The 2026 Season Refresh: Every Boot, Every Player, Updated

Pre-season is where hope springs eternal - every club is a premiership chance, every draftee is a future Hall of Famer, and every player has a shiny new pair of boots to break in. Here at What's Worn, our version of pre-season training has just wrapped up too: the entire What's Worn database has been rebuilt for the 2026 season.

What's New for 2026

Every single squad list has been re-scraped, re-checked, and re-paired with the boots each player is wearing this year. That means:

• 1,390 players across the AFL and AFLW - from household names to the rookie you'll be claiming you "always rated" by round six.
• New draftees added - Kalani White, Sid Draper, Jagga Smith and the rest of the class of 2026 all have profiles, so you can know what boots they wear before their clubs know their best position.
• Trades and moves corrected - Oscar Allen in Brisbane colours, Charlie Curnow in Sydney red and white, Christian Petracca on the Gold Coast. The football landscape looks different this year, and so does our database.
• Retired players removed - with respect. Rory Sloane, Joe Daniher, Todd Goldstein and friends have hung up the boots, so we've hung up their listings.
• AFLW fully covered - all 18 squads, because the best boots in the game aren't worn exclusively by the men's competition.

The Boots Have Had an Upgrade Too

The 2026 boot lineup is a genuinely exciting crop, and it's all in the database:

• Adidas brought the Copa Pure 4 Elite, the lightning-quick F50 Elite, and the ever-popular Predator Elite.
• Asics doubled down on their footy dominance with the Lethal Testimonial 4, the Lethal Blend FF, and the Lethal Tigreor IT FF 4.
• Nike rolled out the Phantom 6 Low Elite alongside the Mercurial Vapor 16.
• Puma, Mizuno, New Balance and Concave are all represented too - the King 20 Ultimate is proof that classics never die.

Each product page includes our rating, the features that matter, and a direct link if you want to try them yourself.

Why Bother Updating All This?

Because "what boots does [insert your favourite player here] wear?" is only a good answer if it's the right answer. Boot lineups change every season - players switch brands, models get superseded, and last year's data goes stale fast.

So whether you're researching your next pair, settling a bet, or just killing time before the bounce, the 2026 database is ready.

Here's to a big season of football - and even bigger season of very specific footwear trivia.