Have the AFL’s rule changes worked? We crunched the numbers |
Have the AFL’s rule changes worked? We crunched the numbers
March 24, 2026 — 11:49am
You have reached your maximum number of saved items.
Remove items from your saved list to add more.
Save this article for later
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.
Three rounds into the new season, head office has what it wants.
The AFL’s new rules are having the desired impact – a spike in overall scoring.
While not all teams have played three games, the bump in scoring is obvious. When comparing the average scores across the first three rounds of this season and last, there’s an increase of 5 points per team, to 90 points.
There’s a caveat: a team-by-team look shows that only 10 are averaging more than 90 points per game. Others, including the so-called Victorian power clubs, are well below. Collingwood are averaging 78.5 points per game, Essendon 76.5, Carlton 72 and Richmond 65.5. Geelong are averaging 89.5 points.
However, the bigger picture is more promising, for this season’s overall average is a whopping 10 points more than 2022.
The flow of the game has also largely improved. Scores from turnovers – a key focus of teams – are up almost seven points per game on last year. Anecdotally, a more strict adherence to the stand rule has helped this.
This comes despite scores from rebound-50s and the average number of inside-50s........