The 2014 AFL season was the 118th season of the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL), the highest level senior

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eighteen clubs, ran from 14 March until 27 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a

finals series Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

featuring the top eight clubs. The premiership was won by the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawth ...

for the twelfth time and second time consecutively, after it defeated by 63 points in the

2014 AFL Grand Final The 2014 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Sydney Swans and the Hawthorn Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 27 September 2014. It was the 119th annual AFL Grand Final, grand final of the Au ...

Pre-season

From 2014, the AFL abandoned the pre-season premiership, which since 1988 had seen practice matches combined with a (usually knock-out) tournament ending with a winning club. Instead and since, the pre-season has featured a series of stand-alone practice matches. Known as the 2014 NAB Challenge, the series featured 27 practice matches played over 25 days, beginning 26 February and ending 22 March. Each team played three pre-season games, many of which were played at suburban or regional venues, with most games televised on

Fox Footy Fox Footy (stylised as FOX FOOTY) is an Australian rules football subscription television channel dedicated to screening Australian rules football matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Australia operated out of its Melbou ...

. The nine-point

super goal A super goal was a method of scoring used in the Australian Football League's pre-season competition in the sport of Australian rules football, from 2003 to 2017. Under the rule, a goal scored from a distance greater than fifty metres is awarded ...

was used in these matches.

Practice matches

Additionally, each club played a further practice match after the NAB Challenge under the regular AFL season rules, however these matches were not televised.

Premiership season

The full fixture was released on Thursday 31 October 2013, and the premiership season was launched at the redeveloped

Adelaide Oval The Adelaide Oval is a stadium in Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Parklands, parklands. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby league, ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

on 5 March. Notable features of the draw included: * played most of its home games at night in 2014, with its first game played against on a Thursday night in round 1.AFL doubles TV costs
''The Age'', 26 October 2013 * The

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

was unavailable for round 1 due to cricket commitments. This meant that the ground did not host a round 1 match for the first time since

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

(due to the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

), and the match between and which had served as the season's first match in Melbourne since

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

was held in round 2 instead. *The AFL trialled five Sunday night matches during the season, two of which were televised on the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

.Footy on Sunday nights set for Seven
''The Age'', 29 October 2013 *

Traeger Park Traeger Park (currently known under naming rights as TIO Traeger Park) is a sports complex located in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, in the suburb of The Gap, Northern Territory, The Gap. Named after Alfred Hermann Traeger, the p ...

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

hosted its first premiership match when met in round 11. * Match starting times are local.

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

Win/loss table

Bold – Home game
X – Bye
Opponent for round listed above margin

Ladder

Ladder progression

Finals series

Week one

Week two

Week three

Week four

Attendances

By club

By ground

Awards

*The

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...

was awarded to

Matt Priddis Matthew Harley Priddis (born 21 March 1985) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Prior to being drafted, Priddis won two premierships with the Subiac ...

of , who received 26 votes. *The

AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Bu ...

was awarded to

Lewis Taylor Lewis Taylor (born 20 January 1966) is a British multi-instrumentalist musician, born and raised in Barnet, North London, England, in the late 1960s. He started in the music business as a guitarist touring with the psychedelic rock band Edgar B ...

of the , who received 39 votes. *The

Norm Smith Medal The Norm Smith Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best on ground in the grand final of the Australian Football League (AFL). Prior to 1990, the competition was known as the Victorian Footbal ...

was awarded to

Luke Hodge Luke Hodge (born 15 June 1984) is a former Australian rules football player who played with the Hawthorn Football Club and the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played for the Hawthorn Football Club from 2002 to 2017, c ...

of *The

AFL Goal of the Year AFL may refer to: Education * Angel Foundation for Learning, a Canadian Roman Catholic charity * Ankara Science High School, a high school in Ankara, Turkey, natively referred to as ''Ankara Fen Liesi'' * Assessment for learning Military * ...

was awarded to Matthew White of . *The AFL Mark of the Year was awarded to Chad Wingard of . *The

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football club championship trophy, awarded each year to the club with the best aggregate performance across the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) seasons. The trophy was inaugur ...

was awarded to for the first time since

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. *The

Wooden Spoon A wooden spoon is a Kitchen utensil, utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture. History The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of woo ...

was "awarded" to for the first time since

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

. *The

AFL Players Association awards The AFL Players Association (AFLPA) awards are a group of awards given annually, mainly to players in the Australian Football League and AFL Women's, voted for by all AFL and AFL Women's players. Main awards The AFLPA nominates the following as ...

**The

Leigh Matthews Trophy The Leigh Matthews Trophy is an annual award given by the AFL Players Association to the Most Valuable Player in the Australian Football League. It is named in honour of Leigh Matthews, who won the first MVP award in 1982, when the league was s ...

was awarded to

Nat Fyfe Nathan Fyfe (born 18 September 1991) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Fyfe is a dual Brownlow Medallist, dual Leigh Matthews Trophy recipient, three-t ...

of . **The Robert Rose Award was awarded to

Joel Selwood Joel Anthony Selwood (born 26 May 1988) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a four-time premiership player ( including one time as captain), a six-ti ...

of for the third year in a row and fourth time overall. **The Best Captain was awarded to

of . **The Best First-Year Player was awarded to

Marcus Bontempelli Marcus Bontempelli (born 24 November 1995) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL). He has served as Western Bulldogs captain since the 2020 season, and was previo ...

of the . **The 22under22 Team captaincy was awarded to

Dyson Heppell Dyson Heppell (born 14 May 1992) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for and captained the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Heppell won the AFL Rising Star award in his first season in ...

of for the second year in a row. *The AFL Coaches Association Awards **The Player of the Year Award was given to

Robbie Gray Robert Gray (born 30 March 1988) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was recruited with the 55th overall selection in the 2006 nationa ...

of , who received 111 votes. **The Allan Jeans Senior Coach of the Year Award was awarded to

John Longmire John Longmire (born 31 December 1970) is the former senior coach of the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 2011 to 2024. As a player, he represented the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AF ...

of . **The Assistant Coach of the Year Award was awarded to Brett Montgomery of . **The Development Coach of the Year Award was awarded to Steven King of . **The Support Staff Leadership Award was awarded to John Kilby of . **The Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to

Neale Daniher Neale Francis Daniher (born 15 February 1961) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was later the coach of the Melbourne Football Club between 1998 and 20 ...

. **The Best Young Player Award was awarded to

Jaeger O'Meara Jaeger O'Meara (born 23 February 1994) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Gold Coast Suns from 2013 to 2016, and the Hawtho ...

of . **The Media Award was awarded to Gerard Whateley for his work on

. *The Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award was awarded to Beau Waters of .

Milestones

Coleman Medal

The

Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most Laws of Australian rules football#Scoring, goals in the Australian Football League#Premiership season, home- ...

was awarded to

Lance Franklin Lance Franklin (born 30 January 1987), also known as Buddy Franklin, is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played for the Hawthorn Football Club from 2005 to 2013 and the Sydn ...

of , who kicked 67 goals during the home and away season.

Best and fairest

Club leadership

Club financials

Coach changes

Post-season

International Rules Series

The

International Rules Series The International Rules Series is a senior men's international rules football competition between the Australia international rules football team (selected by the Australian Football League) and the Ireland international rules football team ...

returned for 2014 at the later time of November. Ahead of the series, the AFL adopted a new rule permitting only those who had been selected in an

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

in their careers playing for the Australian team. The series was also reduced to a single test match and several rule changes were made so as to enable greater participation from key position players in the AFL. Australia defeated Ireland by 10 points, 56–46, to claim their first win in

International rules football International rules football (; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international represe ...

since the 2010 series.

Notable events

*On 3 March 2014, it was announced that CEO of the AFL,

Andrew Demetriou Andrew Demetriou (born 14 April 1961) is an Australian businessman, sports administrator, and former Australian rules football player who was chief executive officer (CEO) of the Australian Football League (AFL) up to June 2014. Demetriou play ...

, would be resigning from the post following the conclusion of the season, after eleven years in the role.

Gillon McLachlan Gillon McLachlan (born 1973) is a former Australian sports administrator and now CEO of a major gambling company. He is the former chief executive officer of the Australian Football League (AFL). He was appointed to the role in 2014, succeeding ...

was later named his successor. *On 13 May 2014,

Greater Western Sydney Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, far western and the Blue Mountains sub-regions with ...

midfielder

Toby Greene Toby Greene (born 25 September 1993) is a professional Australian rules footballer and the captain of the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was recruited by the Greater Western Sydney Giants with the 11 ...

was charged with a number of offences including assault with a dangerous weapon and intentionally causing serious injury over an alleged assault in a Melbourne licensed venue the previous night. He was later suspended by the club for five weeks. *Just a year after being racially abused in a match against , 's

Adam Goodes Adam Roy Goodes (born 8 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goodes holds an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, d ...

was once again the target of a racial vilification, this time by an supporter. While the incident went unheard during the weekend, it only came to light on 20 May 2014; the Essendon club responded by terminating that supporter's membership. *On 26 May 2014, Hawthorn head coach

Alastair Clarkson Alastair Thomas Clarkson (born 27 April 1968) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and was previously head coach of t ...

was hospitalised after being diagnosed with

Guillain–Barré syndrome Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rapid-onset Paralysis, muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system. Typically, both sides of the body are involved, and the initial symptoms are changes in sensation ...

. Brendon Bolton was appointed as the acting head coach for several matches while Clarkson recovered.Club statement: Alastair Clarkson
, hawthornfc.com.au, 27 May 2014afl.com.au
/ref> *As part of the ongoing investigation into the

Essendon Football Club supplements controversy The Essendon Football Club supplements saga was a sports drug doping controversy that occurred during the early- and mid-2010s. It centred around the Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, a professional Australian rules football club ba ...

, on 13 June 2014, the

Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) was a Australian Government, government statutory authority tasked to protect Australia's sporting integrity through the elimination of doping in sport, doping. The authority was part of the D ...

(ASADA) issued show cause notices to 34 Essendon players from its 2012 list. In response, Essendon executives lodged a Federal Court application alleging that ASADA's joint investigation with the AFL was unlawful and in breach of the ASADA Act.Herald Sun: Essendon launches Federal Court challenge against ASADA and AFL
heraldsun.com.au, 13 June 2014 On 19 September, Justice John Middleton ruled that ASADA's investigation was lawful, allowing ASADA to trigger the start of the show-cause response period, which gives charged players 14 days to answer doping allegations against them.ASADA vs Essendon: Anti-doping agency's probe of AFL club supplements program lawful, court rules (ABC News)
/ref>

References

{{2014 AFL season Australian Football League seasons 2014 in Australian rules football