Greg Swann said on AFL360 tonight that the rules changes were working. His indicator of success was more teams were kicking 100 plus points a game, which he said was what we wanted to see.
What he didn't say was that there have also been more blow-outs this season. I would have liked the panel to press him on that, but they are also fan boys of high scoring rather than competitive scores.
There have been 15 50+ point differences this year, compared to 11 by the end of round 7 last year. This is a 36% increase over 63 games played. The upper end margins have also been bigger in 2026.
It's not just more blow-outs, its bigger margins overall. The average margin in 2026 is 39.2 points compared to 33.8 points at the same time last year. (Across the entire 2025 season it was 34.2 points).
2025: More games in the 10–40 point range (competitive but clear wins)
2026: More games drifting into 40–80+ territory
So there are clearly more one sided games overall, not just a few outliers.
The higher average margins in 2026 suggests:
-Stronger teams getting on top earlier in the season
-Weaker teams struggling more defensively
-Faster, higher-scoring game styles amplifying gaps
These results have been inflated by a few teams at the top and bottom of the ladder, so it will be interesting to see if these trends continue throughout the season. But if the AFL is to measure the success of the rule changes, it needs to look deeper than just how many teams are kicking 100 points.