The 2024 AFL season was the 128th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 18 clubs and ran from 7 March to 28 September, comprising a 23-match home-and-away season over 25 rounds, followed by a four-week finals series featuring the top eight clubs.
The Brisbane Lions won the premiership, defeating Sydney by 60 points in the 2024 AFL Grand Final. Sydney won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 17–6 win–loss record. Carlton's Patrick Cripps won his second Brownlow Medal as the league's best and fairest player, breaking the record for most votes polled using the 3–2–1 voting system with 45, and Greater Western Sydney's Jesse Hogan won the Coleman Medal as the league's leading goalkicker.
Background
In November 2023, the AFL and Seven Network announced that the usual start times for Thursday and Friday night matches would be brought forward by ten minutes to 7:30pm and 7:40pm (Melbourne time), respectively, for the upcoming season, in response to feedback from fans.
Coach appointments
Club leadership
Caretaker coaches are italicised.
Pre-season
All starting times are local time. Source: afl.com.au
Season events
Andrew Dillon took over as CEO of the AFL from this season, commencing in October 2023. Dillon replaced Gillon McLachlan, who had served in the role since 2014.
On 20 February 2024, goal umpire Jesse Baird was scheduled to officiate a practice match between Sydney and Greater Western Sydney, but did not arrive at the match. One day later, New South Wales Police alleged Baird and his partner, Luke Davies, were murdered. Before the start of the Sydney and Melbourne match, both teams formed a minute silence in the middle of the field, along with the umpires, in honoring Jesse Baird.
In an effort to grow the game in the northern states, the season featured an "Opening Round" wherein two matches in Sydney, one in Brisbane and one on the Gold Coast were played, prior to round 1. Following its successful first iteration in 2023, Gather Round, a special round featuring all 18 clubs playing in the same region, was held for the second time in South Australia; it was held in round 4, from 4 to 7 April.
Following the season, several Greater Western Sydney players were sanctioned by the AFL for inappropriate costumes worn and skits performed at their Wacky Wednesday celebrations. Captain Toby Greene was among seven players fined $5,000 for lack of leadership, Josh Fahey was suspended for four matches, and five other players were each suspended for two matches.
Home-and-away season
All starting times are local time. Source: afl.com.au
Opening Round
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
Round 24
Ladder
Progression by round
Source: AFL Tables
Home matches and membership
The following table includes all home match attendance figures from the home-and-away season, excluding neutral matches (Gather Round).
Source: AFL Tables
Finals series
All starting times are local time. Source: afl.com.au
Finals week 1
Finals week 2
Finals week 3
Grand final
Win–loss table
The following table can be sorted from biggest winning margin to biggest losing margin for each round. If multiple matches in a round are decided by the same margin, these margins are sorted by percentage (i.e. the lowest-scoring winning team is ranked highest and the lowest-scoring losing team is ranked lowest). Home matches are in bold, neutral matches (Gather Round) are underlined and opponents are listed above the margins.
Source: AFL Tables
Season notes
- In 2024, the AFL recorded the three highest-attended home-and-away rounds in VFL/AFL history, with cumulative attendances of 413,405 in round 1, 408,433 in round 7 and 403,452 in round 8, after only recording a cumulative attendance of over 400,000 once previously.
- For the first time in VFL/AFL history, both reigning grand finalists – Collingwood and the Brisbane Lions – lost their first two matches of the following season; both clubs eventually lost their first three matches.
- Sydney won 13 of its first 14 matches of the season, its best start to a season since 1918.
- Charlie Curnow (Carlton) kicked multiple goals in each of his club's first 15 matches of the season, the longest such streak since 2009.
- The AFL broke the record club membership tally by the end of July, a month before the cutoff date, eventually setting a new record of 1,319,687; 13 clubs achieved record tallies, with eight clubs recording increases of over 10% on their 2023 figures.
- Hawthorn qualified for finals after losing its first five matches of the season, its worst start to a season in which it qualified for finals; its four losses after round 5 were the fewest by any club for the remainder of the home-and-away season.
- The AFL recorded a cumulative attendance of 7,756,268 for the home-and-away season, breaking the VFL/AFL home-and-away attendance record set the previous season.
Milestones
Source: AFL Tables (players); other milestones sourced individually
Coach departures
Awards
Major awards
- The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Carlton's Patrick Cripps, who broke the record for most votes polled using the 3–2–1 voting system with 45.
- The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to the Brisbane Lions' Will Ashcroft.
- The Goal of the Year was awarded to West Coast's Harley Reid.
- The Mark of the Year was awarded to Collingwood's Bobby Hill.
Leading goalkickers
Source: AFL Tables
Club best and fairest
See also
- 2024 AFL Women's season
References
Sources
- 2024 AFL season at afl.com.au
- 2024 AFL season at AFL Tables
- 2024 AFL season at Australian Football
- 2024 AFL season at Austadiums
