The 2017 AFL season was the 121st season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eighteen clubs, ran from 23 March until 30 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs.

The premiership was won by the Richmond Football Club for the eleventh time, after it defeated Adelaide by 48 points in the 2017 AFL Grand Final.

Rule changes

The following amendments were made to the Laws of the Game for the 2017 season:

• Rules relating to around-the-ground ruck contests were amended such that only the nominated ruckman for each team is permitted in the contest, eliminating the option for another player to enter the contest and take the tap, otherwise known as the "third man up" strategy. This was done to make ruck contests easier to adjudicate, to reduce the risk of injuries to ruckmen, and to increase the value of the skill of ruckwork.
• A more stringent interpretation of deliberate rushed behinds was introduced, by allowing the umpire to consider prior opportunity, distance from the goal line and degree of applied pressure when judging whether or not to pay a free kick.
• Adjustments were made to the interpretation of high tackles, giving the umpire more discretion to call play-on when he deems that the tackled player is responsible for the high contact. This was introduced to discourage the practice of ducking into a tackle, dropping the knees when tackled or trying to shrug off a tackle to earn a free kick.
• A more stringent interpretation of punches to the body was introduced to the match review panel and tribunal to allow for suspensions to be imposed; and to allow fines to be imposed for low impact jumper punches.
• The deliberate out of bounds free kick was amended, lowering the threshold for a free kick from 'intentionally' putting the ball out of bounds to 'not demonstrating sufficient intent' to keep the ball in bounds.

Pre-season

JLT Community Series

The pre-season series of matches returned in 2017 as the newly renamed JLT Community Series, which featured 27 practice matches played over 25 days, beginning on 16 February and ending on 12 March. The matches were stand-alone, with no overall winner of the series. Each team played three games, many at suburban or regional venues, while all games were televised on Fox Footy.

Premiership season

Notable features of the draw include:

• The naming rights of York Park were bought by the University of Tasmania from Aurora Energy in the week prior to the full fixture being released, with the venue becoming known as the University of Tasmania Stadium.
• Greater Western Sydney sold the naming rights for Manuka Oval during the AFL season to the University of New South Wales, and the stadium became known as the UNSW Canberra Oval.
• North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs played in the AFL's first ever Good Friday match, which was played at Etihad Stadium.
• Port Adelaide and Gold Coast competed in the first AFL premiership match outside Australia and New Zealand when they played in round 8 at Jiangwan Stadium in Shanghai, China, with the match televised live on the Seven Network. Both teams had a bye the following round, while the remaining sixteen teams had their byes from rounds 11 to 13.
• Owing to redevelopment, Simonds Stadium was unavailable until round 9.
• The Western Bulldogs competed in the first AFL premiership match to be played at Mars Stadium in Ballarat when they faced Port Adelaide in round 22. The match was also the first AFL premiership match in a Victorian regional venue (other than Geelong) since a one-off round of promotional matches held in 1952.
• All starting times are local.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Round 23

Season notes

• Adelaide recorded the longest unbeaten start to a season in club history, winning its first six games.
• Sydney was the first reigning grand finalist in VFL/AFL history to lose its first six matches of the following season, before becoming the first club to reach the finals after starting the season with zero wins and six losses.
• Western Bulldogs became the first team since Hawthorn in 2009 and the first team in the 18 team competition to fail to make the finals after winning the premiership the previous year.
• Essendon became the first team since West Coast in 2011 to qualify for the finals after finishing wooden spooners the previous season.
• West Coast reached the finals at the expense of Melbourne on percentage by 0.48 percentage points, a difference equivalent to only nine on-field points. It is the narrowest margin in VFL/AFL history to decide a finals spot.
• This was the last season in which games were played at Domain Stadium, with the Western Australian teams playing home games at Perth Stadium from 2018 and onwards.
• Adelaide's record of 15 wins, 1 draw and 6 losses is the least successful of any minor premier since 1997.
• Brisbane Lions' record of 5 wins and 17 losses is the most successful of any wooden spooner since the Lions themselves in 1998.
• Richmond had the highest average home-and-away and home game attendance of any club in 2017, with figures of 46,580 and 55,958 respectively.

Win/loss table

Bold – Home game
X – Bye
Opponent for round listed above margin

Ladder

Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicates the team finished the round inside the top eight.
• 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.
• Subscript numbers indicate ladder position at rounds end.

Positions of teams round by round

Finals series

Week one

Week two

Week three

Week four

Attendances

By club

By ground

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Dustin Martin of Richmond who polled a record 36 votes.
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Lance Franklin of Sydney, who kicked 69 goals during the home and away season. It was the fourth time Franklin has won the award. Franklin kicked ten goals in the final round to move above Josh Kennedy.
• The Ron Evans Medal was awarded to Andrew McGrath of Essendon, who received 51 votes.
• The AFL Goal of the Year was awarded to Daniel Rioli of Richmond for his goal against West Coast in round 3.
• The AFL Mark of the Year was awarded to Joe Daniher of Essendon for his mark against St Kilda in round 17.
• The McClelland Trophy was awarded to Adelaide for the first time since 2005.
• The wooden spoon was "awarded" to the Brisbane Lions for the first time since 1998 after obtaining five wins during the season.
• The AFL Players Association Awards
  • The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Dustin Martin of Richmond polling 1,333 votes ahead of Patrick Dangerfield who polled 776.
  • The Robert Rose Award was awarded to Rory Sloane of Adelaide.
  • The best captain was awarded to Taylor Walker of Adelaide for the second year in a row.
  • The best first year player was awarded to Andrew McGrath of Essendon.
  • The 22under22 team captaincy was awarded to Marcus Bontempelli of the Western Bulldogs for the second year in a row.
• The AFL Coaches Association Awards
  • The AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year Award was awarded to Dustin Martin of Richmond who received 122 votes ahead of Patrick Dangerfield who received 118.
  • The Gary Ayres Award for the best player in the finals series was awarded to Dustin Martin of Richmond who polled 25 votes ahead of teammate Trent Cotchin on 15.
  • The Allan Jeans Senior Coach of the Year Award was awarded to Richmond coach Damien Hardwick.
  • The Assistant Coach of the Year Award was awarded to Sydney assistant Rhyce Shaw.
  • The Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to John Dimmer whose coaching career spanning 284 games included two flags apiece with West Australian clubs West Perth and South Fremantle.
  • The Best Young Player Award was awarded to Clayton Oliver of Melbourne who received 72 votes.
  • The Media Award was awarded to Gerard Whateley for the fourth consecutive year.
• The Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award was awarded to Jack Hombsch of Port Adelaide.

Milestones

Coleman Medal

• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the player led the Coleman Medal at the end of that round.
• Numbers underlined indicates the player did not play in that round.

Best and fairest

Club leadership

Coach changes

Club membership

Post-season

International Rules Series

The International Rules Series returned in November 2017, with Australia hosting two test matches. The series was played on an aggregate-points basis, with the winner being the team that scores the highest amount over the two test matches. The matches were played on 12 and 18 November 2017 at Adelaide Oval and Domain Stadium. The Australian team was again composed exclusively of players who have won All-Australian honours in their careers. The times and venues for the series were announced in August.

References

External links

• Official AFL website
• AFL Tables, Stats, Attendances, Records
• More Extensive Stats, Attendances, Records of every club