The Australian Football League (AFL) stages the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in the country. However, there has not been a league-wide reserves competition since 1987, when the then-Victorian Football League expanded interstate to become the modern Australian Football League, with the AFL reserves competition being shut down at the end of the 1999 season.

Since that time, AFL-listed players who have not been selected in their senior teams are made eligible to play in one of three state leagues: the Victorian Football League (VFL), the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and the West Australian Football League (WAFL). The system used to accommodate AFL-listed players within these leagues varies considerably from state to state. A fourth state league, the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL), was disbanded in 2020.

Clubs that compete in the VFL, SANFL and WAFL (and formerly the NEAFL) without an AFL reserves affiliation are often called standalone clubs. The term is also sometimes used to describe AFL clubs that field their own reserves teams.

Current affiliations For the upcoming 2026 season, the eighteen Australian Football League clubs will have the following Reserves arrangements. Australian Football League club Affiliated/Reserves arrangement Affiliated/Reserves club Affiliated Football League Adelaide Crows Stand-alone reserves team Adelaide Crows SANFL Brisbane Lions Stand-alone reserves team Brisbane Lions VFL Carlton Blues Stand-alone reserves team Carlton Blues VFL Collingwood Magpies Stand-alone reserves team Collingwood Magpies VFL Essendon Bombers Stand-alone reserves team Essendon Bombers VFL Fremantle Dockers Club affiliation Peel Thunder WAFL Geelong Cats Stand-alone reserves team Geelong Cats VFL Gold Coast Suns Stand-alone reserves team Gold Coast Suns VFL Greater Western Sydney Giants Stand-alone reserves team Greater Western Sydney Giants VFL Hawthorn Hawks Club affiliation Box Hill Hawks VFL Melbourne Demons Club affiliation Casey Demons VFL North Melbourne Kangaroos Stand-alone reserves team North Melbourne Kangaroos VFL Port Adelaide Power Stand-alone reserves team Port Adelaide Magpies SANFL Richmond Tigers Stand-alone reserves team Richmond Tigers VFL St Kilda Saints Stand-alone reserves team St Kilda Saints VFL Sydney Swans Stand-alone reserves team Sydney Swans VFL West Coast Eagles Stand-alone reserves team West Coast Eagles WAFL Western Bulldogs Stand-alone reserves team Footscray Bulldogs VFL

Victorian clubs

Dedicated reserves competition (1919–1999) From 1897 to 1981, the Victorian Football League was based solely in the state of Victoria. From 1919 to 1945, it operated two grades of competition (the seniors and Reserves), and from 1946 to 1981, three grades of competition (the seniors, Reserves, and Under-19s).

Local players were primarily recruited via the league's metropolitan and country zoning rules, and the clubs had full ability to develop its players through its Under-19s and Reserves teams: the same basic structure was also used consistently in the other two elite leagues, the SANFL and the WAFL.

Three major factors between 1986 and 1991 led to the end of this traditional arrangement in Victoria: Firstly, the Victorian Football League expanded interstate and became the Australian Football League. Secondly, VFL/AFL proposals for West Coast and Adelaide to participate in the minor grades were rejected by the WAFL and SANFL, while Brisbane (a Queensland-based club) fielded a Reserves team in 1989 to 1992 but did not field an Under-19s team. Thirdly, the inaugural national AFL draft was held in 1986, and the Draft gradually replaced zoning as the primary means of recruitment to the national league; with this, the raison d'etre for the developmental continuity between the Under-19, Reserves and senior grades ceased to exist.

As a result of these issues, the AFL agreed to relinquish direct control of the Victorian Reserves competition to the newly formed Victorian State Football League at the end of the 1991 season - this also saw the AFL cease to be the governing body for football in Victoria after 95 years - with the Under-19s competition and the twelve participating AFL clubs' Under-19s teams being shut down, to be replaced by the TAC Cup which featured six unaffiliated district-based Under-18s clubs.

The change to the Reserves competition was mostly administrative: while it became known as (and was governed by) the VSFL, it was otherwise identical to the 1919-1991 VFL/AFL Reserves, and is considered a direct continuation.

The VFL/AFL Reserves in 1919-1924 were contested by affiliated junior teams, a situation somewhat similar to modern club affiliations, while the VFL/AFL Reserves in 1925-1988 and the VSFL in 1993-1996 were contested by the traditional VFL clubs. At the end of 1996, Fitzroy's AFL playing operations were taken over by the Brisbane Bears, thus reducing the VSFL competition to eleven teams from 1997 until it was shut down at the end of the 1999 season.

While the Sydney Swans continued to participate after the club's relocation from South Melbourne at the end of the 1981 season, and Brisbane participated in 1989-1992, none of the South Australian or Western Australian clubs ever competed.

Amalgamation with the VFL (since 2000)

Following the 1999 season, the VSFL was merged into Victoria's second-tier senior football league, the Victorian Football League, which had been known as the Victorian Football Association until 1995 (with a history dating back to 1877). Such a merger had first been proposed as early as 1980, and a formal attempt to enact the merger for the 1995 season was defeated after strong opposition from the clubs.

Since the merger, the VFL has served as a hybrid second-tier senior competition, and since 2021, a Reserves competition for 11 of the AFL clubs. While the VFL previously had its own Reserves competition, the VFL Development League, none of the eight Victorian AFL clubs who fielded a stand-alone team in the VFL seniors was ever involved in this League before it was shut down at the end of the 2018 season.

Since the merger, there have been four types of club participating in the VFL: VFL/AFL club affiliations: in these cases, an AFL club enters into an agreement with a single VFL club (or, in some former cases, two VFL clubs). Any players listed at the AFL club are permitted to play with the VFL club on weekends when not selected for an AFL game. The VFL club maintains its own, separate playing list, and its weekly team is composed of a mixture of VFL-listed and AFL-listed players. The exact nature of the organisational relationship between the VFL and AFL club varies on a case-by-case basis, with some VFL sides enjoying reasonable autonomy, and others being heavily influenced by their AFL-affiliates. Stand-alone AFL reserves teams: in these cases, the AFL club fields its own team in the VFL. Naturally, the AFL club has complete autonomy over the operation of its VFL team, but because the AFL list of 42 is not sufficient to field two complete teams, the club is required to maintain a separate list of "top-up players" who are eligible only for VFL games. The licence fee for any AFL club fielding a stand-alone reserves team is also much higher than the cost of entering into an affiliation. Stand-alone VFL senior clubs: in these cases, the VFL club has no affiliation with any AFL club. It takes complete responsibility for maintaining its own list of players from outside the AFL. Players spread across all stand-alone VFL clubs: this option, which is similar to arrangements previously made in South Australia and Western Australia, was established from 2021 as an option for AFL clubs seeking cost savings in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Currently, there are no limitations on how many AFL-listed players may play in a VFL team on any given weekend, except during finals, when only players who have played a certain number of VFL games during the season are eligible.

There was previously a rule known as the 12–10 Rule: this stated that in a match between an affiliated VFL team and a stand-alone VFL senior team, the affiliated team could play a maximum of twelve AFL-listed players with ten VFL-listed players: in the event the AFL club had more than twelve non-selected players available, the remaining players would play in the VFL Reserves. This rule was abolished in 2011 after more AFL clubs decided to field stand-alone Reserves teams in the VFL.

Historical VFL/AFL affiliations by AFL club For all clubs in this list, the club fielded a Reserves team in the VFL/AFL Reserves up to 1991, and then in the VSFL from 1992-1999. The Fitzroy Football Club also fielded a reserves team in these competitions, until the club's playing operations were taken over by the Brisbane Bears at the end of 1996.

This list shows all Reserves affiliations and arrangements since 2000:

2000–2002 and 2021-present – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL 2003–2019 – affiliated with the Northern Bullants/Blues The Northern Bullants changed its nickname to Blues in the 2012 season

2000 and 2008-present – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL 2001–2007 – affiliated with the Williamstown Football Club

2000–2002 and 2013–present fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL 2003–2012 – affiliated with the Bendigo Football Club Bendigo changed its name from Diggers to Bombers when the affiliation began in 2003, with the club changing its name the Bendigo Gold in 2012. Bendigo dropped out of the VFL and folded at the end of 2014

2000–present – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL

2000–present – affiliated with the Box Hill Football Club Box Hill changed its nickname from Mustangs to Hawks when the affiliation was established

2000–2008 – affiliated with the Sandringham Football Club 2009–present – affiliated with the Casey Demons The Casey Scorpions changed its nickname to Demons in 2017

North Melbourne 2000–2002 – affiliated with the Murray Kangaroos Football Club, a new team established in joint-venture between the Kangaroos and the Ovens & Murray Football League; Murray Kangaroos dropped out and folded at the end of 2002 2003–2005 – affiliated with the Port Melbourne Football Club 2006–2007 – split-affiliation with the North Ballarat Football Club and the Tasmanian Devils Football Club Tasmania went into recess at the end of 2008 2008–2015 – split-affiliation with the North Ballarat Football Club and the Werribee Football Club North Ballarat went into recess at the end of 2015 2016-2017 – full affiliation with the Werribee Football Club 2018–present – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the VFLhttp://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/north-melbourne/north-melbourne-to-field-standalone-vfl-team-in-2018-after-parting-ways-with-werribee/news-story/8cbc653bd3977b87931d68f21496b64f North Melbourne to field standalone VFL team in 2018 after parting ways with Werribee

2000 and 2014–present – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL 2001–2013 – affiliated with the Coburg Football Club Coburg changed its nickname from Lions to Tigers when the affiliation was established

2000 – fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL 2001–2008 – affiliated with the Springvale and Casey football clubs (Springvale relocated to Casey and became the Casey Scorpions in 2006) 2009–2025 – affiliated with the Sandringham Football Club 2026–present – will field a stand-alone reserves team from 2026 onwards

Western Bulldogs 2000 – split-affiliation with the Werribee Football Club and the Williamstown Football Club 2001–2007 – affiliated with the Werribee Football Club 2008–2013 – affiliated with the Williamstown Football Club 2014–present – fielded a stand-alone reserves team, known as the Footscray Bulldogs, in the VFL

South Australian clubs

Historical arrangement