The 2016 AFL season was the 120th 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 24 March until 1 October, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs. Thirty-four players, seventeen of whom were still active in the league, missed the season through suspension by the World Anti-Doping Agency, for doping infringements which occurred at the Essendon Football Club as part of its 2012 sports supplements program.

The premiership was won by the Western Bulldogs for the second time, after it defeated Sydney by 22 points in the 2016 AFL Grand Final.

The following rule changes were made for the 2016 season:

• The interchange rules were significantly altered to give each team four interchange players and a maximum of 90 rotations per game (excluding concussion, blood rule and stretcher interchanges). This replaced the 2015 protocol in which teams had three interchange players and a substitute and a maximum of 120 rotations per game.^[1]
• The scope of tackles covered by the existing 'dangerous tackles' rule was expanded, with both umpires and the tribunal more strictly penalising players for tackles including a lifting, slinging or rotating technique.^[2]
• A stricter interpretation of the existing "deliberate out of bounds" rule is to be applied.^[2]
• The width of the protected zone on either side of a player with a mark or free kick was increased from five metres to ten metres. The rule was trialled in the 2016 pre-season before being endorsed shortly for the premiership season.^[3]
• A provision for the AFL to appeal to the tribunal against an inadequate penalty will be introduced; previously, players had the right to appeal their charges or penalties but the AFL did not have the right to appeal against an acquittal or lenient penalty.^[2]
• A thirty-second countdown clock, within which a player taking a set shot must begin their approach, was displayed on the scoreboard at most AFL grounds. This replaced the previous system in which the umpire was responsible for judging the thirty second time limit. The change was not implemented at grounds which lacked existing infrastructure to support it.^[4] From round 9 onwards, the shot clock was not shown during the final two minutes of any quarter to prevent it from being actively used in end-of-game clock management.^[5]
• The grand final replay was abolished, with the provisions which were introduced in 1991 for five minutes each way of extra time in drawn finals now also applying to a drawn grand final. A new provision was also introduced to all finals to allow for an untimed period of golden point extra time to decide the game if scores remained level after extra time.^[6]
• All matches during rounds 13, 14 and 15 (the bye rounds) featured a trial of officiating matches with four field umpires instead of three.^[7]

Notable features of the draw include:

• Due to the weighted rule, Collingwood and Essendon met only once in the regular season for the first time since 1991, on Anzac Day.^[8]
• Due to poor results in the Friday night timeslot in 2015, Carlton did not feature on Friday nights during the regular season, but still contested the annual Thursday night season opener against Richmond in round 1.^[9]
• Melbourne and Richmond again met on Anzac Eve, which this season fell on a Sunday night. It was the only Sunday night match for the season, with the timeslot's unpopularity causing it to be scrapped after the 2014 season.^[10] The New Zealand Anzac Day match was scrapped from the fixture.^[11]
• Due to the Sydney Royal Easter Show, Greater Western Sydney's primary home ground (Spotless Stadium) was unavailable until round 6, therefore the club's first two home games were played at its secondary home ground, Manuka Oval.^[12]
• One month prior to the season, the Sydney Swans and ANZ Stadium came to an agreement to end their contract one year earlier than its scheduled conclusion, resulting in all eleven Sydney home games being played at the Sydney Cricket Ground, instead of eight at the SCG and three at ANZ Stadium. ANZ Stadium was still used for finals matches during 2016.^[13]
• The inclusion of the first ever AFL sanctioned LGBT pride game for premiership points was held in round 21 between St Kilda and Sydney.^[14]
• There was a bye round between round 23 and the first week of the finals, to encourage teams participating in the finals to field their strongest side possible ahead of their first final.^[15] It was since announced in February 2016 that the annual E. J. Whitten Legends Game would be played in the football-free weekend, shifting from its mid-season slot.^[16]
• All starting times are local.

Bold – Home game
X – Bye
Opponent for round listed above margin