BEGINNERS GUIDE TO THE AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE – AFL

Australian Rules is the nation’s most popular spectator sport – and the Australian Football League (AFL) is the code’s premier competition. The dominant football code in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania, AFL has gained a major foothold in New South Wales and Queensland in recent decades. The entire culture of online betting Australia is also drived by AFL, especially during the final legs of the season where punters enjoy great promos through trusted online bookmakers like Palmerbet.

Grasping the fundamentals of the game and its competitors is recommended before having a bet on AFL matches on an online sports betting platform.

Understanding these basic concepts will help new punters interpret AFL betting tips and bet on AFL matches astutely, and to properly enjoy what may initially appear a complicated and frenetic contact sport.

Main Concepts

Essentially, the aim of the game is to score more points than the opposing team by kicking goals – though there are some intricacies to that part of Australian Rules that aren’t immediately apparent to the casual observer.

And game-play that may seem like semi-organised chaos is structured by nuanced rules and customs that take time to get to grips with, whether you’re watching footy at a local park or tuning in to the AFL 2023 premiership.

Playing Sides

Teams play with 18 players on the field each – six defenders, six forwards and six midfielders – with an interchange bench of up to four players.

The back line is positioned at the defensive end of the field and is made up of the fullback and two back pockets. The half-back line is made up of the centre half-back and two half-back flanks. The forward line – most responsible for kicking goals – features the full-forward and two forward pockets, while the half-forward line includes the centre half-forward and two half-forward flanks.

The midfield includes the centre line and the followers. The centre line, responsible for winning the ball and running with it, consists of the centre and two wingmen. They are the link men between the backs and forwards. The three followers, or on-ball division, also play predominantly in the middle of the field and are made up of the ruckman – usually taller players who contest centre-bounces, boundary throw-ins and ball-ups – ruck-rover and rover.

Forwards dominate AFL betting tips for the goalscoring markets, while midfielders lead the bet online odds for disposals.

Match

Australian Rules is played on an oval field, usually between 135-185 metres long from end to end, and 110-155 metres wide from sideline to sideline in the centre of the field. There are four posts positioned at each end – two taller middle posts and two shorter outer posts – and an arc is painted at each end to indicate a 50-metre distance to the goal.

There are no offside rules in this sport – the only restriction on the part of the field players are allowed occurs when there is a centre-bounce (at the start of each quarter or after a goal is scored), with only four players from each team allowed inside the lines marking the centre square until after the ball is bounced.

An AFL match is split into four quarters of 20 minutes each, with time stopped after a goal is scored, when the ball goes out of bounds, an injury necessitates a halt to play, or any other stoppages.

Matches are officiated by on-field umpires, boundary umpires and goal umpires. Umpires conduct the centre-bounces, ball-ups and boundary throw-ins.

Scoring

Teams accumulate points by kicking the ball through the four posts stationed at either end of the field. A goal, worth six points, is awarded for kicking the ball between the two taller middle posts, while one point – called a behind – is awarded for kicking the ball between a middle and an outer post. A behind is also awarded if the ball is carried or handballed across the goal-line, if it is touched in flight before going through the middle posts, or if the ball is kicked and hits one of the middle posts.

While difficult to decipher for the uninitiated, a team’s score is presented as the number of goals (worth six points each) followed by the number of behinds (worth one point each) and the resulting total in brackets. As an example, the 2021 AFL Grand Final score was Melbourne Demons 21.14 (140) defeated Western Bulldogs 10.6 (66).

General Play

There are several key concepts and rules to help novice viewers enjoy a game after putting in their AFL tips.

Players can move the ball around the field by either kicking or handballing (propelling it with a clenched fist or openhand tap) the ball or running with it. Throwing the ball is not allowed. Players can only run with the ball for 15 metres before disposing of it with a kick or handball, though they can continue running if they bounce or touch the ball on the ground. If a player throws (incorrect disposal) the ball or runs too far with it, the opposition team is awarded a free kick.

A player takes a mark – which allows them to have a shot at goal or take time to survey their options for linking with a teammate, or playing on – by cleanly catching a kick that has travelled more than 15 metres.

If a player is tackled without disposing of the ball (and has had prior opportunity to do so), the ball is handed over to the opposition for a free kick. A legal tackle is made between the ball-carrier’s knees and shoulders – any tackle below the knee or above the shoulder will incur a free kick.

Other Things To Note

The premiership was known as the VFL (due to containing teams exclusively from Victoria until the 1980s) from its inception in 1897 to 1989. It has been known as the AFL since 1990, reflecting the competition’s Australia-wide expansion. It is the sport’s only fully professional competition worldwide, though amateur competitions are played in many countries.

The AFL premiership consists of 18 clubs: 10 from Victoria (Carlton Blues, Collingwood Magpies Essendon Bombers, Geelong Cats, Hawthorn Hawks, Melbourne Demons, North Melbourne Kangaroos, Richmond Tigers, St Kilda Saints and Western Bulldogs); and two each from Western Australia (West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers), South Australia (Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide Power), New South Wales (Sydney Swans and Greater Western Sydney Giants) and Queensland (Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast Suns).

The AFL competition features 23 regular-season rounds (teams play 22 games and have one bye) from March-August. The four-week finals series concludes with the AFL Grand Final, usually played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the last Saturday of September.

Carlton Blues and Essendon Bombers are the most successful AFL clubs, winning 16 premierships each.

The 1970 VFL Grand Final attracted the biggest Australian Rules crowd of all time, with 121,696 supporters filling the MCG to see Carlton defeat Collingwood by 10 points.

The AFL’s most prestigious individual awards include the Brownlow Medal (awarded to the best and fairest player of the regular season, based on umpire votes), the Coleman Medal (awarded to the leading goalkicker of the regular season) and the Norm Smith Medal (awarded to the best and fairest player in the Grand Final).

St Kilda and Sydney full-forward Tony Lockett holds the record for most VFL/AFL goals with 1,360 from 1983-2002. South Melbourne’s (now Sydney) Bob Pratt (1934) and Hawthorn’s Peter Hudson (1971) co-hold the record for most goals in a season with 150. Melbourne’s Fred Fanning kicked a record 18 goals in a match against St Kilda in 1947.