The premiership was won by the Geelong Football Club for the eighth time, after it defeated St Kilda by twelve points in the 2009 AFL Grand Final.

Richmond, the only club to show interest in recruiting Cousins, had one selection in the pre-season draft (because it had only one space left on its senior list).

In the week leading up to the pre-season draft, Richmond requested to have Graham Polak (who had been hit by a tram the previous season, with it not clear at this stage whether or not the resulting injuries would end his career) moved to the rookie list, to free up an additional list space and give them a second selection in the pre-season draft.

The request was similar to one made by and granted to the Essendon Football Club a few years earlier with respect to Adam Ramanauskas, but there were key differences which led to Richmond's request being rejected by the AFL and a majority of rival clubs on 15 December.

Two rule changes were introduced into the regular season[48] Umpires were also encouraged to recall a centre bounce if it is offline, throwing it up the second time.