2017 AFL season

2017 AFL season
Competition	afl
Year	2017
Teams	18
Count	11
Mpcount	2
Matches	207
Attendance	7287880
Highattendha	87,685 (round 5, v )
Highattendfinals	100,021 (Grand Final, vs. )
Top goal scorer	Lance Franklin (69 goals)
Brownlow medal	Dustin Martin (36 votes)
Prevseason	2016
Nextseason	2018
Date	23 March – 30 September
Runners-up	(1st runners-up)

The 2017 AFL season was the 121st season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eighteen clubs, ran from 23 March until 30 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs.

The premiership was won by the Richmond Football Club for the eleventh time, after it defeated by 48 points in the 2017 AFL Grand Final.

Rule changes

The following amendments were made to the Laws of the Game for the 2017 season:^[1]

Rules relating to around-the-ground ruck contests were amended such that only the nominated ruckman for each team is permitted in the contest, eliminating the option for another player to enter the contest and take the tap, otherwise known as the "third man up" strategy.^[2] This was done to make ruck contests easier to adjudicate, to reduce the risk of injuries to ruckmen, and to increase the value of the skill of ruckwork.^[2]
A more stringent interpretation of deliberate rushed behinds was introduced, by allowing the umpire to consider prior opportunity, distance from the goal line and degree of applied pressure when judging whether or not to pay a free kick.
Adjustments were made to the interpretation of high tackles, giving the umpire more discretion to call play-on when he deems that the tackled player is responsible for the high contact. This was introduced to discourage the practice of ducking into a tackle, dropping the knees when tackled or trying to shrug off a tackle to earn a free kick.^[3]
A more stringent interpretation of punches to the body was introduced to the match review panel and tribunal to allow for suspensions to be imposed; and to allow fines to be imposed for low impact jumper punches.
The deliberate out of bounds free kick was amended, lowering the threshold for a free kick from 'intentionally' putting the ball out of bounds to 'not demonstrating sufficient intent' to keep the ball in bounds.^[4]

Pre-season

The pre-season series of matches in 2017 was known as the JLT Community Series; its new sponsor was Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT),^[5] who replaced National Australia Bank (NAB) after NAB elected to sponsor the inaugural AFL Women's season instead.^[6] The series featured 27 practice matches played over 25 days, beginning on 16 February and ending on 12 March. The matches were stand-alone, with no overall winner of the series. Each team played three games, many at suburban or regional venues. All matches were televised live on Fox Footy as well as on the AFL Live app.^[7] The nine-point super goal was used in these matches.

Premiership season

Notable features of the draw include:

The naming rights of York Park were bought by the University of Tasmania from Aurora Energy in the week prior to the full fixture being released, with the venue becoming known as the University of Tasmania Stadium.^[8]
sold the naming rights for Manuka Oval during the AFL season to the University of New South Wales, and the stadium became known as the UNSW Canberra Oval.^[9]
and the played in the AFL's first ever Good Friday match, which was played at Etihad Stadium.^[10]^[11]
and competed in the first AFL premiership match outside Australia and New Zealand when they played in round 8 at Jiangwan Stadium in Shanghai, China, with the match televised live on the Seven Network.^[12]^[13] Both teams had a bye the following round, while the remaining sixteen teams had their byes from rounds 11 to 13.^[14]
Owing to redevelopment, Simonds Stadium was unavailable until round 9.^[15]
The Western Bulldogs competed in the first AFL premiership match to be played at Mars Stadium in Ballarat when they faced in round 22. The match was also the first AFL premiership match in a Victorian regional venue (other than Geelong) since a one-off round of promotional matches held in 1952.^[16]
All starting times are local.

Season notes

recorded the longest unbeaten start to a season in club history, winning its first six games.^[17]
was the first reigning grand finalist in VFL/AFL history to lose its first six matches of the following season,^[18] before becoming the first club to reach the finals after starting the season with zero wins and six losses.^[19]
became the first team since in 2009 and the first team in the 18-team competition to fail to make the finals after winning the premiership the previous year.^[20]
became the first team since in 2011 to qualify for the finals after finishing wooden spooners the previous season.^[21]
reached the finals at the expense of on percentage by 0.48 percentage points, a difference equivalent to only nine on-field points. It is the narrowest margin in VFL/AFL history to decide a finals spot.^{[citation needed]}
This was the last season in which games were played at Domain Stadium, with the Western Australian teams playing home games at Perth Stadium from 2018 and onwards.^[22]
's record of 15 wins, 1 draw and 6 losses is the least successful of any minor premier since 1997.
' record of 5 wins and 17 losses is the most successful of any wooden spooner since the Lions themselves in 1998.
had the highest average home-and-away and home game attendance of any club in 2017, with figures of 46,580 and 55,958, respectively.^[23]

Win/loss table

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	F1	F2	F3	GF	Ladder
	GWS 56	Haw 24	PA 17	Ess 65	GCS 67	Rich 76	NM 59	Melb 41	BL 80	Frem 100	Geel 22	StK 57	X	Haw 14	Carl 12	WB 59	Melb 46	Geel 21	Coll 0	PA 84	Ess 43	Syd 3	WCE 29	GWS 36	X	Geel 61	Rich 48	1
	GCS 2	Ess 27	StK 31	Rich 52	WB 32	PA 83	Syd 54	Haw 38	Adel 80	Coll 45	X	Frem 57	PA 40	GWS 60	Ess 8	Geel 85	Rich 31	Carl 30	WCE 68	WB 14	GCS 58	Melb 13	NM 51	X	X	X	X	18
	Rich 43	Melb 22	Ess 15	GCS 26	PA 90	Syd 19	Coll 23	StK 19	Frem 35	NM 17	X	GWS 1	GCS 10	Rich 26	Adel 12	Melb 8	WB 20	BL 30	Geel 65	Ess 8	WCE 17	Haw 7	Syd 81	X	X	X	X	16
	WB 14	Rich 19	Syd 1	StK 14	Ess 18	Geel 29	Carl 23	GWS 3	Haw 18	BL 45	Frem 20	Melb 4	X	PA 31	Haw 24	Ess 37	GCS 15	WCE 8	Adel 0	NM 54	PA 27	Geel 11	Melb 16	X	X	X	X	13
	Haw 25	BL 27	Carl 15	Adel 65	Coll 18	Melb 38	Frem 37	Geel 17	WCE 61	Rich 15	GWS 16	PA 70	X	Syd 1	BL 8	Coll 37	StK 61	NM 27	WB 30	Carl 8	Adel 43	GCS 33	Frem 15	Syd 65	X	X	X	7
	Geel 42	PA 89	WB 16	Melb 2	NM 5	WCE 41	Ess 37	Rich 2	Carl 35	Adel 100	Coll 20	BL 57	X	Geel 2	StK 9	NM 4	WCE 30	Haw 52	GWS 12	GCS 23	Syd 104	Rich 104	Ess 15	X	X	X	X	14
	Frem 42	NM 1	Melb<br/ >29	Haw 86	StK 38	Coll 29	GCS 25	Ess 17	WB 23	PA 2	Adel 22	X	WCE 13	Frem 2	GWS 0	BL 85	Haw 3	Adel 21	Carl 65	Syd 46	Rich 14	Coll 11	GWS 44	Rich 51	Syd 59	Adel 61	X	2
	BL 2	GWS 102	Haw 86	Carl 26	Adel 67	NM 13	Geel 25	PA 72	X	Melb 35	WCE 3	Haw 16	Carl 10	StK 32	NM 19	Syd 67	Coll 15	WB 54	Rich 33	Frem 23	BL 58	Ess 33	PA 115	X	X	X	X	17
	Adel 56	GCS 102	NM 42	PA 31	Syd 42	WB 2	StK 23	Coll 3	Rich 3	WCE 8	Ess 16	Carl 1	X	BL 60	Geel 0	Haw 0	Syd 13	Rich 19	Frem 12	Melb 35	WB 48	WCE 21	Geel 44	Adel 36	WCE 67	Rich 36	X	4
	Ess 25	Adel 24	GCS 86	Geel 86	WCE 51	StK 75	Melb 3	BL 38	Coll 18	Syd 6	PA 51	GCS 16	X	Adel 14	Coll 24	GWS 0	Geel 3	Frem 52	Syd 6	Rich 29	NM 27	Carl 7	WB 9	X	X	X	X	12
	StK 30	Carl 22	Geel 29	Frem 2	Rich 13	Ess 38	Haw 3	Adel 41	NM 14	GCS 35	X	Coll 4	WB 57	WCE 3	Syd 35	Carl 8	Adel 46	PA 23	NM 4	GWS 35	StK 24	BL 13	Coll 16	X	X	X	X	9
	WCE 43	Geel 1	GWS 42	WB 3	Frem 5	GCS 13	Adel 59	Syd 42	Melb 14	Carl 17	Rich 35	X	StK 17	WB 1	GCS 19	Frem 4	PA 70	Ess 27	Melb 4	Coll 54	Haw 27	StK 49	BL 51	X	X	X	X	15
	Syd 28	Frem 89	Adel 17	GWS 31	Carl 90	BL 83	WCE 10	GCS 72	X	Geel 2	Haw 51	Ess 70	BL 40	Coll 31	Rich 13	WCE 32	NM 70	Melb 23	StK 2	Adel 84	Coll 27	WB 17	GCS 115	WCE 2	X	X	X	5
	Carl 43	Coll 19	WCE 11	BL 52	Melb 13	Adel 76	WB 5	Frem 2	GWS 3	Ess 15	NM 35	X	Syd 9	Carl 26	PA 13	StK 67	BL 31	GWS 19	GCS 33	Haw 29	Geel 14	Frem 104	StK 41	Gee 51	X	GWS 36	Adel 48	3
	Melb 30	WCE 19	BL 31	Coll 14	Geel 38	Haw 75	GWS 23	Carl 19	Syd 50	WB 40	X	Adel 57	NM 17	GCS 32	Frem 9	Rich 67	Ess 61	Syd 42	PA 2	WCE 8	Melb 24	NM 49	Rich 41	X	X	X	X	11
	PA 28	WB 23	Coll 1	WCE 26	GWS 42	Carl 19	BL 54	NM 42	StK 50	Haw 6	X	WB 46	Rich 9	Ess 1	Melb 35	GCS 67	GWS 13	StK 42	Haw 6	Geel 46	Frem 104	Adel 3	Carl 81	Ess 65	Geel 59	X	X	6
	NM 43	StK 19	Rich 11	Syd 26	Haw 51	Frem 41	PA 10	WB 8	Ess 61	GWS 8	GCS 3	X	Geel 13	Melb 3	WB 7	PA 32	Frem 30	Coll 8	BL 68	StK 8	Carl 17	GWS 21	Adel 29	PA 2	GWS 67	X	X	8
	Coll 14	Syd 23	Frem 16	NM 3	BL 32	GWS 2	Rich 5	WCE 8	Geel 23	StK 40	X	Syd 46	Melb 57	NM 1	WCE 7	Adel 59	Carl 20	GCS 54	Ess 30	BL 14	GWS 48	PA 17	Haw 9	X	X	X	X	10
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	F1	F2	F3	GF	Ladder

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

Ladder

Ladder progression

Numbers highlighted in green indicates the team finished the round inside the top eight.
Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished in first place on the ladder in that round.
Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round.
Underlined numbers indicates the team had a bye during that round.
Subscript numbers indicate ladder position at rounds end.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23

1	4₁	8₂	12₁	16₂	20₁	24₁	24₁	24₁	28₁	32₁	32₂	36₁	36₁	36₂	40₂	44₁	48₁	52₁	54₁	58₁	62₁	62₁	62₁
2	4₂	8₇	12₃	16₁	20₂	20₃	20₃	20₅	24₃	28₃	32₃	32₃	32₃	36₃	38₃	42₃	46₂	46₂	50₂	50₄	54₃	58₃	62₂
3	4₃	8₃	12₂	16₃	20₃	20₄	20₆	20₇	20₇	24₅	28₄	28₄	28₆	32₆	36₄	36₆	40₅	44₄	48₄	52₃	52₄	56₄	60₃
4	0₁₈	4₉	8₅	12₄	16₄	20₂	20₂	24₂	28₂	32₂	36₁	36₂	36₂	40₁	42₁	44₂	44₃	44₃	48₃	52₂	56₂	60₂	60₄
5	4₅	8₁	8₄	8₇	12₆	16₅	16₇	20₄	20₆	20₈	24₅	24₅	28₄	32₄	32₅	36₄	40₄	40₅	44₅	44₅	48₆	52₅	56₅
6	0₁₄	0₁₅	0₁₆	0₁₆	0₁₈	0₁₈	4₁₇	8₁₅	12₁₂	12₁₅	12₁₆	16₁₄	20₁₂	24₁₀	28₉	32₈	36₆	40₆	40₆	44₆	48₅	52₆	56₆
7	4₇	8₆	8₇	8₁₁	12₈	12₁₀	12₁₂	16₁₁	20₁₀	20₁₁	20₁₂	24₇	24₈	24₁₁	24₁₁	28₁₀	32₁₀	36₈	36₁₀	40₈	40₁₀	44₈	48₇
8	4₄	8₅	8₆	12₅	12₇	16₆	20₄	24₃	24₄	24₆	24₇	24₉	28₇	28₇	32₇	32₉	36₈	36₉	40₈	40₉	44₈	44₉	48₈
9	4₆	8₄	8₈	8₈	8₁₀	12₈	12₁₀	16₁₀	16₁₁	20₉	20₉	24₆	28₅	32₅	32₆	36₅	36₇	40₇	40₇	40₁₀	44₇	48₇	48₉
10	4₈	8₈	8₉	12₆	16₅	16₇	20₅	20₈	20₈	24₄	24₆	24₈	24₉	28₉	28₁₀	28₁₁	32₁₁	36₁₀	40₉	44₇	44₉	44₁₁	44₁₀
11	0₁₃	0₁₃	4₁₀	8₁₀	8₁₁	12₉	16₈	20₆	20₉	20₁₀	20₁₁	20₁₂	24₁₀	28₈	32₈	36₇	36₉	36₁₁	36₁₁	40₁₁	40₁₁	44₁₀	44₁₁
12	0₁₂	0₁₄	0₁₈	0₁₈	4₁₅	4₁₇	8₁₆	12₁₄	12₁₇	16₁₄	16₁₅	16₁₇	16₁₇	20₁₆	24₁₃	26₁₃	26₁₃	30₁₂	34₁₂	34₁₃	38₁₂	38₁₂	42₁₂
13	0₁₁	0₁₁	4₁₂	4₁₃	4₁₃	8₁₂	8₁₅	8₁₇	12₁₃	16₁₂	20₁₀	20₁₁	20₁₃	20₁₃	20₁₅	20₁₅	24₁₄	28₁₃	30₁₃	34₁₂	34₁₂	34₁₃	38₁₃
14	0₁₇	0₁₈	4₁₅	8₁₂	12₉	12₁₁	16₉	20₉	24₅	24₇	24₈	24₁₀	24₁₁	24₁₂	24₁₄	28₁₂	28₁₂	28₁₄	28₁₄	32₁₄	32₁₄	32₁₄	32₁₄
15	0₁₅	0₁₂	0₁₇	0₁₇	0₁₇	4₁₅	8₁₄	8₁₆	12₁₄	16₁₃	16₁₃	16₁₅	16₁₆	16₁₇	16₁₇	16₁₇	16₁₇	16₁₇	20₁₆	20₁₆	20₁₆	20₁₇	24₁₅
16	0₁₆	0₁₆	4₁₄	4₁₄	4₁₆	8₁₄	12₁₃	12₁₃	12₁₆	12₁₇	12₁₇	16₁₆	20₁₅	20₁₅	20₁₆	20₁₆	20₁₆	20₁₆	20₁₇	20₁₇	20₁₇	24₁₅	24₁₆
17	0₁₀	0₁₇	4₁₁	8₉	8₁₂	8₁₃	12₁₁	12₁₂	12₁₅	12₁₆	16₁₄	20₁₃	20₁₄	20₁₄	24₁₂	24₁₄	24₁₅	24₁₅	24₁₅	24₁₅	24₁₅	24₁₆	24₁₇
18	4₉	4₁₀	4₁₃	4₁₅	4₁₄	4₁₆	4₁₈	4₁₈	4₁₈	4₁₈	4₁₈	8₁₈	8₁₈	8₁₈	12₁₈	12₁₈	12₁₈	16₁₈	16₁₈	16₁₈	20₁₈	20₁₈	20₁₈

Finals series

Week four

Attendances

By club

2017 AFL attendances
Total	Games	Avg. per game	Home total	Home games	Home avg.
1,034,578	25	41,240	513,151	11	46,650
481,838	22	21,902	181,007	11	16,455
873,618	22	39,710	421,916	11	38,356
1,003,991	22	45,636	514,963	11	46,815
1,066,080	23	46,351	558,935	11	50,812
690,906	22	31,405	356,122	11	32,375
995,602	25	39,824	386,218	11	35,111
368,482	22	16,749	150,292	11	13,663
593,903	25	23,756	145,152	11	13,196
866,536	22	39,388	365,822	11	33,257
833,190	22	37,872	392,638	11	35,694
554,306	22	25,196	249,460	11	22,678
740,549	23	32,198	419,494	11	38,136
1,314,058	25	52,562	615,542	11	55,958
760,222	22	34,556	344,510	11	31,319
896,761	24	37,365	367,376	11	33,398
769,709	24	30,618	404,258	11	36,751
729,431	22	33,156	346,206	11	31,473

By ground

2017 ground attendances
Ground	Total	Games	Avg. per game
Adelaide Oval	1,080,439	25	43,218
Blundstone Arena	32,761	3	10,920
Cazaly's Stadium	9,364	1	9,364
Domain Stadium	760,380	22	34,563
Etihad Stadium	1,513,914	46	32,911
Gabba	181,007	11	16,455
Jiangwan Stadium	10,118	1	10,118
Mars Stadium	10,087	1	10,087
MCG	2,696,189	50	53,924
Metricon Stadium	140,174	10	14,017
SCG	413,699	12	34,475
Simonds Stadium	208,766	7	29,824
Spotless Stadium	122,510	9	13,612
TIO Stadium	12,104	1	12,104
TIO Traeger Park	5,072	1	5,072
University of Tasmania Stadium	52,789	4	13,197
UNSW Canberra Oval	37,507	3	12,502

Awards

The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Dustin Martin of , who polled a record 36 votes.^[24]
The Coleman Medal was awarded to Lance Franklin of , who kicked 69 goals during the home and away season. It was the fourth time Franklin has won the award. Franklin kicked ten goals in the final round to move above Josh Kennedy.^[25]
The Ron Evans Medal was awarded to Andrew McGrath of , who received 51 votes.^[26]

The AFL Goal of the Year was awarded to Daniel Rioli of for his goal against in round 3.^[27]
The AFL Mark of the Year was awarded to Joe Daniher of for his mark against in round 17.^[27]
The McClelland Trophy was awarded to for the first time since 2005.^[28]
The wooden spoon was "awarded" to the for the first time since 1998 after obtaining five wins during the season.^[29]
The AFL Players Association Awards
- The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Dustin Martin of , polling 1,333 votes ahead of Patrick Dangerfield, who polled 776.^[30]
- The Robert Rose Award was awarded to Rory Sloane of .^[30]
- The best captain was awarded to Taylor Walker of for the second year in a row.^[30]
- The best first-year player was awarded to Andrew McGrath of .^[30]
- The 22under22 team captaincy was awarded to Marcus Bontempelli of the for the second year in a row.^[30]
The AFL Coaches Association Awards
- The AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year Award was awarded to Dustin Martin of who received 122 votes ahead of Patrick Dangerfield who received 118.^[31]
- The Gary Ayres Award for the best player in the finals series was awarded to Dustin Martin of who polled 25 votes ahead of teammate Trent Cotchin on 15.^[32]
- The Allan Jeans Senior Coach of the Year Award was awarded to coach Damien Hardwick.^[33]
- The Assistant Coach of the Year Award was awarded to assistant Rhyce Shaw.^[33]

- The Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to John Dimmer, whose coaching career (spanning 284 games) included two flags apiece with West Australian clubs West Perth and South Fremantle.^[34]
- The Best Young Player Award was awarded to Clayton Oliver of , who received 72 votes.^[31]
- The Media Award was awarded to Gerard Whateley for the fourth consecutive year.^{[citation needed]}
The Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award was awarded to Jack Hombsch of .^[35]

Milestones

Name	Club	Milestone	Round	Ref.
Travis Boak		200 AFL games	Round 1	^[36]
Brent Stanton		250 AFL games	Round 2	^[37]
Danyle Pearce		250 AFL games	Round 2	^[38]
Lance Franklin		250 AFL games	Round 3	^[39]
Steve Johnson		500 AFL goals	Round 3	^[40]
Travis Cloke		250 AFL games	Round 4	^[41]
Lindsay Thomas		200 AFL games	Round 4	^[42]
Robert Murphy		300 AFL games	Round 5	^[43]
Richard Douglas		200 AFL games	Round 5	^[44]
Lance Franklin		800 AFL goals	Round 5	^[45]
Jarryd Roughead		500 AFL goals	Round 5	^[46]
Nick Riewoldt		700 AFL goals	Round 6	^[47]
Aaron Sandilands		250 AFL games	Round 6	^[48]
Eddie Betts		500 AFL goals	Round 7	^[49]
Jack Riewoldt		500 AFL goals	Round 7	^[50]
James Kelly		300 AFL games	Round 8	^[51]
Bernie Vince		200 AFL games	Round 8	^[52]
Ross Lyon		250 AFL games coached	Round 10	^[53]
Brad Ebert		200 AFL games	Round 11	^[54]
Tom Hawkins		200 AFL games	Round 11	^[55]
Brendon Goddard		300 AFL games	Round 11	^[56]
Paddy Ryder		200 AFL games	Round 14	^[57]
Heath Shaw		250 AFL games	Round 14	^[58]
Gary Ablett Jr.		300 AFL games	Round 15	^[59]
Scott Pendlebury		250 AFL games	Round 15	^[60]
Tom Lonergan		200 AFL games	Round 16	^[61]
Luke Hodge		300 AFL games	Round 17	^[62]
Daniel Wells		250 AFL games	Round 17	^[63]
Mathew Nicholls	Umpire	300 AFL games umpired	Round 18	^[64]
Alastair Clarkson		300 AFL games coached	Round 18	^[65]
Josh Kennedy		200 AFL games	Round 18	^[66]
Josh Kennedy		200 AFL games	Round 19	^[67]
Shane Edwards		200 AFL games	Round 19	^[68]
Josh Kennedy		500 AFL goals	Round 20	^[69]
Jarryd Roughead		250 AFL games	Round 20	^[70]
Matt Rosa		200 AFL games	Round 21	^[71]
Jarrod Harbrow		200 AFL games	Round 21	^[72]
Scott Thompson		200 AFL games	Round 23	^[73]
Patrick Dangerfield		200 AFL games	Finals week 1	^[74]
Jarrad McVeigh		300 AFL games	Finals week 2	^[75]
Brett Deledio		250 AFL games	Finals week 3	^[76]

Coleman Medal

Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the player led the Coleman Medal at the end of that round.
Numbers underlined indicates the player did not play in that round.

	Player	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	Total
1	Lance Franklin	4₄	4₈	0₈	2₁₀	3₁₃	1₁₄	8₂₂	1₂₃	4₂₇	5₃₂	0₃₂	3₃₅	1₃₆	0₃₆	4₄₀	3₄₃	4₄₇	3₅₀	1₅₁	1₅₂	4₅₆	3₅₉	10₆₉	69
2	Josh Kennedy	7₇	4₁₁	2₁₃	2₁₅	1₁₆	6₂₂	2₂₄	3₂₇	4₃₁	3₃₄	0₃₄	0₃₄	0₃₄	0₃₄	0₃₄	0₃₄	3₃₇	6₄₃	6₄₉	5₅₄	6₆₀	4₆₄	1₆₅	65
3	Ben Brown	2₂	3₅	1₆	4₁₀	1₁₁	6₁₇	2₁₉	2₂₁	5₂₆	1₂₇	1₂₈	0₂₈	1₂₉	2₃₁	3₃₄	4₃₈	3₄₁	6₄₇	4₅₁	0₅₁	3₅₄	2₅₆	7₆₃	63
4	Joe Daniher	3₃	3₆	1₇	2₉	3₁₂	1₁₃	3₁₆	5₂₁	5₂₆	3₂₉	1₃₀	4₃₄	0₃₄	1₃₅	3₃₈	3₄₁	4₄₅	2₄₇	6₅₃	3₅₆	3₅₉	1₆₀	2₆₂	62
5	Jack Riewoldt	1₁	2₃	1₄	4₈	6₁₄	2₁₆	4₂₀	3₂₃	2₂₅	2₂₇	2₂₉	0₂₉	2₃₁	3₃₄	1₃₅	1₃₆	4₄₀	2₄₂	0₄₂	0₄₂	1₄₃	4₄₇	3₅₀	50
6	Taylor Walker	0₀	2₂	4₆	5₁₁	2₁₃	5₁₈	1₁₉	2₂₁	3₂₄	1₂₅	3₂₈	3₃₁	0₃₁	2₃₃	1₃₄	3₃₇	4₄₁	1₄₂	1₄₃	3₄₆	2₄₈	1₄₉	0₄₉	49
6	Eddie Betts	4₄	3₇	3₁₀	6₁₆	3₁₉	1₂₀	3₂₃	2₂₅	3₂₈	3₃₁	1₃₂	2₃₄	0₃₄	1₃₅	2₃₇	2₃₉	2₄₁	0₄₁	0₄₁	4₄₅	0₄₅	2₄₇	2₄₉	49
8	Tom Hawkins	3₃	4₇	5₁₂	4₁₆	2₁₈	1₁₉	3₂₂	4₂₆	1₂₇	1₂₈	2₃₀	0₃₀	0₃₀	1₃₁	1₃₂	4₃₆	0₃₆	1₃₇	6₄₃	3₄₆	0₄₆	0₄₆	2₄₈	48
9	Robbie Gray	0₀	6₆	2₈	1₉	5₁₄	4₁₈	0₁₈	2₂₀	0₂₀	3₂₃	1₂₄	3₂₇	2₂₉	5₃₄	1₃₅	3₃₈	2₄₀	0₄₀	1₄₁	1₄₂	2₄₄	2₄₆	1₄₇	47
10	Charlie Dixon	2₂	4₆	1₇	1₈	2₁₀	4₁₄	3₁₇	2₁₉	0₁₉	1₂₀	4₂₄	0₂₄	1₂₅	1₂₆	1₂₇	5₃₂	1₃₃	1₃₄	1₃₅	2₃₇	1₃₈	4₄₂	4₄₆	46

Best and fairest

Award name	Player	Ref.
Malcolm Blight Medal	Matt Crouch	^[77]
Merrett–Murray Medal	Dayne Zorko	^[78]
John Nicholls Medal	Marc Murphy	^[79]
Copeland Trophy	Steele Sidebottom	^[80]
W. S. Crichton Medal	Joe Daniher	^[81]
Doig Medal	Bradley Hill	^[82]
Carji Greeves Medal	Patrick Dangerfield	^[83]
Club Champion	Gary Ablett	^[84]
Kevin Sheedy Medal	Josh Kelly	^[85]
Peter Crimmins Medal	Tom Mitchell	^[86]
Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy	Clayton Oliver	^[87]
Syd Barker Medal	Shaun Higgins	^[88]
John Cahill Medal	Paddy Ryder	^[89]
Jack Dyer Medal	Dustin Martin	^[90]
Trevor Barker Award	Sebastian Ross	^[91]
Bob Skilton Medal	Luke Parker	^[92]
John Worsfold Medal	Elliot Yeo	^[93]
Charles Sutton Medal	Marcus Bontempelli	^[94]

Club leadership

Coach	Captain(s)	Vice-captain(s)	Leadership group	Ref
Don Pyke	Taylor Walker	Rory Sloane	Eddie Betts, Tom Lynch, Daniel Talia, Scott Thompson	^[95]
Chris Fagan	Dayne Beams	Tom Rockliff, Dayne Zorko (deputy)	Harris Andrews, Allen Christensen, Ryan Lester, Stefan Martin	^[96]
Brendon Bolton	Marc Murphy	Kade Simpson	Dennis Armfield, Patrick Cripps, Ed Curnow, Sam Docherty, Bryce Gibbs	^[97]
Nathan Buckley	Scott Pendlebury	Taylor Adams, Steele Sidebottom, Jeremy Howe		^[98]^[99]
John Worsfold	Dyson Heppell	Cale Hooker, Zach Merrett	Joe Daniher, Brendon Goddard, Michael Hurley, Jobe Watson	^[100]
Ross Lyon	Nat Fyfe		David Mundy, Lachie Neale, Aaron Sandilands, Lee Spurr, Michael Walters	^[101]
Chris Scott	Joel Selwood	Patrick Dangerfield, Harry Taylor	Mark Blicavs, Mitch Duncan, Cameron Guthrie, Tom Hawkins, Scott Selwood	^[102]
Rodney Eade (Rounds 1–20) Dean Solomon (Rounds 21–23)	Tom Lynch Steven May		Michael Barlow, Touk Miller, Michael Rischitelli, Matt Rosa, David Swallow	^[103]^[104]
Leon Cameron	Phil Davis Callan Ward	Stephen Coniglio	Josh Kelly, Heath Shaw, Dylan Shiel, Devon Smith	^[105]
Alastair Clarkson	Jarryd Roughead	Liam Shiels, Isaac Smith	Josh Gibson, Jack Gunston, Luke Hodge, Ben Stratton	^[106]
Simon Goodwin	Nathan Jones Jack Viney		Max Gawn, Jordan Lewis, Tom McDonald, Bernie Vince	^[107]
Brad Scott	Jack Ziebell	Robbie Tarrant	Shaun Higgins, Jamie Macmillan, Andrew Swallow	^[108]
Ken Hinkley	Travis Boak	Ollie Wines	Brad Ebert, Hamish Hartlett, Tom Jonas	^[109]
Damien Hardwick	Trent Cotchin	Jack Riewoldt, Alex Rance		^[110]
Alan Richardson	Jarryn Geary		David Armitage, Josh Bruce, Jack Newnes, Dylan Roberton, Sebastian Ross, Jack Steven, Maverick Weller	^[111]
John Longmire	Josh Kennedy	Dan Hannebery, Luke Parker, Dane Rampe	Heath Grundy, Kieren Jack, Jarrad McVeigh, Nick Smith	^[112]
Adam Simpson	Shannon Hurn	Josh Kennedy, Luke Shuey	Andrew Gaff, Jeremy McGovern, Sam Mitchell, Matt Priddis	^[113]
Luke Beveridge	Robert Murphy	Easton Wood	Matthew Boyd, Marcus Bontempelli, Dale Morris	^[114]^[115]

Coach changes

Coach	Club	Date	Notes	Caretaker	New coach
Rodney Eade		8 August 2017	Contract wasn't renewed beyond 2017 and resigned immediately following continued poor on-field performances in 2017.^[116]	Dean Solomon	Stuart Dew^[117]

Club membership

2017 AFL membership figures
Club	Members^[118]	Change from 2016	% change from 2016
	56,865	2,558	4.71%
	21,362	1,924	8.26%
	50,326	196	0.39%
	75,879	1,236	1.66%
	67,768	10,274	17.87%
	51,254	635	1.22%
	54,854	4,283	8.47%
	11,665	1,189	9.25%
	20,944	5,632	36.78%
	75,663	312	0.41%
	42,233	3,087	7.89%
	40,343	4,671	10.38%
	52,129	1,614	3.00%
	72,669	391	0.54%
	42,052	4,043	10.64%
	58,838	2,315	4.10%
	65,064	124	0.19%
	47,653	8,194	20.77%
Total	907,561	32,364	3.70%

Post-season

International Rules Series

The International Rules Series returned in November 2017, with Australia hosting two test matches. The series was played on an aggregate-points basis, with the winner being the team that scores the highest amount over the two test matches. The matches were played on 12 and 18 November 2017 at Adelaide Oval and Domain Stadium. The Australian team was again composed exclusively of players who have won All-Australian honours in their careers.^[119] The times and venues for the series were announced in August.^[120]

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