When did the AFL make these two changes?

Living in the US (and not having cable) it's next to impossible to watch Australian Rules Football, but I got my new HDTV last week and found a local channel broadcasting it that I couldn't get with my old TV. So after 25 years of not seeing it, I'm finally able to watch again. When did the referees (sorry don't know what you call them, the ones who signal when a team scores) ditch the white hats and jackets? Also didn't they used to do a Ball Up by bouncing the ball on the ground? That's how I remembered it, but maybe over the course of a quarter of a century I imagined that, I don't know. You still have an awesome sport, it's one of my sport fantasies in life to go to see a match in Australia some day (preferably my favorite team Essendon, how are they these days???)