Ladder

All teams played 22 games during the home and away season, for a total of 165. An additional 9 games were played during the finals series. It was the first season that the AFL implemented a top 8 team finals series. That number of teams in the Finals remains the case today.

Playing time

In order to meet the requirements of the television broadcasters, the AFL

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 adjusted the playing time allocated to each of a match's four quarters for this season. Playing time was reduced from 25 minutes to 20 minutes, however some additional stoppages attracted "time-on" allocations; the total reduction of playing time was approximately 10%.

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal
  Brownlow Medal
  The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
  
   was awarded to Greg Williams of .
• The Leigh Matthews Trophy
  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 still known as the Victorian Football League...
  
   was awarded to Greg Williams of .
• The Coleman Medal
  Coleman Medal
  The Coleman Medal is awarded yearly to the Australian Football League player who kicks the most goals in regular-season matches in that year...
  
   was awarded to Gary Ablett of .
• The Norm Smith Medal
  Norm Smith Medal
  The Norm Smith Medal is the award given in the AFL Grand Final to the player adjudged by an independent panel of experts to have been the best player in the match.-History:The Norm Smith Medal is named after former Melbourne player and coach, Norm Smith...
  
   was awarded to Dean Kemp
  Dean Kemp
  Dean Kemp is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League....
  
   of .
• The AFL Rising Star award was awarded to Chris Scott of .
• The Wooden Spoon
  Wooden spoon (award)
  A wooden spoon is a mock or real award, usually given to an individual or team which has come last in a competition, but sometimes also to runners-up. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous events...
  
   was "awarded" to .

Notable events

• The AFL increases the number of interchange players to three which, when added to the "run on" team of 18 on-the-field players, increasing the standard team squad size to 21 players.
• The "blood rule
  Blood rule
  The Blood rule is a rule used in many sports that states that an athlete that receives an open wound, is bleeding, or who has blood on them or their clothes, must immediately leave the playing area to receive medical attention...
  
  " was introduced in order to allay fears raised by the threat of AIDS
  AIDS
  Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
  
  .
• The AFL introduced a third field umpire.
• The reduction in a match's amount of elapsed playing time (see above).
• The Second McIntyre "Final Six" system, which had operated in 1992 and 1993, was replaced by the McIntyre "Final Eight" system. The McIntyre "Final Eight" system operated from 1994 to 1999; it was replaced by the AFL’s Amended "Final Eight" system
  AFL finals system
  The current AFL finals system was devised by the Australian Football League in 2000 as its end-of-season championship playoff tournament. It is a revision of the McIntyre Final Eight System, used by the AFL from 1994 to 1999, designed to address several perceived issues with that system...
  
   in 2000.
• The third qualifying final between and was the first ever AFL
  Australian Football League
  The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
  
   game to require extra time, after the teams were tied at 91 after four quarters. The provision for extra time was introduced after the controversial 1990
  1990 AFL season
  Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 1990.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-Ladder:All teams played 22 games during the home and away season, for a total of 154...
  
  finals series, where the qualifying final between and was tied, forcing a replay the following weekend which gave top team a second bye weekend. North Melbourne dominated extra time and won the game by 23 points.