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

[Madas]

Understood, I have edited my comment and remove the parts that may have offended you.

Was just having a laugh really but it does raise the point of a potentially non competitive grand final such as we witnessed last year which none of us want to see .

I think the current system really grinds it out and only the cream rises to the top and most teams end up where they should be when taking into account development, injuries, fixturing etc .
Top 8 , top 10 …. Doesn’t really matter

 

[Libbaaaa]

It really hasn't had any impact in the NBA yet all we will hear is how 'great' and 'fantastic' it has been.

 

[Beerfish]

Only if it's a multiball round too.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

It really hasn't had any impact in the NBA yet all we will hear is how 'great' and 'fantastic' it has been.

Miami made a final after winning a play in.
But it is still a trash idea

 

[Osho]

The AFL will on Tuesday ask the 18 club chief executives whether it supports the introduction of a wildcard round, expanding the finals series.
The Herald Sun’s Jon Ralph reported CEO-elect Andrew Dillon would speak to the club bosses during a wide-ranging meeting at Werribee Mansion across Tuesday and Wednesday.
Following the success of Gather Round, the AFL wants to consider more innovative fixture ideas which could include allowing more teams into the finals series.
Using the pre-finals bye weekend the AFL could hold two ‘wildcard’ finals, between 7th and 10th as well as 8th and 9th, forcing those teams to win their way into the traditional final eight.
Technically these would not be ‘wildcard’ teams, as that usually refers to non-traditional qualifying teams - such as non-division winners in the NFL - but just extra finalists.
Either way the addition would give the teams who finish fifth and sixth an extra advantage, as they along with the top four would enjoy the pre-finals bye.

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

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

www.foxsports.com.au

So effectively a Top Finals 10, the bottom 4 of which misses that week off.

Wild Card makes it sound sexier than it is.

 

[Osho]

Why stop at 10? Get all 18 sides involved in September. How romantic would it be if 18th won a premiership?

ROAR!
Though, it may have been seriously considered!

 

[Coasters7]

It really hasn't had any impact in the NBA yet all we will hear is how 'great' and 'fantastic' it has been.

Yeah it just rewards mediocrity and much like the NBA it’s just to get more of the big market sides playing to potentially get more big matchups happening under the title “finals”, which will no doubt draw huge crowds.

It’ll be a “success” in that it’ll no doubt get support once it’s implemented because fans naturally want to see their side stay alive as long as possible, and no doubt some Vic side like the Blues will go on a deep run from 10th with some favourable venue matchups to justify it.

But it won’t be good for the competition. In the NBA you go straight into a 7 game series after the play in, in which it’ll be clear who the better side is, so it’s still more viable than this. In our format you only need to be the better side on the day to advance, leaving it open for a side to go on a tear in the sprint after not being consistently good enough in the marathon.

In a 20 team comp I wouldn’t be as opposed to an actual wildcard from a 9th team playing against 8th that rewarded scoring or, like others have said, rewarding form against the top sides. But even then you’re still rewarding failure to get the job done when it mattered.

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

Let's just start the finals in April with all 18 teams.

It's a shit competition when you can have teams with losing records qualify for finals football. There will come a day where a team with a 9-13 or 10-12 record flukes its way to a premiership.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[falcons2]

If it's going to be wilcard, make it wildcard.
Top 6 qualify.
From the remaining 12 sides, the 4 teams with the best records against the top 6 play the wildcard,

or 4 teams with the best away game's records
or with best home games record
or a ladder based on the first time you play the other 17 clubs
or the last time you play the other 17 clubs.

Just 9th and 10th is an extended finals

 

[PenfoldsFan]

Just do away with finals altogether and move to a genuine H&A season where everyone plays everyone twice and award the team that finishes top.
Already a 29 week season with finals and byes, extend it to 35, start mid Feb, finish mid Oct, 1 bye mid season.

If youre good enough to come out on top in a balanced season you should be considered the best, not have a team scrape in to the 8 after playing North, WC and GC twice and win the GF after a 4 week purple patch.

 

[Whiskers]

I can see it now. We finish 8th, 2 games and % ahead of Richmond in 9th.
Let’s give Richmond a chance, not only do they not deserve to play finals but they will get it at their home ground with all their fans aswell.

Or even more extravagant Tigers 10th play saints 7th at the MCG where saints never play. This in front of 80k tiger fans.
Tigers win and play 5th placed cats coming off the dreaded ‘bye’ again on the tigers home ground coz ‘more fans’

 

[FakeTaxi]

I wish bigfooty was around during the expansion from a final 4.. to a final 5.. to a final 6.. to a final 8.

Let's just start the finals in April with all 18 teams.

It's a s**t competition when you can have teams with losing records qualify for finals football. There will come a day where a team with a 9-13 or 10-12 record flukes its way to a premiership.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

How would a team "fluke" multiple finals win to a grand final win.

Sounds like when the AFL compromised the draft over several years allowing a team to fluke a 3 peat

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

Sounds like when the AFL compromised the draft over several years allowing a team to fluke a 3 peat

How many priority picks did Hawthorn get exactly and who were they? And how did they fluke a 3'peat off the back of those picks? How did Hawthorn benefit from "compromised drafts" exactly?

I'll wait.

 

[LordLucifer]

Why stop at 10? Get all 18 sides involved in September. How romantic would it be if 18th won a premiership?

17 rounds, each team plays each other once to determine ladder positions.

After that, it's ongoing knockout rounds, 1V18, 2V17, 3V16, 4V15 etc.

The two lowest ranked losers get eliminated each week.

The ladder keeps getting adjusted on a weekly basis to determine who plays who.

Eventually the final two teams are in the GF.

 

[PieLebo87]

17 rounds, each team plays each other once to determine ladder positions.

After that, it's ongoing knockout rounds, 1V18, 2V17, 3V16, 4V15 etc.

The two lowest ranked losers get eliminated each week.

The ladder keeps getting adjusted on a weekly basis to determine who plays who.

Eventually the final two teams are in the GF.

This is actually awesome lol maybe they can incorporate it in the summer months and make more money there. Not beyond them!

 

[JackFlash]

Good grief, it makes you wonder why they have a H&A season at all.

 

[JackOutback]

My instinct is to say no, that it rewards mediocrity and that finals should be difficult to make. But, as long as the AFL fixture isn't even, the possibility exists that a better team sits at ninth than seventh, so maybe there's some merit to it.

 

[SC_Power]

Let's just start the finals in April with all 18 teams.

It's a s**t competition when you can have teams with losing records qualify for finals football. There will come a day where a team with a 9-13 or 10-12 record flukes its way to a premiership.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Now there's a thought.

A dynamic finals system based on finishing with a positive record (>100% if 11W 11D)

Some years you would have 10 teams qualifying, some years maybe 7 or even 6?

 

[Bunk Moreland]

We already have it - it’s called the elimination finals.

 

[Northernsoul74]

The AFL will on Tuesday ask the 18 club chief executives whether it supports the introduction of a wildcard round, expanding the finals series.
The Herald Sun’s Jon Ralph reported CEO-elect Andrew Dillon would speak to the club bosses during a wide-ranging meeting at Werribee Mansion across Tuesday and Wednesday.
Following the success of Gather Round, the AFL wants to consider more innovative fixture ideas which could include allowing more teams into the finals series.
Using the pre-finals bye weekend the AFL could hold two ‘wildcard’ finals, between 7th and 10th as well as 8th and 9th, forcing those teams to win their way into the traditional final eight.
Technically these would not be ‘wildcard’ teams, as that usually refers to non-traditional qualifying teams - such as non-division winners in the NFL - but just extra finalists.
Either way the addition would give the teams who finish fifth and sixth an extra advantage, as they along with the top four would enjoy the pre-finals bye.

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

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

www.foxsports.com.au

Why don’t we just give every team a flag/medals for taking part and scrap finals altogether.

 

[PhilX]

To this day the best finals system that has ever existed in Australia was the NRL’s top 5. And they didn’t even have a draft to interest the fans of sides no chance of making it. I think from memory there were 14 teams in the comp. Crowds were generally big by rugby league standards, tv ratings were great and the quality of finals football was excellent.

More doesn’t equal better

What made it better than the McIntyre Final Five?

 

[PhatBoy]

What made it better than the McIntyre Final Five?

It may have been the same system for all I know - I’ve followed both codes for the same length of time but I was more fanatic about NRL as a kid so the old ‘4-5 elimination final, 2-3 final, 1 gets the first week off’ system was perfect. I wouldn’t know when the afl implemented what system. What I do know is that league peaked in popularity around this time and that every finals series generally was a very good contest

 

[kaiserchief13]

More games is good for fans but finishing 10th don't think you deserve to make finals

 

[Iago]

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

 

[PhilX]

It may have been the same system for all I know - I’ve followed both codes for the same length of time but I was more fanatic about NRL as a kid so the old ‘4-5 elimination final, 2-3 final, 1 gets the first week off’ system was perfect. I wouldn’t know when the afl implemented what system. What I do know is that league peaked in popularity around this time and that every finals series generally was a very good contest

Sounds like it probably is the McIntyre Final Five, then. And I agree it was excellent. Among other things, it required you to beat everyone above you to win a Grand Final.

When we have more than 20 teams in the comp, I wouldn't be too unhappy with a final ten that uses two groups of five teams (odds and evens) that each play a McIntyre Final Five, with the two remaining teams at the nd facing off in the Grand Final.