Fan's Guide to AFL Tribunal and Match Review 2026

Conduct is Intentional or Careless. Intentional means the player acted with the intention of committing the offence (intent can form on the spur of the moment and can be inferred from what the player did). Careless means not intentional but a breach of the duty of care a player owes to others, where a reasonable player would not regard the conduct as prudent. If conduct falls short of careless, no charge is laid.

Impact is Low, Medium, High or Severe. The MRO considers the force, any injury to the victim (though absence of injury does not rule out Severe), and the potential to cause injury or a greater injury. This applies particularly to intentional strikes, high bumps, head-high contact on a player with his head over the ball, off-the-ball contact and dangerous tackles. Low Impact is the minimum for a Classifiable Offence and needs more than negligible impact.

Contact is High/Groin or Body. High contact includes the top of the shoulders, and a tackle where the victim's head makes forceful contact with the ground or fence is High contact even though the tackle was to the body. Where contact is both high and to the body, the MRO usually classifies it as High.

Source: 2026 AFL Tribunal Guidelines, section 4.2.

The 2026 Classification Table (High/Groin contact first, then Body contact):

Intentional conduct

• Severe impact: 4 or more matches (Tribunal) / 3 or more matches (Tribunal)
• High impact: 3 matches / 2 matches
• Medium impact: 2 matches / 1 match
• Low impact: 1 match / fine

Careless conduct

• Severe impact: 3 or more matches (Tribunal) / 2 or more matches (Tribunal)
• High impact: 2 matches / 1 match
• Medium impact: 1 match / fine
• Low impact: fine / fine

Example from the Guidelines: a careless, High Impact strike to the body is a one-match suspension.

If a player is found guilty of two or more offences from the one match, the sanctions are added together (for example Kneeing for one match plus Striking for two is a three-match suspension). Fines apply individually.

The Tribunal is not bound by decisions of previous years and can classify differently, having regard to evolving community standards and a focus on reducing avoidable, forceful high contact and preventing injuries including concussions.

Source: 2026 AFL Tribunal Guidelines, sections 3.1(b) and 3.4.

A charge goes to the Tribunal without an early plea option in these situations:

Direct Tribunal Offences (no grading, the Tribunal sets the sanction at its absolute discretion):

• Intentional Contact with an Umpire
• Eye Gouging
• Stomping
• Striking an Umpire
• Spitting on or at an Umpire
• Spitting on Another Person
• Attempting to Strike an Umpire
• Behaving in an Abusive, Insulting, Threatening or Obscene Manner Towards or in Relation to an Umpire
• Serious Misconduct

Classifiable Offences referred up:

• anything graded Severe Impact that carries "Tribunal" in the table (four or more, three or more or two or more matches), unless the MRO specifies the minimum sanction only (see the early plea question);
• offences that do not fit the Classification Table;
• a player with a bad record, particularly for similar offences, at AFL or State League level; or
• any case the MRO refers in his absolute discretion.

Grand Final: an offence that would normally carry a suspension of two or more matches goes directly to the Tribunal, which sets the sanction at large.

Source: 2026 AFL Tribunal Guidelines, sections 3.1(b), (f), (h), 3.2 and 3.5.

After the MRO charges a player and tells his club the offence and sanction, the player can:

1. Plead guilty early by 11am (Melbourne time) on the day after the club is notified. The sanction applies, with any early plea discount (fines only, no discount on suspensions).
2. Contest the charge, or plead guilty to a lesser charge, by the same 11am deadline. A Tribunal hearing is then held and the player may have legal representation.

If the player does nothing by 11am the next day (or a later time set by the AFL), he is deemed to have pleaded guilty and the sanction applies.

Early plea discounts for low-level fines and fixed financial offences: a first fixed financial offence is $1,500, or $1,000 with an early plea; a first low-level fine is generally $3,000, or $2,000 with an early plea (careless, low-impact body contact is $2,500, or $1,500).

Where the MRO grades a Classifiable Offence as Severe Impact and specifies that only the minimum sanction is sought, the player may still take an early plea and accept it. Otherwise it goes to the Tribunal and no early plea is available.

Source: 2026 AFL Tribunal Guidelines, sections 2.1(c), 3.1(c), (e), (h) and 3.3.

For Classifiable Offences with a fixed one, two or three-match suspension:

• Wholly unsuccessful challenge: the player gets the original sanction and the club is levied $10,000, counted as football department expenditure under the soft cap (Rule 50 of the AFL Rules).
• Successful challenge: if the player wins the downgrade he challenged, the club is not levied.
• Partly successful challenge: if the player challenges two or more aspects (say conduct and impact) and wins only one, he receives the downgraded sanction but the challenge counts as unsuccessful and the club is levied $5,000.

Example from the Guidelines: a player graded Intentional, High Impact, Body Contact for Rough Conduct (two matches) challenges both conduct and impact. If he wins only one, he gets one match and the club is levied $5,000.

Source: 2026 AFL Tribunal Guidelines, section 3.1(d).

The Tribunal hears charges where the player has pleaded not guilty, or guilty to a lesser charge, as well as Direct Tribunal Offences and serious Classifiable Offences referred by the MRO.

• The panel is a chairperson and two Tribunal members. The 2026 chairs are Jeff Gleeson KC, Renee Enbom KC and Will Houghton KC.
• The chairperson runs the process and decides points of law. The panel decides whether the offence occurred and sets the sanction.
• The Tribunal may find the player guilty of the original charge or a lesser charge, or not guilty. It can also classify the offence differently under the Table of Offences.
• The player can have legal representation. A victim player who was harmed may give evidence only with the chairperson's permission.
• The chairperson gives the outcome with a brief verbal explanation of the reasons.
• For a challenge to a financial sanction, the player may choose to have a single legally trained panel member decide on written submissions only.

If exceptional and compelling circumstances make the Table of Offences outcome inappropriate or unreasonable, the Tribunal may impose a sanction, or none, in its absolute discretion. A player with an exemplary record at AFL or State League level may argue this.

Source: 2026 AFL Tribunal Guidelines, sections 2.1(d), 2.2 and 3.1(d), (g).

A player or the AFL General Counsel can appeal a Tribunal decision to the Appeal Board on one or more of these grounds:

• an error of law that had a material impact on the decision;
• the decision was so unreasonable that no Tribunal acting reasonably could have reached it on the evidence;
• the classification of the offence was manifestly excessive or inadequate; or
• the sanction was manifestly excessive or inadequate.

Timetable:

• Notice of Appeal by 12pm (Melbourne time) on the next business day after the Tribunal decision, a deadline that must be strictly followed.
• The appellant's outline of submissions is due by 9am on the Thursday of the week of the decision, and the respondent's by 3pm that day.
• The Appeal Board hearing is at 5pm (Melbourne time) on that Thursday, subject to Board members being available, with oral submissions of no more than 45 minutes for each side.

Cost: $10,000, refundable if the appeal succeeds. If an appeal fails, $5,000 counts as the club's football department expenditure (soft cap).

The Appeal Board has a chairperson and two members, none of whom sat on the original Tribunal hearing. A party can also ask the Board for leave to produce fresh evidence if it could not, with reasonable diligence, have been obtained before the hearing ended and would probably have changed the result.

Source: 2026 AFL Tribunal Guidelines, section 2.1(e) and the Appeal Board summary.

The 2026 AFL Tribunal Guidelines list seven changes:

• Intentional strikes: an intentional strike to a player's body or head will usually be graded Medium Impact at a minimum (at least a one-match suspension), rather than Low Impact.
• Concussion: an intentional or careless act causing a concussion will usually be graded Severe Impact, but a lesser grading (High or Medium) may be used for a careless act where the observable level of force is more consistent with a lesser impact.
• Potential for injury: the potential to cause a further or greater injury must be considered along with the potential to cause injury.
• Pushing into the contest: Rough Conduct now clearly includes pushing an opponent into another player from either team.
• Fine accumulation: higher fines for second, third and later low-level offences apply only where the same offence is repeated, and only within the same season (not across two years).
• Umpire contact: a fourth or later Careless Contact with an Umpire in the same season carries a one-match suspension.
• Partly successful contest: if a club contests two or more aspects of a charge and wins one, the club is levied $5,000 (counted in its soft cap).

Source: 2026 AFL Tribunal Guidelines, section 1.