The 2014 AFL season was the 118th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football 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 (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

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 Hawt ...

for the twelfth time and second time consecutively, after it defeated by 63 points in the 2014 AFL Grand Final.

Pre-season

NAB Challenge

The AFL abandoned the NAB Cup competition, replacing it with the NAB Challenge series. The NAB challenge featured 18 practice matches played over 18 consecutive days, beginning 12 February and ending 1 March; the matches were stand-alone in nature, with no overall winner crowned for the series. Each team played two pre-season games, many of which were played at suburban or regional venues; all games were 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 Pty Limited, operated out of their Me ...

. There had been a proposal to conclude the pre-season with an All-Star representative match, replacing the NAB Cup Grand Final as the centrepiece of the preseason, but this did not go ahead. The

Super Goal A super goal is a method of scoring used in the Australian Football League's pre-season competition in the sport of Australian rules football. Under the rule, a goal scored from a distance greater than fifty metres is awarded nine points, instead ...

was retained for these matches.

Premiership season

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

Adelaide Oval Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby le ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

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 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 (due to the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

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

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

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 The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

.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, and is named after Alfred Hermann Traeger. The park was officially opened by Anne Catherine Sma ...

in Alice Springs 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 t ...

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 Buc ...

was awarded to

Lewis Taylor Andrew 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 ...

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 Football ...

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, ...

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

Chad Wingard Chad Jordan Wingard (born 29 July 1993) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was drafted to Port Adelaide with the sixth selection in the 2011 AFL Dr ...

of . *The

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football trophy which has been awarded each year since 1951 by the Australian Football League (known prior to 1990 as the Victorian Football League) to the best-performing club in the home-and-away sea ...

was awarded to for the first time since 1996. *The

Wooden Spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

was "awarded" to for the first time since

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. *The AFL Players Association awards **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 st ...

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). He has served as Fremantle captain since the 2017 season. Fyfe is a dual Brown ...

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 was a quadruple premiership player, a six-time All-Australian, and a three-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 previ ...

of the . **The 22under22 Team captaincy was awarded to Dyson Heppell 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 "Robbie" 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 200 ...

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 current coach of the Sydney Swans. As a player, he represented the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 1988 to 1999. Early years Longmire was born in Corowa, ...

of . **The Assistant Coach of the Year Award was awarded to

Brett Montgomery Brett Montgomery (born 1 June 1973) is a retired Australian rules football player and current assistant coach with the Port Adelaide Football Club. Early life Montgomery, known as "Monty", was originally recruited from South Croydon, and was ...

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 an ...

. **The Best Young Player Award was awarded to Jaeger O'Meara of . **The Media Award was awarded to

Gerard Whateley Gerard Whateley is a Melbourne-based sports broadcaster and writer. Since January 2018 he has been chief sports caller and host of the ''Whateley'' program on the sports radio station SEN1116. He is also co-host of Fox Footy's ''AFL 360'' program ...

for his work on

. *The Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award was awarded to

Beau Waters Beau Waters (born 30 March 1986) is a former professional Australian rules footballer and vice-captain of the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Originally from the Happy Valley Football Club, South Australia, he playe ...

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 goals A goal is an objective that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve. Goal may also refer ...

was awarded to

Lance Franklin Lance Franklin (born 30 January 1987), also known as Buddy Franklin, is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Hawthorn Football Club from ...

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 (se ...

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 footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led b ...

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 ( ga, Peil na rialacha idirnáisiunta; 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 ...

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 the chief executive officer of the Australian Football League (AFL). He was appointed to the role in 2014, succeeding Andrew Demetriou, having previously served as his deputy. In 2022 he announced his resignatio ...

was later named his successor. *On 13 May 2014, Greater Western Sydney midfielder

Toby Greene Toby Greene (born 27 December 1993) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was recruited by the Greater Western Sydney Giants with the 11th ov ...

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 who is currently the head coach of the North Melbourne Football Club. He was previously the head coach of the Hawthorn Football Club in the ...

was hospitalised after being diagnosed with

Guillain–Barré syndrome Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rapid-onset 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 or pain oft ...

. Brendon Bolton was appointed as the acting head coach for a couple of months 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 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 based in Mel ...

, on 13 June 2014, the

Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) was a government statutory authority tasked to protect Australia's sporting integrity through the elimination of doping. The authority was part of the Department of Health's portfolio and was ...

(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