2005 AFL season

AFL Draft

Wizard Home Loans Cup

Premiership Season

Round 1 (Easter and season launch)

Round 2

Round 3 (Rivalry Round)

• Michael Voss of the Brisbane Lions played his 250th game.
• David Neitz of the Melbourne Demons played his 250th game.
• Barry Hall kicked a goal after the siren to defeat the Brisbane Lions.

  Round 4

Round 5 (ANZAC Day)

• Chris Grant of the played his 300th game.

  Round 6

Round 7 (Mother's Day)

Round 8

Round 9 (Community Weekend)

• Carlton played its last match at Princes Park, its home ground since 1897. The venue was the last suburban ground in use in Melbourne.
• West Coast suffered its first loss for the season, against Collingwood.
• At the end of this round, the AFL's three most successful clubs,, and occupied the bottom three places on the AFL ladder.

  Round 10

• Fraser Gehrig of St Kilda played his 200th game.
• AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou famously criticised eventual premiers Sydney Swans' style of play in its loss against St Kilda, stating it could not win a premiership playing in that way.

  Round 11

Round 12 (Queen's Birthday)

Round 13 (Split Round)

• Matthew Lloyd of played his 200th game.

  Round 14 (Family Round)

Round 15

• The inaugural Dreamtime at the 'G was played between and

  Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

• Scott Lucas of played his 200th AFL game.

  Round 20 (Heritage Round)

• defeated at Skilled Stadium for the first time since 1988.

  Round 21

Round 22

• 's 139-point win against the was the largest victory in St Kilda's history, and the heaviest defeat in the Brisbane Lions' history.

  Ladder

Ladder progression

Finals series

Week one

Week two

Week three

Week four

Awards

• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Ben Cousins of. Ben Cousins received 20 votes to beat fellow West Coast midfielder Daniel Kerr.
• The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Ben Cousins of.
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Fraser Gehrig of.
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Chris Judd of.
• The AFL Rising Star award was awarded to Brett Deledio of.
• The Wooden Spoon was "awarded" to for coming last. They became the first team in AFL history to win the pre-season competition and then finish last in the season proper.

  Player moves

• 30 players retired from the game, including Matthew Primus, Nick Holland, Martin Pike, Wayne Campbell, Justin Murphy, Brenton Sanderson, Austinn Jones, Angelo Lekkas, Phil Matera, Jason Ball and Stuart Maxfield. Shane Woewodin, a Brownlow Medallist was delisted.

  Post-season matches

• Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy coached the Australians to a 2–0 victory in the 2005 International Rules Series against Ireland. Andrew McLeod won the Jim Stynes Medal.
• Fremantle defeated West Coast Eagles by 17 points in an Exhibition match played in London.
• Sydney and the Kangaroos played an Exhibition match in the United States at UCLA, with the Kangaroos winning by 48 points.

  Notable events

• Fraser Gehrig, round 10
• Jeff White, round 16
• Scott Lucas, round 19