Choose your mode

Specialists and defensive help

• Eight rare specialist badges, usually nine per fresh 25-player Dynasty squad and no more than two per player. Hover or focus badge labels for their effects.
• Rookies occasionally arrive with a badge; rare young-player development unlocks remain limited by club badge density. Badges follow players through saves, transfers and retirement archives.
• Defenders can leave their opponent to intercept a clear run toward goal, with intelligent teammates rotating behind them.
• Badges affect specific situations rather than displayed attributes. Active match cues identify their use.

League stories and more responsive form

• Form builds more easily, with recovery memory limited to the current season and previous four. Undated recovery memory from older saves starts fresh; current form is retained.
• 40 form contributes about +1.9 effective skill points before fatigue. Combined form and match form cap at +5, with the existing skill ceiling retained. Bars remain capped at 100 and recovery speed at +35%.
• Browse every round and filter by club. Completed games open player-stat match reports; current-round fixtures retain Watch and Resume.
• Overview shows upcoming fixtures and a league roundup drawn from recorded results.
• Round highlights cover recent player form, goal hauls, disposals, close games, winning streaks and passing efficiency. Historical round summaries exclude later performances.

Contracts at a glance

• Contract badges use colour, symbols and text to distinguish final-year deals, two-year deals, longer commitments and uncontracted players.
• The club list shows salary, contract status and average match rating out of 10, including finals.
• Contract badges also appear in contract management, free agency and player profiles.

A home for every Dynasty feature

• A mode-selection menu opens first. Dynasty has a persistent sidebar for fixtures, rosters, contracts, players, free agency, drafting, transactions, history and saves.
• Unavailable offseason sections explain when they open.
• Watch opens Match Lab automatically. Back returns to your previous section and fixture round, retaining the match for Resume.
• Match rules, development and player ratings are unchanged.

Experience and individual form

• Senior appearances give players aged 18–24 a small extra development benefit, capped at 14 appearances per year and strongest through age 21. Potential and uncertain development still matter.
• Every player has match form and longer-term form. Useful actions build match form; errors drain it faster. Strong individual performances build form slowly, while poor games quickly reduce it.
• Sustaining form accumulates recovery memory, capped at 35% faster rebuilding. Memory persists through seasons and transfers, but never increases maximum strength. Offseason form drops to 40%; match form starts fresh each game.
• Small red bars beside player and team names show form. Team bars average the selected 18; hover or focus for details. Live bars combine form and match form. League bars show form.
• Combined effects are capped at 2.5 effective points in handling, tackling, awareness, decisions and marking. Displayed ratings, speed and kicking accuracy are unchanged.

Contracts, free agency and draft surprises

• Three-round free agency before the draft, with salary offers, contract terms and competing clubs.
• A $12m salary cap, guaranteed contracts, release costs and reserved draft places.
• Contract details in player profiles; free agents retain their career history.
• More uncertain rookie potential, breakthroughs and setbacks allow late picks to flourish and early picks to disappoint.

20-minute display clock

• The scoreboard clock and commentary timestamps now display 20-minute quarters.
• Visual change only: the same actions, simulation timing, fatigue and outcomes.

Space, movement and simulation controls

• Deeper key-position structure, more spread on set shots and wider kick-in leads.
• Acceleration and turning affect chases, with diagonal carrying routes and improved close, clear shots.
• Boundary crossings show ball travel instead of jumping to the boundary.
• Match statistics collapse by default. Stop season simulation after the current match; fixtures follow round progress.

Natural set-shot movement

• Watch actual preparation paths instead of a whole setup compressed into one short jump.
• Role-based leads, crumbing positions and cover retain the existing spread and vary with each shot.

Reduced elite rating effects

• High attributes have gentler match effects: a displayed 99 maps to an internal ceiling of 85.
• Smaller elite speed and kicking bonuses reduce easy separation and runaway scoring.
• Displayed attributes, overall grades, colours and development remain on the same scale.
• The previous 18-a-side release is now numbered 0.2.

18-a-side football

• Six defenders, six midfield players and six forwards, with lists up to 25.
• 28% more playing area, preserving pitch proportions and physical rule distances.
• Updated formations, restarts, selection, drafting, stats and match playback.
• A fresh 18-a-side Dynasty starts with 25 players per club. Previous 13-a-side saves are not loaded.

Cleaner possession and clearer match presentation

• More reliable short handballs, attribute-based range capped near 20m, and smaller execution-error spills.
• Protected marks favour disposal over risky play-on; short kicks explicitly call play on.
• Shorter loose-ball response windows preserve an open receiver’s advantage.
• One ball-up lift animation, forward stoppage crumbing and a visible set-shot positioning phase.
• Scoring-line crossings, kick-in spreading, forward-50 shot choices and ruck rating/recovery adjustments.
• Distinct club colours across the pitch, commentary and ladder, plus a larger name pool for new players.

Dynasty match identity

• Opening the match screen from Dynasty loads your controlled club’s current-round fixture or resumes it.
• Your club’s statistics are selected automatically, including away games.
• Unrelated standalone matches no longer replace Dynasty viewing through the New match control.
• Match player profiles link directly to their Dynasty career records.

Watch Dynasty matches

• A horizontal slider above league statistics keeps wide columns within reach.
• Round fixtures now include Watch buttons, using the existing match screen and playback controls.
• Completed watched matches update the Dynasty ladder, player statistics and saves.
• Quick simulation continues a match already in progress, and finals retain extra time.

Draft scouting and league players

• Draft panel shows the team on the clock, pick, round and your controlled club.
• Click prospect names for profiles and attributes before drafting.
• League-wide player statistics with club filters and sortable columns.
• Controlled-team selector moved to the top and remembered in saves.

Club pages, careers & honours

• Clickable ladder clubs with team sheets, ratings and performance views.
• Player match ratings out of 10, with exceptional performances needed for a 10.
• Brownlow, Coleman, Rising Star and Norm Smith awards with winning years.
• Full player pages with yearly statistics and match logs, including archived players.
• League history with premierships, final ladders and award winners.

Dynasty begins

• A separate multi-season league with lists up to 20 and automatic selection of 13 players.
• Annual ageing, uncertain development, veteran decline and retirement after age 35.
• Reverse-ladder drafting, rebuilding/contending list strategies and role-aware delisting.
• Season history, career totals, browser saves and portable export/import.
• Existing match engine, Match lab and Competition are unchanged.

Boundary throw-ins

• Boundary ruck contests now take place 18 metres infield. Rucks and support players set up around the landing point.
• Out-of-bounds shows a stationary ball; one throw-in animation then travels to the contest and follows the tap.
• Removed repeated boundary setup animations. A quarter-ending siren cancels the pending throw-in.

Outward leads and smarter finishing

• Central players lead diagonally into space, with separate support behind and a forward link ahead.
• Passes lead moving receivers and value the next forward option. A safe carrier can briefly wait once for a promising lead to develop.
• Smart players continue toward close range when the whole running path and kick-release window remain safe. Closing defenders and the quarter clock can trigger an earlier shot.
• Normal accuracy still decides the kick; an open goal is not a guaranteed goal.

Switch, recycle and overlap

• Players look for an open-side switch when the forward route is crowded and there is no clean forward option.
• Rebounders and balanced midfielders offer support behind the ball. Recycling is rewarded when the receiver has a reachable forward outlet on the open side.
• Wingers run outside and ahead after passing, offering a useful return pass. The opposite wing holds width for a switch.
• Switch, recycle and overlap completions appear on the oval. Existing interception, range and pressure rules still apply; repeated backward exchanges remain discouraged.

Wider ground, better options

• The oval is 15% wider in both the simulation and the display. Running speed, ground length and physical pitch markings are unchanged.
• Shots account for the chance of reaching goal. Players favour a reachable open teammate when the pass offers a better scoring opportunity.
• Players reassess attacking runs more often, seek clearer passing lanes and spread into available space.
• Removed the flag symbols after scores. GOAL +6 and BEHIND +1 remain visible on the oval.

Read the game on the oval

• On-field contact animations distinguish tackles, broken tackles, spills and disposal under pressure.
• Ball-up and throw-in cues show where play restarts. Free kicks show the ruling on the field.
• Goals and behinds animate to the scoring end with +6 / +1 and two / one umpire signals. Marks, spoils and play-on have distinct cues.
• Major moments get a short viewing pause at your chosen playback speed. Previous/next replays the recorded cues. Reduced-motion preferences are respected.

Man on the mark

• One opponent approaches and holds the mark after marks and free kicks, including out on the full. Kick-ins place the marker 15 metres beyond the goal-square edge.
• Other opponents clear a simplified protected area. Set-shot takers can retreat behind the mark.
• The taker never waits for the marker to arrive. Removed the forced kick-in setup event; playing on releases the marker.
• Ordinary out-of-bounds still leads to a throw-in, with no man on the mark.

Release numbering starts here. Updates increment the patch number: 0.1.1, 0.1.2 and onward. Earlier prototype changes remain part of the game.