NEW - CROWDS and CHEERSQUADS
Crowds are now made of individual supporters instead of coloured dots, with their own skin tones, hair and shirts
Cheer squads set up behind each goal with waving flags
Crowds grow for finals and are biggest of all for the Grand Final
Crowd detail setting: turn on or off
NEW : NATIONAL ANTHEM for finals
Finals and Grand Finals now open with the Aussie national anthem
IMPROVED - PLAYER VISUALS
All fifteen hairstyles now look genuinely different — mullets, afros, long hair and man-buns have their own shapes
Shading added to hair, faces, guernseys and shorts so players look rounded rather than flat
Players now have a dark outline, so they stand out against any grass colour
Boots toned down and given soles; legs no longer merge into the shorts and socks on same-coloured kits
Umpires' legs now move when they run
NEW and IMPROVED - STADIUM VISUALS
Night games now look like night games, including player shadows and lighting from towers
Advertising boards now ring the boundary fence
Every ground has its own scoreboard, combining the score, the quarter, live vision and the ground name in one structure
The turf now wears through a match — stud marks where players run and divots where tackles and collisions happen
The ball spins more naturally — a good kick drills through cleanly, a scrappy one tumbles end over end
Players get muddy in the wet, worst on the legs and building up over a match
The run-through banner now tears into strips that flap and fall.
Supporters line up either side of each run-through banner, in club colours with flags, cheering the players on
Radar player dots are clearer - especially for darker coloured teams. Radar ball is now a ball
BUG FIX
Improved Handballing to reduce dropping short of their target
Controls no longer stick when you alt-tab or open the Steam overlay (was causing your player to run off in one direction or disposed of the ball on its own. All held input is now released when the window loses focus or a controller disconnects.)
Home and away games are now spread evenly through a generated fixture
Players laid out on the ground keep their hairstyle
Players' legs no longer freeze when moving without running, such as backing off the mark
The join line behind each goal, where the stands meet, is gone
Watching games you can now control zoom
Fixed a free kick being awarded over and over after the ball hit the point post on the full, with the post sound repeating each time
Grand Finals are always played in daylight