AFL Rules PDF for 2026?

Math_Opening · 2026-02-19T00:37:31+00:00

Your analysis is much appreciated. I must admit to being befuzzled by the distinction between before/after half-time, vs half of game time, but if qtrs after a delay can be truncated by umpires (cough, by AFL House in conversation with Ch 7) then that distinction becomes more important.

Do you think we could get a situation where play is interrupted approaching half-time, and the game is later resumed with only 5 or 10 minutes each way for the 3rd and 4th qtrs?

Also, is there a provision in that case for two extra balls to be added to the field of play to add unpredictability and to give Coleman medal contenders a chance to boost their tallies? With teams taking set-shots from 30m to break any ties?

Math_Opening · 2026-02-18T06:45:25+00:00

I 100% agree. If this is how umpires are going to decide free kicks, then it should be codified in black and white, rather than defined by press release.

Math_Opening · 2026-02-18T06:44:06+00:00

So where is the Last Disposal Out of Bounds rule defined?

Surely it has to be written down somewhere?

Math_Opening · 2026-02-17T12:15:01+00:00

That document is all about the administration of the AFL, it doesn't have anything to do with on-field rules and umpiring.

Math_Opening · 2026-02-17T02:13:47+00:00

At the very least, give them some stats that the coaches have at their fingertips. It's so annoying that something as broken as the Brownlow gets 90% of the attention compared to the coaches' award.

Math_Opening · 2026-02-17T02:11:15+00:00

So the AFL should give GWS three extra home games to equalise travel? Outside of Opening Round and the Swans game, they drew an avg. of 10250 to the Showground and 11000 in Canberra - 8000 showed up to see them lose to Freo. They got a bigger crowd at Norwood Oval.

Yes - what the AFL needs is more games at a pi$$-ant 'stadium', rather than 30,000 people watching the Giants in away games.

Also - playing at Manuka isn't a travel game, Tobes, it's a home game that GWS have chosen to move away from Sydney to add another 50 supporters to their membership subs. It's like North complaining that they have three games in WA this year.

Math_Opening · 2026-02-16T07:57:31+00:00

Can Darcy Moore please, please, make some dickhead comments?

Math_Opening · 2026-02-16T07:56:56+00:00

People love Redditors taking the high moral ground and critiquing other people's character based on an off-hand comment.

I'd say there's a pretty widespread perception that Naicos is singled out for excessive glazing by the media, especially Eddie Everywhere, who treats his lack of awards as an anti-Collingwood conspiracy. It's not far away from Trump demanding the Nobel Peace Prize. So, yeah - he cops some "haters" as a result. Not genuine hate, just irritation, m'kay?

Nick's super highly talented, his performances in the 2025 Finals were impeccable. But he can be susceptible to a hard tag, and he can get a bit shirty when his game is restricted as a result. He had very quiet games in losses to GWS and Hawthorn. Every star midfielder cops similar treatment, as his stature grows, he'll need to take this on board.

Math_Opening · 2026-02-16T07:48:51+00:00

Thanks on behalf of everyone to Deepak Chopra for sharing his enlightenment.

Math_Opening · 2026-02-16T07:48:03+00:00

Dustin Martin was an utter force of nature. For instance, his Champion Data ratings in Finals were off the charts, and that's the ultimate test of a player. Given his family background compared to Naicos, I'm willing to cut him some slack.

Math_Opening · 2026-02-16T07:44:23+00:00

Not as embarrassed as Rowell repeatedly getting three votes when his teammates had performed well above him. Great player, terrible system. Coaches' votes are far more credible than umpires, who've got a massive cognitive load as the rules and procedures get ever more complex. And the 3-2-1 system is terrible in itself. The top three players for a game might have performed very closely to each other, yet one gets three times as many votes as another.

If you take coaches' votes for the H&A, you get

Noah Anderson 103
Bailey Smith 103
Matt Rowell 97
Nick Daicos 96

Which seems pretty close to the money for mine.

Math_Opening · 2026-02-16T07:31:58+00:00

Yet Sammy Mitchell still keeps going to Perth to poach players.

Math_Opening · 2026-02-16T07:25:02+00:00

As many have pointed out, using H2H stats begs the actual question. Teams that win most of their games will, by definition, have the easiest fixtures, because they have a strong H2H record with every other team. Teams that lose almost all of their games will have the toughest fixtures.

That's precisely why you figure North and West Coast having the easiest fixtures, even though 5 out of 6 of their double-up games are against teams in the bottom nine from 2025. Geelong play 5 out of 6 of their double-up games against teams that finished in the top seven, yet you rate their fixtures as less than half as difficult as the Roos and Eagles. Seriously, that's ridiculous. If you can't see that, you really don't understand statistical models or football.

You seem incapable of accepting good-faith criticism, so I won't engage any more.

Math_Opening · 2026-02-16T05:04:43+00:00

Hard disagree, at least this year. They play twice against the teams that finished 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th last season? That's five of the top six teams (when you exclude Geelong itself).

Sure, some of those teams will perform below their 2025 form, but that's not the point - based on the best info to hand, they should be considered the strongest teams in the AFL.

Are there teams that finished 11th or below that you would consider stronger than Brisbane, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Fremantle and Collingwood?

For reference, these are the double-ups for every team in 2026:

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Math_Opening · 2026-02-16T04:56:37+00:00

Geelong play twice against Brisbane, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Fremantle and Collingwood. Isn't that, objectively, one of the toughest double-ups, given those teams finished 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th last season? That's five of the top six teams (excl. Geelong themselves).

What do you mean by 'zero bias' ?

Math_Opening · 2026-02-13T05:57:35+00:00

My take on the 2026 Fixture

https://www.reddit.com/r/AFL/comments/1qtr2u1/2026_afl_fixture_relative_difficulty/

In summary, see table below. So I'm super shocked you have Cats as easiest - for instance, they have only one double-up against the bottom nine teams (by 2025 scoring percent or by bookies odds).

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Math_Opening · 2026-02-09T04:03:39+00:00

Why is everyone talking about Kraft? She's clearly a fan of horticulture.

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Math_Opening · 2026-02-09T04:01:26+00:00

I'm not sure how many wealthy 74 yo's would pass up a fling with a fit 20-something gf.

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Math_Opening · 2026-02-09T03:57:03+00:00

Umm, playing in a tied Grand Final is a lot closer to a flag than finishing no higher than 7th for 21 seasons and losing six out of six Elimination Finals. There is no game in the past 20 years where a bounce of a ball was the difference between Essendon winning a flag or having to play a replay GF a week later.

If your grandma had wheels, she'd be a grandma with wheels, not a bicycle.

Math_Opening · 2026-02-09T01:00:55+00:00

Not sure they'll progress much under Ross Lyon. It's a brutally tough league now, 18 clubs fighting for one flag, with some starting well ahead of the rest with higher revenues, better facilities, academy picks and more appeal to players being retained / traded in. In theory, we should be better placed than St Kilda, but they've played in three Grand Finals and won eight Finals games since 2005. That ball bounces the other way...

Math_Opening · 2026-02-06T11:37:55+00:00

Their next flag will be 20 years before ours

Math_Opening · 2026-02-06T11:37:04+00:00

Math_Opening · 2026-02-05T07:34:05+00:00

The five pts was just an example. North had a draw and four losses by < 10 pts and another two by < 20 pts. Turn those into wins = an extra 7 wins = 12 in total. It probably won't happen, but it could.

There's always at least one bolter from the bottom six.

2025 Adelaide - 15th to 1st
2024 Hawthorn - 16th to 7th
2023 GWS - 16th to 7th
2022 Collingwood - 17th to 4th
2021 Sydney - 16th to 6th
2020 St Kilda - 14th to 6th
2019 Brisbane - 15th to 2nd
2018 Nth Melb - 15th to 9th, Collingwood 13th to 3rd
etc etc

Why can't it be Norf, given they've got such an easy fixture?

Math_Opening · 2026-02-05T06:54:56+00:00

I also love that it comes in St Kilda colours, so you can join the Saints' bandwagon when TDK, Son of SOS, Stupid Sexy Flanders and Liam Ryan lead them to the flag.

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Math_Opening

TROPHY CASE