, the most by any player under the 3-2-1 voting system.
The Coleman Medal was awarded to Josh Kennedy of West Coast, who kicked 80 goals during the home and away season.
The Ron Evans Medal was awarded to Callum Mills of Sydney, who received 49 votes.
The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Jason Johannisen of the Western Bulldogs.
The AFL Goal of the Year was awarded to Eddie Betts of Adelaide for the second consecutive season.
The AFL Mark of the Year was awarded to Majak Daw of North Melbourne.
The McClelland Trophy was awarded to Sydney for the first time since 2014.
The wooden spoon was "awarded" to Essendon for the first time since 1933.
The AFL Players Association Awards
The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Patrick Dangerfield of Geelong.
The Robert Rose Award was awarded to Luke Parker of Sydney for the second consecutive year.
The best captain was awarded to Taylor Walker of Adelaide.
The best first year player was awarded to Callum Mills of Sydney.
The 22under22 team captaincy was awarded to Marcus Bontempelli of the Western Bulldogs.
The AFL Coaches Association Awards
The AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year Award was awarded to Patrick Dangerfield of Geelong, who received 121 votes.
The inaugural Gary Ayres Award for the best player in the finals series was awarded to Josh Kennedy of Sydney.
The Allan Jeans Senior Coach of the Year Award was awarded to Luke Beveridge of the Western Bulldogs for the second consecutive year.
The Assistant Coach of the Year Award was awarded to Stuart Dew of Sydney.
The Career and Development Coach of the Year Award was awarded to Andrew McQualter of Richmond and Danny Sexton of St Kilda.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to Mark Williams.
The Best Young Player Award was awarded to Isaac Heeney of Sydney.
The Media Award was awarded to Gerard Whateley for his work on Fox Footy and the ABC.
The Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award was awarded to Jimmy Bartel of Geelong.
Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the player led the Coleman that round.
Underlined numbers indicates the player did not play that round.
Essendon supplements scandal
On 12 January 2016, after appealing the AFL anti-doping tribunal's verdict that 34 past and present Essendon players were found not guilty of taking an illegal substance during the 2012 season, the Court of Arbitration for Sport returned a final verdict of guilty; as a result, these players, including twelve still at the club, five at another as well as 17 players who are currently playing at lower levels or have retired altogether, were suspended for the entire season.
