The 2010 AFL season was the 114th 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 sixteen clubs, ran from 25 March until 2 October, 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 Collingwood Football Club for the 15th time, after it defeated by 56 points in the 2010 AFL Grand Final Replay.

Pre-season

AFL pre-season draft

AFL rookie draft

NAB Cup

Summary of results

Premiership season

The draw for the 2010 AFL Premiership Season was produced by the AFL with the intention of producing a balanced draw while also providing the fans and television networks with blockbuster games. In a competition with 16 teams and 22 rounds, it is not possible for all teams to play each other twice. These factors combine to create some of the following anomalies:

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

Bold – Home game

Ladder

Ladder progression

Finals series

Week one

Week two

Week three

Weeks four/five

Grand final replay

Season records

Awards

Best and fairest

AFL Rising Star

The AFL Rising Star is awarded to the best player who, as of the beginning of the season, is under the age of 21 and has played fewer than 10 games. Each week one player is nominated and at the end of the season a selection panel votes to select the overall winner. Sydney's Dan Hannebery won the award for 2010, with the maximum 45 votes awarded to him. † players ineligible due to tribunal sanction

Goal of the Year

The Australian Football League celebrates the best goal of the season through the annual Goal of the Year competition. From 2010 onwards, the commercial name for the award is the Panasonic Goal of the Year. Lance 'Buddy' Franklin won the award for his running goal against Essendon in round 13. By winning the award Franklin became the fifth indigenous player to win the award since 2004.

Mark of the Year

The Australian Football League celebrates the best mark of the season through the annual Mark of the Year competition. From 2009 onwards, the commercial name for the award is the Hungry Jack's Mark of the Year. Liam Jurrah, of the Melbourne Football Club, won the award for his mark over the top of Port Adelaide's Nick Salter, in round 21. However, he hadn't been nominated as Mark of the Week, which was won by Brendon Goddard. This inconsistency arose because the Mark of the Week is decided by an online public vote, while the Mark of the Year is decided separately by a panel of experts.

Club leadership

Umpiring and rule changes

No major changes to the rules were introduced for the 2010 season. Minor adjustments to the tribunal rules were made, including adding a provision to report players for diving or staging. The 2010 NAB Cup pre-season competition trialled three new rules: allowing boundary umpires to award free kicks, letting the players, not the umpire, decide if they want to use the advantage rule and penalising players who push the ball under another player.

Coach changes