contest. The concept of prior opportunity as it applied to holding the ball was formally defined for the first time as part of a copyedit of the rule. The only change to the intent of the rule was that a ruckman who takes direct possession of the ball in a ruck contest was no longer considered to have had prior opportunity – removing a provision which had existed since 2003. Pre-season AFLX The AFL confirmed in December 2018 that the modified version of the sport, known as AFLX, would return in the 2019 pre-season. Unlike the 2018 competition, no AFL clubs took part in the event, with four all-star teams being picked by four high-profile players: Patrick Dangerfield (captain of the Bolts), Eddie Betts (Deadlys), Nat Fyfe (Flyers) and Jack Riewoldt (Rampage). The tournament occurred at Marvel Stadium, Melbourne on 22 February 2019 and was won by the Rampage. JLT Community Series The pre-season series of games returned as the 2019 JLT Community Series, with teams playing two games each. The games were stand-alone, with no overall winner of the series. Each team played two games, many at suburban or regional venues, while all games were televised on Fox Footy. Premiership season Notable features of the draw included: replacing in hosting in Shanghai. Tony Ireland Stadium in Townsville hosted an AFL premiership match for the first time, when played in round 13. The fixture replaced the game held in Cairns between 2011 and 2018. hosted for the Queen's Birthday match for the first time since 1999. 2019 marked the first year of games being broadcast in 4K resolution, with a total of 46 ultra-high-definition games being shown on Foxtel. Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Round 7 Round 8 Round 9 Round 10 Round 11 Round 12 Round 13 Round 14 Round 15 Round 16 Round 17 Round 18 Round 19 Round 20 Round 21 Round 22 Round 23 Win/loss table Bold – Home game X – Bye Opponent for round listed above margin Ladder Ladder progression Numbers highlighted in green indicates the team finished the round inside the top 8. Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished in first place on the ladder in that round. Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round. Underlined numbers indicates the team had a bye during