STORY OF THE YEAR
Not just the year, but perhaps the story of this football century thus far was the Western Bulldogs' fairytale premiership.
Coach Luke Beveridge had already taken his team from 14th to eighth in 2015. They won 15 games during the home and away rounds, one more than last year, against a backdrop of continual injuries to key players, yet, incredibly, given the win tally, could still only finish seventh. But the real magic was yet to come.
The Bulldogs became the first side to win the flag, their first for 62 years, from that low a spot with an amazing finals campaign which saw them bowl over West Coast in Perth, reigning premier Hawthorn, GWS in a nail-biting preliminary final, then Sydney on grand final day, having started the underdog every time.
Players like Liam Picken and Norm Smith medallist Jason Johannisen rose to another level and the unsung parts of the 22 like Clay Smith, Joel Hamling and Tory Dickson made contributions just as important as the star class. An amazing team effort, and a victory for all football romantics.
ISSUE OF THE YEAR
A four-year controversy involving Essendon and their 2012 supplements program reached its climax early on the morning of 12 January when the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a World Anti-Doping Agency appeal against the AFL's finding of insufficient evidence about prohibited drug use by 34 past and present Bomber players.
Don and dusted: Key Bombers are back, and looking forward to leaving 2016 behind. Photo: Getty Images
A dozen Dons, and a handful of players subsequently recruited by other clubs were banned for the entire 2016 season, effectively torpedoing Essendon's season before it had begun under new coach John Worsfold.
But that was far from the finish of the saga. Besides Essendon's struggles with a team full of top-up and inexperienced players, there would be a subsequent appeal against that decision, not officially dismissed until late in the year, compensation claims, and much speculation about how many of the banned Bombers would re-sign with their club.
Perhaps the stickiest issue of the lot for the AFL in public relations terms was the legitimacy of skipper Jobe Watson's 2012 Brownlow Medal, Watson in November deciding himself to relinquish the gong, eventually presented to two runners-up in Sam Mitchell and Trent Cotchin only in mid-December.
STAR OF THE YEAR
No contest, really. Patrick Dangerfield was the best player of 2016 by the length of the street, a remarkable individual season he went into under considerable pressure after a much-publicised move from Adelaide to Geelong.
Top Cat: Geelong's Patrick Dangerfield perfectly poised to pick up where he left off last year. Photo: Getty
Not only did Dangerfield live up to the hype, he soared to new highs, winning the Brownlow Medal with a record 35 votes, and also by a record margin. He polled in no fewer than 15 games and was awarded the three votes in nine of them.
He set the tone with a blistering first game for the Cats, picking up 43 disposals in Geelong's round one win over Hawthorn.
From there his output seldom dropped, his round 11 performance against North Melbourne the highlight. That evening, Dangerfield racked up an incredible 48 disposals, 13 clearances and two goals to earn a rare perfect 10 in The Age Player of the Year Award.
He was still doing it when the Cats' season came to a sticky end against Sydney in the preliminary final, still managing to accumulate 39 possessions. It was one of the best individual seasons of the modern era.
CONTROVERSY OF THE YEAR
The AFL year's biggest controversy involved not players or officials, but two prominent media types, Eddie McGuire (in his commentator guise) and Fairfax Media football writer Caroline Wilson.
Ice age: Eddie McGuire in the 'Big Freeze 2' charity event. Photo: Darrian Traynor
The drama emerged only a week after the Queen's Birthday game's "Big Freeze" raised $2 million for motor neurone disease research and awareness, when social media picked up on McGuire's comments on radio station Triple M as he prepared to plunge into an ice pool.
"I reckon we should start the campaign for a one-person slide next year - Caroline Wilson," McGuire said. "And I'll put in 10 grand straight away, make it 20. And if she stays under, 50. What do you reckon guys?"
As fellow commentators Danny Frawley and James Brayshaw weighed in enthusiastically, McGuire added: "I reckon we could charge 10 thousand for everyone to stand around the outside and bomb her."
A storm ensued about respect for women, lasting several weeks, even drawing comment from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, while Holden considered its sponsorship of McGuire's club Collingwood, and the AFL Commission and presidents received an address from violence against women advocacy groups. And after a couple of not-very-apologetic apologies, a much more contrite McGuire got it right in the end.
QUOTE OF THE YEAR
"Before I go, I'd like to call up Bob Murphy to the stand. This is yours, mate. You deserve it more than anyone." – Luke Beveridge, 1 October.
There was barely a dry eye left in the house on grand final day when victorious coach Beveridge spontaneously called up to the premiership dais injured captain Murphy, and draped his own Jock McHale Medal around his fallen skipper's neck.
Hoodoo gurus: Luke Beveridge, Easton Wood and Bob Murphy mark the end of the Western Bulldogs' grand final drought. Photo: Scott Barbour
Few grand final moments have been as moving, or as well-received, as was apparent in the thunderous ovation after the gesture.
Murphy a few days later quietly handed back the medal to his coach, but, really, the powerful symbolic gesture was all that mattered.
MATCH OF THE YEAR
There were some outstanding home and away games in 2016 and a gripping finals series to finish off the season, but the pick of 207 AFL games was the penultimate, the Western Bulldogs' preliminary final win over GWS.
This was football at its best, tough, skillful, topsy-turvy and a gripping finale which for sheer tension couldn't be beat. It was the precocious newcomer which appeared to have stolen a winning march early in the last term with a 14-point lead in a relatively low-scoring contest.
See-saw battle: Shane Biggs tries to shake a Shane Mumford tackle during the preliminary final. Photo: Michael Willson/AFL Media
But just as the obituaries for the Bulldogs' brave finals charge were being penned, they rose from the canvas with the next three goals. After a GWS reply, Jack Macrae gave the Dogs a six-point buffer, the last five minutes the ultimate breath-holding exercise.
Jake Stringer's cool-headed centre to Tory Dickson in front of goal sealed the deal, Bulldog fans, Giants fans and a good proportion of even the neutral in tears of relief, despair or pure joy. An epic.
FLOP OF THE YEAR
Another no-contest, Fremantle's demise from 2015 preliminary finalist to a miserable 16th with just four victories for the season unprecedented.
Purple patch: The Fremantle faithful out in support despite their side's horror show in 2016. Photo: Daniel Carson/AFL Media
While many expected the Dockers to slide perhaps a little, no one counted on the extent of their collapse, Freo incredibly losing their first 10 games as keys Nat Fyfe and Aaron Sandilands were lost to injury and other senior types failed to respond to the pressure.
The Dockers flirted with a more attacking style, abandoned after just two games. But by then even their traditional vice-like defensive squeeze on opponents didn't do the trick, either.
Freo's ice-breaker in round 11 was followed by a second and third in succession, but they proceeded to then lose another eight on the trot. For Ross Lyon and his troops, it really was the year from hell.
PREDICTION
We say it a lot, but surely there can never have been a traffic jam of finals contenders like this approaching the 2017 season. Two of the bottom three, Fremantle and Essendon look in good position to bounce back stongly for different reasons, also-rans like Port Adelaide, Collingwood and Richmond are surely capable of far more than they produced in 2016. And there's a couple of obvious emerging contenders in St Kilda and Melbourne.
Good luck trying to work out those pre-season ladders.