2009 AFL season
The 2009 Australian Football League season commenced on 26 March and concluded on 26 September. It was the 113th season of the VFL/AFL competition and the 20th under the name 'Australian Football League', having switched from 'Victorian Football League' after 1989. The season consisted of 22 home and away rounds and four rounds of finals, culminating in the 2009 AFL Grand Final which determined the 2009 AFL premiers. won the Grand Final against.
Pre-season
AFL pre-season draft
The pre-season draft was held on 16 December 2008 and most pre-draft interest was on whether or not former West Coast Eagles captain and Brownlow Medal winner Ben Cousins would be selected by the Richmond Football Club. Richmond, the only club to show interest in recruiting Cousins, had one selection in the pre-season draft. In the week leading up to the pre-season draft, Richmond requested to have Graham Polak moved to the rookie list, to free up an additional list space and give them a second selection in the pre-season draft. The request was similar to one made by and granted to the Essendon Football Club a few years earlier with respect to Adam Ramanauskas, but there were key differences which led to Richmond's request being rejected by the AFL and a majority of rival clubs on 15 December. Although Richmond had maintained throughout the previous week that it would draft Cousins only if its request to put Polak on the rookie list was granted, they selected Cousins anyway with their only selection in the pre-season draft. Josh Carr's return to was another major player move.NAB Cup
Premiership season
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
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 | F1 | F2 | F3 | GF | Ladder |
| Coll 4 | StK 32 | Frem 24 | Geel 48 | Melb 17 | PA 26 | WB 32 | BL 36 | Carl 44 | Haw 27 | Ess 16 | NM 44 | Syd 16 | Rich 17 | Frem 117 | StK 57 | PA 70 | Geel 2 | Coll 21 | Haw 27 | WCE 74 | Carl 72 | Ess 96 | Coll 5 | X | X | 5 | |
| WCE 9 | Carl 19 | Syd 33 | Coll 17 | Geel 93 | Ess 43 | Rich 26 | Adel 36 | StK 16 | NM 18 | Carl 6 | Haw 42 | Melb 55 | PA 48 | Geel 43 | Frem 15 | NM 41 | Coll 40 | Ess 0 | WB 18 | PA 15 | Syd 8 | Carl 7 | WB 51 | X | X | 6 | |
| Rich 83 | BL 19 | Ess 4 | Syd 17 | WB 43 | Haw 4 | Frem 7 | Coll 51 | Adel 44 | WCE 41 | BL 6 | StK 9 | Ess 69 | Frem 15 | Rich 20 | Syd 61 | Coll 54 | NM 10 | Geel 35 | PA 54 | Melb 57 | Adel 72 | BL 7 | X | X | X | 7 | |
| Adel 4 | Melb 53 | Geel 27 | BL 17 | Ess 5 | NM 52 | StK 88 | Carl 51 | WCE 22 | PA 38 | Melb 66 | Syd 23 | Frem 84 | Ess 35 | WB 1 | Haw 45 | Carl 54 | BL 40 | Adel 21 | Rich 93 | Syd 41 | WB 24 | StK 28 | Adel 5 | Geel 73 | X | 4 | |
| PA 41 | Frem 38 | Carl 4 | NM 12 | Coll 5 | BL 43 | Haw 44 | StK 19 | Rich 40 | Geel 64 | Adel 16 | Melb 48 | Carl 69 | Coll 35 | Syd 35 | WB 33 | Rich 5 | WCE 27 | BL 0 | StK 2 | Frem 54 | Haw 17 | Adel 96 | X | X | X | 8 | |
| WB 63 | Ess 38 | Adel 24 | StK 83 | Syd 21 | WCE 13 | Carl 7 | Haw 22 | NM 13 | Rich 3 | PA 24 | Geel 19 | Coll 84 | Carl 15 | Adel 117 | BL 15 | WCE 5 | WB 31 | PA 42 | Melb 63 | Ess 54 | Geel 40 | X | X | X | X | 14 | |
| Haw 8 | Rich 20 | Coll 27 | Adel 48 | BL 93 | Melb 43 | Syd 51 | NM 70 | WB 2 | Ess 64 | WCE 22 | Frem 19 | PA 34 | StK 6 | BL 43 | Melb 46 | Haw 1 | Adel 2 | Carl 35 | Syd 5 | WB 14 | Frem 40 | WB 14 | X | Coll 73 | StK 12 | 2 | |
| Geel 8 | Syd 38 | NM 54 | PA 30 | WCE 18 | Carl 4 | Ess 44 | Frem 22 | Melb 22 | Adel 27 | Syd 11 | BL 42 | WCE 20 | WB 88 | NM 9 | Coll 45 | Geel 1 | PA 18 | StK 25 | Adel 27 | Rich 42 | Ess 17 | X | X | X | X | 9 | |
| NM 34 | Coll 53 | PA 57 | Rich 8 | Adel 17 | Geel 43 | WCE 8 | WB 7 | Haw 22 | StK 37 | Coll 66 | Ess 48 | BL 55 | WCE 20 | PA 11 | Geel 46 | Syd 18 | Rich 4 | NM 62 | Frem 63 | Carl 57 | StK 47 | X | X | X | X | 16 | |
| Melb 34 | WB 15 | Haw 54 | Ess 12 | Rich 36 | Coll 52 | PA 5 | Geel 70 | Frem 13 | BL 18 | StK 46 | Adel 44 | WB 22 | Syd 15 | Haw 9 | Rich 0 | BL 41 | Carl 10 | Melb 62 | WCE 38 | StK 5 | PA 4 | X | X | X | X | 13 | |
| Ess 41 | WCE 50 | Melb 57 | Haw 30 | StK 66 | Adel 26 | NM 5 | Rich 3 | Syd 55 | Coll 38 | Frem 24 | WB 93 | Geel 34 | BL 48 | Melb 11 | WCE 36 | Adel 70 | Haw 18 | Frem 42 | Carl 54 | BL 15 | NM 4 | X | X | X | X | 10 | |
| Carl 83 | Geel 20 | WB 47 | Melb 8 | NM 36 | Syd 19 | BL 26 | PA 3 | Ess 40 | Frem 3 | WB 68 | WCE 15 | StK 56 | Adel 17 | Carl 20 | NM 0 | Ess 5 | Melb 4 | Syd 55 | Coll 93 | Haw 42 | WCE 80 | X | X | X | X | 15 | |
| Syd 15 | Adel 32 | WCE 97 | Frem 83 | PA 66 | WB 28 | Coll 88 | Ess 19 | BL 16 | Melb 37 | NM 46 | Carl 9 | Rich 56 | Geel 6 | WCE 20 | Adel 57 | WB 45 | Syd 1 | Haw 25 | Ess 2 | NM 5 | Melb 47 | Coll 28 | X | WB 7 | Geel 12 | 1 | |
| StK 15 | Haw 38 | BL 33 | Carl 17 | Frem 21 | Rich 19 | Geel 51 | WCE 5 | PA 55 | WB 40 | Haw 11 | Coll 23 | Adel 16 | NM 15 | Ess 35 | Carl 61 | Melb 18 | StK 1 | Rich 55 | Geel 5 | Coll 41 | BL 8 | X | X | X | X | 12 | |
| BL 9 | PA 50 | StK 97 | WB 33 | Haw 18 | Frem 13 | Melb 8 | Syd 5 | Coll 22 | Carl 41 | Geel 22 | Rich 15 | Haw 20 | Melb 20 | StK 20 | PA 36 | Frem 5 | Ess 27 | WB 5 | NM 38 | Adel 74 | Rich 80 | X | X | X | X | 11 | |
| Frem 63 | NM 15 | Rich 47 | WCE 33 | Carl 43 | StK 28 | Adel 32 | Melb 7 | Geel 2 | Syd 40 | Rich 68 | PA 93 | NM 22 | Haw 88 | Coll 1 | Ess 33 | StK 45 | Frem 31 | WCE 5 | BL 18 | Geel 14 | Coll 24 | Geel 14 | BL 51 | StK 7 | X | 3 | |
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | F1 | F2 | F3 | GF | Ladder |
Bold – Home game
Ladder
Ladder progression
Finals series
Week one
Week two
Week three
Week four
Awards
- The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Gary Ablett, Jr. of Geelong, who polled 30 votes during the home and away season.
- The AFL Rising Star was awarded to Daniel Rich of the Brisbane Lions, who received the maximum 45 votes.
- The Coleman Medal was awarded to Brendan Fevola of Carlton, who kicked 86 goals during the home and away season.
- The Wooden Spoon was "awarded" to Melbourne for the second year in a row. Melbourne finished the season in last place on the ladder after 22 rounds, with just 4 wins.
- The McClelland Trophy was awarded to St Kilda for finishing 1st on the ladder during the premiership season.
- The AFL Players Association Awards were as follows:
- *The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Gary Ablett, Jr. from Geelong for being the Most Valuable Player for the third year in a row.
- *The Robert Rose Award went to Joel Selwood from Geelong for being the Most Courageous Player throughout the premiership season.
- *The Best Captain award went to Jonathan Brown of the for the second time, after winning the award in 2007.
- *The Best First-Year Player award was won by Daniel Rich from the Brisbane Lions|. Rich blitzed the competition, receiving 463 votes, and the runner-up receiving just 45.
Best and fairest
AFL Rising Star
The 2009 award was won by Daniel Rich from the.Goal of the Year
The Australian Football League celebrates the best goal of the season through the annual Goal of the Year competition. From 2009 onwards, the commercial name for the award is the AFL Stores Goal of the Year.Nominations
- Round 1 – Shannon Hurn
- Round 2 – Jason Winderlich
- Round 3 – Taylor Walker
- Round 4 – Ryan Houlihan
- Round 5 – Gary Ablett, Jr.
- Round 6 – Drew Petrie
- Round 7 – Cyril Rioli – Winner
- Round 8 – Michael Osborne
- Round 9 – Stephen Milne
- Round 10 – Mark LeCras
- Round 11 – David Rodan
- Round 12 – David Rodan
- Round 13 – Nic Naitanui
- Round 14 – Dale Thomas
- Round 15 – Brendan Fevola
- Round 16 – David Rodan
- Round 17 – Lance Franklin
- Round 18 – Leon Davis
- Round 19 – Adam Schneider
- Round 20 – Liam Jurrah
- Round 21 – Brad Dick
- Round 22 – Shannon Byrnes
Mark of the Year
Nominations
- Round 1 – Simon Wiggins
- Round 2 – Jay Schulz
- Round 3 – Matthew Lloyd
- Round 4 – Tom Logan
- Round 5 – Tom Hawkins
- Round 6 – Joel Selwood
- Round 7 – Patrick Ryder
- Round 8 – Paul Bevan
- Round 9 – Heath Grundy
- Round 10 – David Mundy
- Round 11 – Kurt Tippett
- Round 12 – Nic Naitanui
- Round 13 – Josh Hill
- Round 14 – Darren Glass
- Round 15 – Jayden Post
- Round 16 – Liam Jurrah
- Round 17 – Brendan Fevola
- Round 18 – Jimmy Bartel
- Round 19 – Quinten Lynch
- Round 20 – Lewis Roberts-Thomson
- Round 21 – Max Rooke
- Round 22 – Brett Burton – Winner
AFL Army Award
Nominations
''For the full list of round-by-round nominees, see 2009 AFL Army Award.
- Round 1 – James Kelly
- Round 2 – Campbell Brown
- Round 3 – Luke Ball
- Round 4 – Ricky Dyson
- Round 5 – Lenny Hayes
- Round 6 – Martin Mattner
- Round 7 – Bryce Gibbs
- Round 8 – Barry Hall
- Round 9 – Matt White
- Round 10 – Travis Varcoe
- Round 11 – Scott McMahon
- Round 12 – Brad Green
- Round 13 – Patrick Dangerfield
- Round 14 – Ryan Griffen
- Round 15 – Nathan Eagleton
- Round 16 – Jacob Surjan
- Round 17 – Cameron Mooney
- Round 18 – Aaron Davey
- Round 19 – Brett Kirk
- Round 20 – Stephen Milne
- Round 21 – Max Rooke
- Round 22 – Tom Hawkins – Winner
Club leadership
Umpiring and rule changes
Two rule changes were introduced into the regular season- If a player is not 'under pressure' and deliberately rushes a behind would be penalised by a free kick at the spot that the ball was rushed;
- If a player tackles an opponent after he disposes of the ball, preventing him from taking further part in the play, then a free kick and 50m penalty is paid.
Players contacting umpires continued to be an issue with several players fined for making contact with umpires as they retreated from ball-ups. In related offences, Collingwood's Heath Shaw was suspended for one week after touching an umpire's shoulder, and Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett was fined $5000 after criticising the umpires on radio.