9 - Setanta O'hAilpin loses it
A February intra-club practice match isn't usually back-page material, but then it isn't every day intra-club matches feature fist fights. Setanta O'hAilpin was the guilty party in this unsavoury stoush at Visy Park, punching Cameron Cloke in the head before kicking his teammate when he hit the ground. O'hAilpin was given a four-week AFL suspension, an indefinite club suspension, a ban from all club activities and an anger management course with the club's sports psychologist. Despite reports he might have made his last appearance for Carlton, he played 12 games for the season.

8 - Fremantle's practical jokers
Fremantle assistant coach Steve Malaxos dropped a bombshell on Perth radio, describing the get-up worn as a practical joke by players Clayton Hinkley and Andrew Foster as "sort of Ku Klux Klan outfits". The club was quickly on the front foot, releasing a picture of the pair in bedsheets and sunglasses that were clearly more Scooby Doo than KKK. CEO Steve Rosich described the incident thus: "Two of our younger players have played a private, non-discriminatory, harmless practical joke on four of their teammates".

7 - Terry leaves Tigerland
Tigers coach Terry Wallace is no stranger to controversy, and this year made headlines for the first four months of the season. In the last season of a five-year, $2.5 million deal, Wallace was in the gun as soon as the Tigers were brutally caned by the Blues in the season opener. An embarrassing loss against Melbourne added fuel to the media's fire, and in May the club was forced to deny reports Wallace had been sacked. The end finally came with the Tigers at 2-8 - just days after Wallace's 500th game as coach.

6 - Melbourne stadium deals
Several Melbourne clubs have long complained about getting a rough deal on stadium revenue, and the issue finally came to a head this year. The MCG was revealed as the worst venue for returns to clubs, and the AFL called on the MCC to strike a fairer deal, while slamming other operators for shortchanging fans.  At the peak of the battle, Victorian clubs threatened to move games interstate. In September, new stadium deals were finally inked with the MCG and Etihad Stadium, giving the clubs an extra $100,000 per game.

5 - Rushed behinds
If not for the bump, the rushed-behind rule might have taken centre stage in the early part of the season, with Saint Sam Fisher believing the crackdown on deliberately rushed behinds would change football. Initially a trial for the NAB Cup, the new rule was adopted for the regular season and, despite the naysayers, it worked a treat. The sight of defenders desperately looking for an avenue to release the goalmouth pressure was a terrific addition to the game.

4 - The bump gets bumped
"The bump is dead - football is ruined" was the cry early in the year when Collingwood skipper Nick Maxwell was pinged for running past the ball to collect Patty McGinnity, breaking the young Eagle's jaw. The Pies' successful appeal of Maxwell's four-week penalty led the AFL to rewrite the rule, meaning Maxwell was likely to be the last to escape punishment for that type of action. Football rolled on, conspicuously unruined, but the issue flared again in August, when Buddy Franklin was suspended for knocking out Ben Cousins. The Hawks lost their appeal, which didn't please everybody.

3 - Chickengate
A little-watched video depicting Boris the Chicken came back to bite the Kangaroos, when the clip - filmed by players and depicting various sex acts - was published on Facebook and leaked to a Melbourne newspaper. The incident exploded, dominating the Melbourne football scene for days. The video was condemned by the AFL, among others, and the Roos held two media conferences on the same day - the second one featuring the club's entire list. Eventually the (ir)responsible senior players Adam Simpson and Daniel Pratt were each fined $5000, despite the Roos initially saying they would educate rather than punish those involved.

2 - Snipergate
Essendon and Hawthorn have never played well together - think 'line in the sand' game - and the furore that followed this round 22 clash was no different. Matthew Lloyd cleaned up Brad Sewell, leading Hawthorn hard man Campbell Brown to accuse Lloyd of being "one of the biggest snipers in the game" and vowing revenge. Hawk coach Alastair Clarkson picked up a suspended $5000 fine after the AFL ruled that he acted in a threatening or aggressive manner towards Lloyd as the pair left the field. For good measure, Clarkson also gave family friend Jobe Watson a huge spray.

1 - Chris Judd: martial arts master
In one of the strangest episodes in an often strange year, squeaky clean Blues skipper Chris Judd found himself in a storm entirely of his own making. The Brownlow medallist and captain of two clubs was offered a couple of weeks' suspension for fishing around the face of Michael Rischitelli in Carlton's losing final at the Gabba. Accused of eye gouging -a charge he'd beaten as an Eagle in 2007 after Hawk Campbell Brown lied to the tribunal - Judd faced the media after a night's partying in Brisbane. Rather than eye-gouging, Judd explained he was merely looking for "pressure points" in an attempt to incapacitate Rischitelli. At the tribunal, Judd tried to dismiss the explanation as a poorly-timed joke. It didn't wash, and he will miss the first three rounds of the 2010 season.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.