New AFL football operations boss Greg Swann has been locked in discussions with AFL club football managers over several rule changes for 2026 and beyond.
SEN's Sam Edmund reported the list of changes, which includes the abolition of the substitute and a last-disposal rule regarding out of bounds.
However, the father-son and academy draft rules would remain the same for the upcoming draft, but be changed in pursuit of a fairer event in 2026.
List of potential AFL rules changes for 2026
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- Removal of the AFL substitute rule, with five players on the bench and 75 rotations cap staying the same
- Last-disposal out of bounds rule between the 50m arcs, where a free kick will be awarded if a disposal goes out of bounds
- Changes to ruck rules so ruckmen get back to jumping at the contest, rather than tight wrestling.
- Shortened games through removing dead time such as umpires waiting to throw the ball up
List of potential AFL rules changes ruled out
- Father-son and academy draft rules to remain the same for 2025 but likely to be changed for 2026 draft
Last month, Swann indicated he had several changes planned for the game as he moved from Brisbane's CEO role to the AFL position.
“It’s a great game and it’s in good health. My thing will be tweaking things,” Swann said to Fox Footy after the Brisbane-Bulldogs match in July.
“I want to talk to the clubs about what they say. But there’s some things that are pretty evident.
“I was quoted yesterday saying the game is too long ... hopefully we can get into that pretty quickly.
“Even waiting for ruckmen, if there’s guys there, just throw the ball up and get on with it, that sort of stuff. I think quarters are averaging 35 minutes now, it’s too long.”
Swann continued: "Hopefully there’s some technology around so we can speed that up and maybe get that more accurate. I think there’s some meetings around some new technology, so hopefully we can get that done."