| 1996 AFL premiership season | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 16 |
| Premiers | North Melbourne 3rd premiership |
| Minor premiers | Sydney 7th minor premiership |
| Pre-season cup | St Kilda 1st pre-season cup win |
| Brownlow Medallist | James Hird (Essendon) Michael Voss (Brisbane Bears) |
| Coleman Medallist | Tony Lockett (Sydney) |
| Attendance | |
| Matches played | 185 |
| Total attendance | 5,694,921 (30,783 per match) |
| Highest | 93,102 (Grand Final, North Melbourne vs. Sydney) |
The 1996 AFL season was the 100th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixteen clubs and ran from 29 March until 28 September. It comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top eight clubs, as well as several celebrations of the league's centenary.
The premiership was won by the North Melbourne Football Club for the third time, after it defeated Sydney by 43 points in the 1996 AFL Grand Final.