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AFL steps up vigilance towards disordered eating
Sam Edmund • March 24th, 2026 1:48 pm
The AFL has stepped up its vigilance towards disordered eating, with club visits and accreditation modules reinforcing the seriousness of the issue.
Two years after it removed player weights from the AFL Season Guide and AFL Record, the league continues to police club attitudes towards weight and body image – in the men’s game as much as the women’s.
The annual AFL education modules completed by players, coaches and staff now carries direct references to – and questions around – body shaming and eating disorders.
Further, multiple clubs have confirmed they were recently visited by an AFL mental health and wellbeing delegation seeking to highlight the danger of disordered eating.
The group discussed how information relating to weight and body shape could be used by coaches and staff and the concerns about sharing specific details in a wider forum such as a football club.
Clubs spoken to by SEN.com.au said there had been a bigger focus on this issue this year from the AFL.
Heads of football this morning stated the days of so-called “fat camps”, skinfold testing and target weights were long gone.
The message to clubs is that they simply can’t be as overt as they used to be in this space and that there can be no publicising of data relating to body shape around the club.
The AFL set up a working group within its mental health and wellbeing unit three years ago to formalise a new approach to the issue.
