Gerard's Editorial | Change sweeping the AFL (03.03.26)

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1:06The Venmo master card is issued by the bank court bank NA. Select schools available, Venmo stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo.me slash stash terms. Max $100 cash back per month. Good morning. Two days to go. They can scarcely have been an AFL season with greater change than what we're about to embark upon in 2026. As we contemplate the journey ahead, it's worth taking a step back to appreciate the scope of the alterations. It has come progressively so that you could miss the full extent of what might be viewed as the AFL spring cleaning or its long overdue homework. After a couple of years of inertia, change has been sweeping. The top 10 represents the biggest structural change since the arrival at the expansion teams. The finals given a shake up for the first time this century with the introduction of the wildcard games. The parameters for success are no longer eighths, but 10 or six depending on your point of view. The unique tradition of the Bounce is gone.

2:06The sub has been scrapped for the second time and the interchange evolves to a five man bench. The fixture was quietly meddled with to increase the degree of difficulty for the top teams and give equalization and artificial stimulus. What happened as the 2026 draw was announced was equivalent to the handicap, giving the favourites an extra kilo as they headed to the barriers for the Melbourne Cup to make the race a bit more sporting. Origin was restored with an ambition to nurture representative 40. A suite of rule changes is highlighted by the desire to see the Ruckman Leap and the introduction of the last disposal out of bounds to keep the game flowing. The arc has better tools and a mandate to intervene in a more concerted application of technology in the decision making, a phenomenon with mixed results across the sporting worlds. The Tribunal has greater flexibility system when it comes to concussion, but more rigidity in regards to the gut punch and umpires have been allowed into the modern era

3:07when it comes time to cast their brown low votes shielding the highest individual on up from increasing ridicule. What it still to be declared is whether the grand final was shift from its afternoon time slot and the magnitude of change to the bidding systems for Father and Son and Academy talent addressing the underlying compromises to equalization. The changes span from radical to subtle necessary to interventionist fixing the broken windows to building for the future. In the era of the national competition it's the broadest sweep of changes the game has undergone and it should fuel the unknown with consequences both desired and unintended. This is the first big play of the Andrew Dillon years as this administration chooses the direction for the game under its stewardship. Change is hard to sell to a football community that so often defaults to the idea to leave the game alone, but standing still is going backwards in modern sport on and off the fields. Rugby League is bold, brash, ambitious and united and more of a competitor

4:12than any time previously and the AFL's actions suggest a realization that it's time to get back in the ring. The league has given the game a mighty shake spring cleaning or long overdue homework take your pick. Now we wait to see how it presents for a season where the stakes are high by every measure. I saw a little bit of it on the TV yesterday and you know as they've done the last few years executed it really well and it's a good way for them to start their season. We do things differently and what we found in the last couple of years is actually that focus on New South Wales and Queensland has really helped grow awareness in New South Wales and Queensland and at the same time hasn't taken away from our round one. The last two round ones have been in the two highest 10th round we've had the hat of over 400,000. Andrew Dylan is in Sydney. He's pounding the pavement so to speak. He's going to join me from our Sydney studios at 10 o'clock. There can scarcely have been an AFL season with greater change than what we are about to embark upon in 2026.

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