News ‘Would be unreal’: AFL to consult clubs over addition of ‘wildcard round’ to finals

[Notsoyabby]

Just watched the sell on 360.

In my opinion it deflates the excitement of a team needing to win in round 24 (or the last round) and how other results could affect its fate.

You could still loose (or play dead) and then still have the opportunity to contest against a team that busted its guts to get into the final eight.

It is unjust but hey, the AFL have demonstrated over a long period of time that fixing unjust in the competition is not their priority. Money (and long hair, open neck executives) is!!

 

[Foxx]

But what if 9th is a game and percentage (or worse) outside the 8?
That's not fair to the 8th position side going in.

 

[FRUMPY]

'consult the clubs' - in other words, it will go ahead at some point

Will mean more money into the game - clubs or players arent going to say no to more money

 

[Randall Stevens]

'consult the clubs' - in other words, it will go ahead at some point

Will mean more money into the game - clubs or players arent going to say no to more money

Exactly!
Consultation AFL style - "Hey clubs, would you like an extra $2-3m each per year from broadcast rights and the chance to play finals more often?"

 

[Cleavy]

But what if 9th is a game and percentage (or worse) outside the 8?
That's not fair to the 8th position side going in.

Hahaha “fairness”. As if the AFL care about that.

 

[L_W_P]

Everyone plays everyone twice.

Final ladder position used to seed an 18 team KO tournament (20 once Tassie & Team20 are in)

Last two teams standing play in a best of 7 GF series with games to be held at the following venues - India, China, Non MCG Ground, MCG x4 - This way the Grand Final can be sold around the world but the deciding game will always be at the MCG.

Think of the broadcasting revenue!!

 

[Randall Stevens]

As other have said, this is not a 'wildcard' system but a proposal for a final ten.
No matter how the AFL dress it up or what they call the extra games, the questions is do you want a final ten to replace the existing final eight?
Personally I believe that playing finals after finishing tenth would further diminish the already minimal achievement of playing finals from seventh or eighth.
However, if Hawthorn finished tenth and was playing a final in Melbourne I would be there, just as I will be there when we play Fremantle in a meaningless Round 24 game this year.
I guess that makes me a hypocrite, but the point is that while in principle I think it is an unmerited reward for very mediocre teams driven purely by money, once it inevitably comes in I will go to any Hawthorn game I can. And because the AFL know most fans are the same way, they will make the change, wear the flak for the first year and count their money.

 

[FRUMPY]

As other have said, this is not a 'wildcard' system but a proposal for a final ten.
No matter how the AFL dress it up or what they call the extra games, the questions is do you want a final ten to replace the existing final eight?
Personally I believe that playing finals after finishing tenth would further diminish the already minimal achievement of playing finals from seventh or eighth.
However, if Hawthorn finished tenth and was playing a final in Melbourne I would be there, just as I will be there when we play Fremantle in a meaningless Round 24 game this year.
I guess that makes me a hypocrite, but the point is that while in principle I think it is an unmerited reward for very mediocre teams driven purely by money, once it inevitably comes in I will go to any Hawthorn game I can. And because the AFL know most fans are the same way, they will make the change, wear the flak for the first year and count their money.

And that is why the AFL can do what they do - people still keep turning up no matter what changes they make

(not having a dig, id go to a carlton final if we finished 10th)

 

[Foxx]

As other have said, this is not a 'wildcard' system but a proposal for a final ten.
No matter how the AFL dress it up or what they call the extra games, the questions is do you want a final ten to replace the existing final eight?
Personally I believe that playing finals after finishing tenth would further diminish the already minimal achievement of playing finals from seventh or eighth.
However, if Hawthorn finished tenth and was playing a final in Melbourne I would be there, just as I will be there when we play Fremantle in a meaningless Round 24 game this year.
I guess that makes me a hypocrite, but the point is that while in principle I think it is an unmerited reward for very mediocre teams driven purely by money, once it inevitably comes in I will go to any Hawthorn game I can. And because the AFL know most fans are the same way, they will make the change, wear the flak for the first year and count their money.

Becomes a participation award then.

 

[RichLeMonde]

Like a lot of fans, I’ve been vaguely dissatisfied with the AFL for a while.

But it was something I could never quite put my finger on. An itch I couldn’t localise. A splinter in my mind.

Until now.

Now I realise what I have been yearning for is the chance to watch the team that finishes 10th play in a final.

Gil, let this be the ultimate finishing touch of your glorious reign

 

[Billy ray]

I’ve read all 8 pages and keep reading this word ‘finals’ and games in September- what is this sorcery all about?

 

[Blue1980]

For the fiftieth fuggin time this is not what a wildcard round is, it's just a final ten FFS.

To be a genuine wildcard it should be 2 sides selected at random from outside the top 8.


Just for peak stupid.

 

[Blue1980]

Were the 9th placed Blues mediocre last year? 12 wins 10 losses with a percentage of 108.3%. Not sure they were any more mediocre than the 8th placed finals participating Bulldogs with 12 wins 10 losses and a percentage of 108.9%.

But you have to draw the line somewhere. You could have a narrow difference between 10th/11th too.

If they really want to do it, at least wait until the tassie side is in.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Somebody is now telling me there will be a mid-season tournament to determine the wildcard matchups later in the year.

 

[kickazz]

The dumb justifications just keep coming too.

To paraphrase Tim Watson said on SEN: with the inequities in the fixture, this could be the difference for a team that finishes ninth or tenth in overcoming an unfairly difficult fixture.

What drivel - extending to a final ten has the same effect on all teams - indeed, those with an easy fixture will now have it even easier to get into the finals.

 

[apollo_creed]

I think it would be pretty fun/exciting to watch. It's gimicky though, if you're good enough to finish in the top 8 over a full season you shouldn't have to play a non finalist to confirm your spot.

Draws aren’t equitable though so the 10th team might be better than the 8th team for instance.

 

[UnitedWarrior93]

Gives " made the eight" more uncertainty.
If you finish as high as 7th why should you have to play off for your finals spot to a team that finished as low as10th?

Yeah it’s a s**t idea. If you aren’t in the top 8 come end of the H&A season, tough luck!

 

[kickazz]

Draws aren’t equitable though so the 10th team might be better than the 8th team for instance.

What?

No s**t. But in the long run, teams finishing tenth are worse than teams finishing eighth.

Extending the finals to ten will more often than not reward mediocrity and below average performance, than it would give a team with a tough draw a chance they wouldn't have earned if their draw was a bit harder.

If you look at the data, fixture difficulty is a poor predictor of season success. Good teams have overcome 'hard' fixtures time and again.

 

[Blue1980]

I'd prefer to see the bottom 4 fight it out for the first pick.

Squid game style

 

[kickazz]

If you want to use wildcards to ameliorate the unfair fixture, then the real way of doing it, which I would support, is to have conferences whereby there is more than one 'ladder' and you are only compared with teams in your conference (who all have essentially the same fixture). The best n teams from each conference go into the finals, with the rest made up of wildcards based on absolute performance compared to all conferences.

It would likely be clunky but that is what a wildcard system actually is, and it would address the unfair fixture issue somewhat.

 

[Milanista28]

All you people getting mad about this make me laugh, the stadiums would sell out for some of these games, that's why they'd seriously consider this.

 

[Danw0w]

I think the old final 4 system was better.

Yeah I agree, but I think 8 is the right amount of teams in an 18+ team comp

 

[kickthething]

Will see first hand how it works with this years VFL comp.

The positive from it for me is it plays a role in equalizing the H and A draw in a small way. If you play heavy weights twice for example and lose and finish 9th lets say, it gives you some leverage at least compared to a side who plays a lower team(west coast/north as this years example) twice and wins both and squeaks into 7 or 8.

Not sure if I articulated that as well as I could, but hopefully someone gets my drift.

 

[Sprout]

No. Just no.

 

[bloodsbigot]

Yeah I agree, but I think 8 is the right amount of teams in an 18+ team comp

I always thought when there were 16 teams that half the competition got to play finals was stupid. So yes, once we get to 20 teams, 8 teams making finals seems slightly better. If we got more than half the competition competing for finals with an 18 team competition, it just throws fair play out the window. Why even bother playing a 22 game regular season?