AFL Premiership 2006 is a big improvement on previous releases with a few different changes to the gameplay.
The gamplay has been significantly improved, although there are still a few little things that need to be rectified. I'm not really a fan of any of the camera angles, but I suppose it's hard to produce one for such a quick game like AFL. The shot at goal system has been overhauled and a new one has been introduced, which makes it harder to get goals, which I think is a good thing. I remember kicking 90 goals 13 in one of the previous games, which is ridiculous for that amount of scoring shots. This has also been changed for the computer, so that they don't score a goal every time they shoot for goal, like in previous releases. In my first game my opponent scoring 5 goals 13. The new shot on goal system is fairly simple, where the ball moves from side to side and you have to stop it between the middle two lines (goal posts) to score a goal. On occasions it can get annoying when you are running into goal, you have to wait for the ball to move between the correct lines, which can cause to be tackled, but I suppose it provides a challenge.
I'm also glad to say that the individual player stats are back, which for some reason went missing in the 2005 game.
The introduction of the Player Development system provides a more realistic Career Mode. It's great because it allows you to gain Experience Points for certain things you do throughout the season and then use them to add points to each players individual statistics. This lets your younger players improve and become better in certain areas.
IR Gurus have also improved the Trade system, which was quite ridiculous in the 2005 release. You now cannot trade your crap players for stars from other clubs. It will only let you trade players for similar ranked players. Two problems I came across with the system though, which is pretty indirect, is that when you have completed your first season and start your second, you find that too many great players, who in reality would probably never change clubs, have moved around to other teams. Also I think that the database for the new draftees (National Draft) all have names from current players. For example Aaron Riewoldt, Michael Roberts-Thompson. I think they need to fix the name database. That's only a minor thing though.
The only other problem I find (it might just be me), but I can't ever seem to direct my taps. No matter where I aim nearly every time it automatically hits the ball to their player, even when I win the tap.
Overall, I think that they have a few different things to fix, but is a major improvement on the previous releases. They are finally getting on the right track and it is always going to be hard to perfect a game based on our unique sport.