Ditch the music, and don’t lecture us: 10 resolutions the AFL should adopt in 2026
SOURCE:Sydney Morning Herald|BY:Peter Ryan
If the 2025 AFL season had been a movie, Margaret Pomeranz would have been hard-pressed to give it more than three stars. It’s time for the league to hit 2026 with a new resolve.
It had its moments, but if the 2025 AFL season had been a movie Margaret Pomeranz would have been hard-pressed to give it more than three stars as the number of dead rubbers piled up, teams crumbled due to injury or poor form, and the AFL lost credibility through poor decision-making and internal division.
Despite that, we kept turning up and will do so again in 2026, but that doesn’t mean the AFL shouldn’t enter the year without a long list of new year’s resolutions. We thought we’d help it make a start.
Craig Drummond is poised to replace Richard Goyder as AFL Commission chairman.Credit: Getty Images
1. Resurrect the AFL Commission
Goodbye, departing chairman Richard Goyder. The less said, the better. Incoming boss Craig Drummond – who took a low-profile, corporate approach during his successful reign as Geelong president – must take the commission off the inactive list where it has been since COVID-19.
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People love the footy, so a drover’s dog could attract crowds and television viewers. The commission needs to reassert its position as a respected body within the game and use its outsized place in the community to entertain rather than pontificate, influence rather than frustrate, be dynamic rather than lumber about, and remain contemporary rather than confused.
The commission can set a clear course that achieves financial metrics and nourishes the game for all generations to once again become a respected force in football. And don’t be a stranger in the public sphere.
2. The league can no longer be the AFL’s worst team
Even though the AFL is an easy whipping boy, it left itself more vulnerable to criticism in 2025 than the English cricket team. Inexperience combined with hubris was a poor mix.
CEO Andrew Dillon has bolstered football and club experience around him by appointing Tom Harley and Greg Swann in vital roles while took a sideways step.
Any confusion on who is in charge needs to be removed as soon as the team returns in 2026, with Dillon and Harley the key figures in the administration while Swann is responsible for football. If there is a problem accepting that, leave or pull your head in.
Andrew Dillon and his new football supremo Greg Swann.Credit: Wayne Taylor
The league must join the footy conversation again after morphing into a government department in 2025 with people either too scared to talk to media or unwilling to engage in debates without resorting to cliche and platitudes.
It’s not that hard talking about football. No one ever agrees on the subject nor is it a matter of life or death. Swann knows that, as does Dillon who is more attuned to the public mood than he gets credit for, but he needs support. Grow some perspective, AFL, and join in. You might even enjoy being part of it.
3. Restore the ‘Any Given Sunday’ motto
**(i) Draft and salary cap overhaul
**In 2018, then AFL footy boss Steve Hocking led the AFL through a process which delivered the 6-6-6 and stand rule among other changes to combat congestion and make the game flow. You may not like every rule introduced in 2019, but the changes worked, and the game was better overall for the detail-oriented, evidence-based approach.
Jaspa Fletcher, Oscar Allen and Daniel Annable will all lace up for the Lions in 2026.Credit: Getty
In 2026, the same concerted effort is needed to deliver an equalisation model which stays true to the intent of the national draft and salary cap model which laid the foundation for the national game 40 years ago because the mechanisms to balance the game are failing. There is no easy fix because the AFL took its eye off the ball when the imbalance could have been predicted.
Ensuring the need to promote growth in new markets doesn’t override competitive balance, and that must be the riding instructions for the revamp.
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Here are some ideas worth considering:
Restrictions on which clubs free agents can join or sign-on bonuses for those who join lower-placed clubs;
The removal of the priorities afforded to next-generation academy graduates even as eligibility is tightened and clubs pay a higher price for priority access;
A deep dive into whether compensation is necessary. The premiers can’t continue to get a top-five talent every year.
**(ii) Financial fairness
**The distribution process is fundamentally flawed as it doesn’t support competitive balance.
While such a situation exists, no rules (see above) in the world will create an equalised competition.
The Bombers’ reset will be less exposed to prime time in 2026.Credit: Getty Images
**(iii) Fixture reset, restump and rewire
**The fixture has become like a pre-fabricated henhouse with extra rounds, home matches sold interstate, home ground finals for some and not others, marquee slots available to some and not others, uneven breaks leading into Thursday night matches, wildcard finals and weighted match-ups.
It can’t be fixed in 2026 but a taskforce with a deadline to find solutions before the next round of broadcast negotiations begin should be created, particularly with a 19th team about to join the AFL.
4. Play an AFLW showcase game
AFLW is an investment the game seems to want to hide behind finals, the AFL trade period and racing’s spring carnival. So far, it has not captured mainstream attention.
Monique Conti is a superb player at the TigersCredit: Getty Images
If we are sticking with the unfortunate season timing, here are four basic suggestions to get people talking about the competition:
Play a showcase game selecting the best 46 AFLW players. Perhaps Victoria versus the Rest could work depending on the talent spread, or Australia v Ireland playing Australian football rather than international rules at Marvel Stadium in the week before the season officially starts. This would show football what is possible in a competition that grew too quickly too early. Anyone for Monique Conti v Ella Roberts, Maeve Chaplin v Aishling Moloney, Georgie Prespaskis alongside Ash Riddell in the square?
Have players do the post-match media conferences rather than coaches who are mostly middle-aged men and generally as interesting or captivating as a seagull. It’s a women’s competition. Take advantage of the different personalities.
Pick a contemporary person as an ambassador and employ people with profile and credibility to promote the women’s game at every opportunity rather than using very worthy pioneers. They don’t move the dial one bit. Rather than spend on Snoop Dogg, divert some cash to a huge Australian star who wants to support and grow women’s sport. Ash Barty to Chloe Morello to Bailey Smith? Someone contemporary, please.
Don’t start the season again with Carlton v Collingwood. The Magpies don’t deserve the slot. Carlton or Hawthorn v North Melbourne would be a much better match. And take a risk by playing it at Marvel Stadium.
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5. Don’t let Tassie be devils
The stadium will be divisive, but the green (or should we say PMS Pantone 626 CP) light to build it means the momentum created by Brendon Gale and co already continues.
Nick Daicos, Cam Rayner, Alex Pearce and Ryley Sanders will look handy next to Axel Walsh and Taj Garrett but the disruption their list build creates for other clubs needs careful consideration, as does winning the hearts and minds of Tasmanians, many who still feel bullied into a new stadium even if they love the thought of their own team. Does it need a roof?
6. Consistent penalties for off-field transgressions
Do something unacceptable on or off the field, and it’s anyone’s guess what the penalty will be. That’s because no one seems to know exactly what they are trying to achieve.
From a fireside chat by Dillon at Geelong star Bailey Smith’s house, to a discussion between Crows president John Olsen and commission chair Richard Goyder during the Izak Rankine saga, to a reversed decision when Port Adelaide’s Willie Rioli used social media to allegedly threaten an opponent, to a magistrate providing Richmond’s Noah Balta a dose of reality, the system was one American cartoonist Rube Goldberg would have been proud to produce. Goldberg famously drew gadgets performing simple tasks in extremely complex and complicated ways.
Bailey Smith delivered elite performances on the field, and turmoil off it, in his first season at Geelong.Credit: AFL Photos
That needs to change.
Deliver the framework that the AFL Players’ Association has been screaming for to create a system with an acceptable balance between education, guidance and punitive measures.
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It doesn’t need to be perfect, but the time taken after an investigation to deliver a final penalty is too long, convoluted and lacking in transparency.
In 2025, the game tied itself in knots trying to find a perfect solution rather than delivering an outcome they could support without qualification.
It’s also time to address a tough question. Is it prepared to back an innocent until proven guilty philosophy or not, and ask why or why not? Or is a stand-down policy needed?
7. Rein in the fines for players
Any system that applies financial penalties to players north of $600,000 (average fine of $2777 per game in 2025) will fail because players will naturally feel disrespected in the process. Especially when the revenue has tripled in just three seasons. The number of suspensions – 36 in 2025 – shows how fines have taken over as the league wants the best players playing, and to keep stars eligible for the Brownlow Medal.
An audible groan was heard when Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera received just two votes for his memorable matchwinning performance against Melbourne.Credit: Getty Images
8. N. Wanganeen-Milera ... two votes?
This is difficult but the Brownlow Medal is now a laughingstock. That can’t be ignored. Giving umpires access to statistics is a start, but the reason for the medal’s fall from grace needs more in-depth analysis because times have changed, feedback on votes is instantaneous and commentary on social media is destabilising. That means more work is required to protect its credibility.
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In such an environment, many umpires will choose the safe option when awarding votes. Why wouldn’t four umpires consulting each other on votes devolve into group think?
Give one umpire per game the job of voting. Let him assess statistics, consult his umpires and then award his own 3-2-1. Less integrity dramas, more random voting, no threat to fairness. That’s a start.
And don’t worry about special awards for second and third placegetters.
Please, we know who they were.
9. Dream bigger than State of Origin
The game needs to push for an international presence. The international rules concept can work to give players a chance to represent their country, but the thinking must not be limited to former ideas.
A game for premiership points overseas is a must before the end of this decade. China is out. New Zealand is easy enough but hardly groundbreaking. Forget Dubai; it’s either Ireland or North America, and it has to happen as part of opening round or round one. Don’t think, do!
Chris Scott will coach Victoria in State of Origin against WA in FebruaryCredit: AFL Photos
And so far, this drip feeding of players being selected for Victoria and Western Australia to play in Perth in February makes State of Origin feel like a gimmick, a version of reality TV, not a contest with pride on the line.
10. Address the bugbears, such as ...
(i) Music after goals is derivative, repetitive and loud, Take Me Home Country Road at the Gabba excepted. If no one sings along, scrap it.
(ii) Force clubs to have one open training session per week.
Take Me Home, Country Roads is the anthem of the Gabba whenever Charlie Cameron kicks a goal.Credit: AFL Photos
(iii) Enforce the rules negotiated in the collective bargaining agreement mandating that players speak to the media.
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(iv) Decide to change round zero to round one.
(v) Organise microphones for post-match media conferences on Thursday and Friday nights, so viewers can actually hear the questions.
(vi) Respect umpires by speaking about their performance in realistic terms but don’t explain late-game, match-turning decisions after the event. Just say, “That’s footy.”
(vii) Invest in goal-line technology.
(viii) Play several AFLW games as curtain raisers to AFL games.
