Scoring

Like many other codes of football, the way to score points is to score goals. In Australian Rules Football, there are two types of scores: a goal, or a behind.

There are four goal posts at each end of the ground. The area between the middle (and taller) posts is the goal: kicking the ball between these posts constitute six points. A behind (a single point) is scored by:

• kicking the ball through the gaps in between the two shorter posts
• passing a ball that through the taller posts in any manner other than a kick (handpassed or run through)
• any player touching a ball after it is kicked and before it passes through the taller posts
• kicking a ball over the line by a defending player
• kicking a ball that strikes one of the inner posts (whether it goes through or not)

A typical score might read:

Sydney Swans 17.10 (112) def. Brisbane Lions 13.17 (95)

The first number is the number of goals (six points) scored, the second number is the number of behinds (one point) scored, and the third number in the brackets is the total score.