2000 AFL season

The 2000 AFL season was the 104th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season featured 16 clubs and ran from 8 March until 2 September, comprising a 22-match home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs. The season was scheduled earlier than usual to avoid a clash with the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Essendon won the premiership, defeating Melbourne by 60 points in the 2000 AFL Grand Final; it was Essendon's 16th VFL/AFL premiership. Essendon also won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with a 21–1 win–loss record, with its home-and-away and overall (24–1) win–loss records standing as the best in the league's history. Melbourne's Shane Woewodin won the Brownlow Medal as the league's best and fairest player, and Essendon's Matthew Lloyd won the Coleman Medal as the league's leading goalkicker.

Ansett Australia Cup

The 2000 pre-season began with the 2000 Ansett Australia Cup. Unlike most pre-season competitions which start in February, the 2000 series started on 31 December 1999 with a one-off "Match of the Millennium" between Carlton and Collingwood, which was notable for Brendan Fevola kicking twelve goals, a pre-season record. Essendon defeated the Kangaroos by 41 points in the grand final.

Home-and-away season

All starting times are local time. Source: AFL Tables

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Ladder

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 103.4
Source: AFL Tables

Progression by round

Source: AFL Tables

Home matches and membership

Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

All starting times are local time. Source: AFL Tables

Finals week 1

Finals week 2

Finals week 3

Grand final

Win/loss table

The following table can be sorted from biggest winning margin to biggest losing margin for each round. If two or more matches in a round are decided by the same margin, these margins are sorted by percentage (i.e. the lowest-scoring winning team is ranked highest and the lowest-scoring losing team is ranked lowest). Opponents are listed above the margins and home matches are in bold.

Source: AFL Tables

Season notes

Essendon became the first team in VFL/AFL history to win 21 matches in a home-and-away season.
By winning the grand final, Essendon set a new record for the most wins in a season (24); the club also set a new record for the highest average winning margin in a season (51 points).
Due to a major upgrade of the Gabba, the Brisbane Lions played their first four regular season games away from home. They were also the only non-Victorian club to qualify for the finals.