The 2017 AFL season was the 121st season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eighteen clubs, ran from 23 March until 30 September, 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 Richmond Football Club for the eleventh time, after it defeated Adelaide by 48 points in the 2017 AFL Grand Final.

The following amendments were made to the Laws of the Game for the 2017 season:^[1]

• Rules relating to around-the-ground ruck contests were amended such that only the nominated ruckman for each team is permitted in the contest, eliminating the option for another player to enter the contest and take the tap, otherwise known as the "third man up" strategy.^[2] This was done to make ruck contests easier to adjudicate, to reduce the risk of injuries to ruckmen, and to increase the value of the skill of ruckwork.^[2]
• A more stringent interpretation of deliberate rushed behinds was introduced, by allowing the umpire to consider prior opportunity, distance from the goal line and degree of applied pressure when judging whether or not to pay a free kick.
• Adjustments were made to the interpretation of high tackles, giving the umpire more discretion to call play-on when he deems that the tackled player is responsible for the high contact. This was introduced to discourage the practice of ducking into a tackle, dropping the knees when tackled or trying to shrug off a tackle to earn a free kick.^[3]
• A more stringent interpretation of punches to the body was introduced to the match review panel and tribunal to allow for suspensions to be imposed; and to allow fines to be imposed for low impact jumper punches.
• The deliberate out of bounds free kick was amended, lowering the threshold for a free kick from 'intentionally' putting the ball out of bounds to 'not demonstrating sufficient intent' to keep the ball in bounds.^[4]

Notable features of the draw include:

• The naming rights of York Park were bought by the University of Tasmania from Aurora Energy in the week prior to the full fixture being released, with the venue becoming known as the University of Tasmania Stadium.^[5]
• Greater Western Sydney sold the naming rights for Manuka Oval during the AFL season to the University of New South Wales, and the stadium became known as the UNSW Canberra Oval.^[6]
• North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs played in the AFL's first ever Good Friday match, which was played at Etihad Stadium.^[7][8]
• Port Adelaide and Gold Coast competed in the first AFL premiership match outside Australia and New Zealand when they played in round 8 at Jiangwan Stadium in Shanghai, China, with the match televised live on the Seven Network.^[9][10] Both teams had a bye the following round, while the remaining sixteen teams had their byes from rounds 11 to 13.^[11]
• Owing to redevelopment, Simonds Stadium was unavailable until round 9.^[12]
• The Western Bulldogs competed in the first AFL premiership match to be played at Mars Stadium in Ballarat when they faced Port Adelaide in round 22. The match was also the first AFL premiership match in a Victorian regional venue (other than Geelong) since a one-off round of promotional matches held in 1952.^[13]
• All starting times are local.

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