AFL Jersey Sizing & Fit Guide: How to Get Team Measurements Right

Getting AFL jersey sizing wrong is one of the most common — and most expensive — mistakes club committees make when placing a team order. A guernsey that’s too tight restricts a player’s kicking and marking motion; one that’s too loose flaps around during a tackle and looks sloppy on club day. Multiply that across a squad of 25–40 players spanning juniors through to seniors, and a few centimetres of guesswork can turn into a costly reorder. This guide walks club coordinators through exactly how AFL sizing works, how to measure your players correctly, and how to avoid the mistakes that lead to mid-season resizing headaches.

What is AFL jersey sizing? AFL jersey sizing (sometimes called guernsey or jumper sizing) is the process of matching each player’s chest, body length and shoulder measurements to a manufacturer’s size chart — typically ranging from junior size 6 through to adult 5XL — so the finished garment allows full range of motion during a match while keeping club colours, numbers and sponsor branding within the design rules set out in the official AFL Regulations.

Junior vs Senior AFL Sizing: What’s Different

Junior and senior AFL sizing use completely different scales, and mixing them up is where most ordering errors start. Junior training shirts and singlets are generally sized 6 through 14, with chest measurements moving in roughly 2cm increments (for example, a size 8 junior singlet sits around 43cm chest, rising to about 49cm at size 14). Senior guernseys switch to an S–4XL (and beyond) scale measured as half-chest — so a size Small typically sits around 46.5cm half-chest and 76cm in length, scaling up to 66cm half-chest at 4XL. Because junior and senior charts aren’t simply “the same but smaller,” always size against the specific chart your guernsey supplier provides rather than converting from another brand’s numbers.

How to Measure Your Players for a Correct Fit

The most reliable AFL sizing process is individual measurement, not guessing by age or shirt size from last season. Work through these steps with each player before you place your club order:

1. Measure the chest (or half-chest). Wrap the tape under the arms, across the fullest part of the chest and around the shoulder blades. Keep the tape horizontal and snug, not tight.
2. Measure garment length. Measure from the top of the shoulder straight down to where the player wants the hem to sit — juniors often prefer a slightly longer length to allow for growth.
3. Check shoulder width for larger sizes. This matters most for adult 2XL and above, where chest measurement alone can under-represent shoulder fit.
4. Record every player’s numbers individually. Log measurements against names, not guessed ages or “usual” sizes — this is the single biggest source of sizing errors in club orders.
5. When a player sits between two sizes, size up. This is especially important for juniors who are likely to grow before the guernsey is retired, and gives enough room for a training layer underneath in cooler months.

Common AFL Sizing Mistakes Clubs Make

Most resizing requests trace back to a handful of avoidable errors:

• Ordering by age instead of measurement. Kids of the same age can vary by several centimetres in chest size — always measure, don’t assume.
• Ignoring mid-season growth. Junior squads especially can outgrow a guernsey ordered in pre-season by round 10.
• Assuming size charts are universal. A Medium from one supplier is not guaranteed to match a Medium from another — always check the chart attached to your specific order.
• Sizing training kit the same as matchday guernseys. Training shirts are often cut looser; treat them as a separate sizing pass rather than copying matchday numbers across.
• Leaving sizing until the last minute. Production and decoration take time once an order is confirmed, so measurements collected in a rush tend to be the least accurate — build a sizing window into your pre-season timeline rather than treating it as a same-week task.

Sizing a Whole Club, Not Just One Player

Individual measurement only works if it’s coordinated at the club level — one size sheet, one deadline, one point of contact collecting numbers from every team manager. This is exactly the process we walk through in Ordering Custom Teamwear for Your Club: A Committee’s Guide to Sizing, Budgets & Timelines, which covers how to run a club-wide sizing collection without chasing individual parents and players for weeks.

What If Sizes Change Mid-Season?

Even with careful measuring, growth spurts and squad changes happen. A junior who measured a size 10 in pre-season can easily need a 12 by finals, and new player registrations mid-season mean your original size run rarely covers everyone by the end of the year. Rather than placing a rushed one-off order at full price, it’s worth understanding your options for topping up or replacing individual sizes without disrupting your matchday kit or blowing out your uniform budget — we cover this in our upcoming guide, Reordering & Resizing: Managing Multi-Season Club Kit Without the Headaches.

Get Your AFL Kit Sized Right

A correct measurement process at the start of the season saves your club time, budget and the awkwardness of a guernsey that doesn’t fit on grand final day. If you’re ready to size your squad, browse our custom AFL uniform range and our team will help you get every player’s measurements matched to the right fit before you order.