The Footscray Football Club changed its name to the Western Bulldogs.
With these changes, the league's size remained at sixteen clubs.
The premiership was won by the Adelaide Football Club for the first time, after it defeated St Kilda by 31 points in the 1997 AFL Grand Final.
Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points forAverage score: 90.3Source: AFL Tables The Adelaide versus Geelong semi final was notable due to an incident in the third quarter, when a clear forward 50 mark to Geelong's Leigh Colbert was not awarded by field umpire Grant Vernon, denying Geelong a crucial shot at goal.
This incident was later confirmed as a significant error by the AFL umpiring association, and Grant Vernon was not selected to umpire in any remaining 1997 finals matches as a result.