First wildcard casualty?

[Scotland]

They've had an unnatural hatred of us ever since that final. I reckon they only hate Adelaide more. Gov after the siren in 2018 was legendary lols.

Shuey bullshit free kick after the siren goal. W in ET2.
Gov mark then mung floater after the siren goal. W after not leading all game.

That's gotta sting.

 

[Freomaniac]

Am I wrong though? After last year's Gold Coast debacle, your fan base is frothing for some semblance of success. Finishing 7th/8th and losing another home final to a wildcard team? I can see Fremantle fans burning Longmuir at the stake post game.

Well dockers are in the same position of 9 other sides I think.

I predicted the dockers in 2026 to finish 5th to 14th. You can throw a blanket with saints, dogs and suns too.

If dockers finish 11th or below, I expect Longmuir to be sacked and rightfully so

 

[Cyclops]

Have to agree its a top 6 now.

What was the rationale for the pre finals bye? Something about ensuring quality footy IIRC.

So the AFL is subtracting two "better quality" finals, and substituting four trash games.

Game is not in good hands.

 

[Scotland]

I predicted the dockers in 2026 to finish 5th to 14th.

Don't stick your neck out too far there.

I have tipped WC to win between 0 and 23 games.

 

[JackOutback]

Don't stick your neck out too far there.

I have tipped WC to win between 0 and 23 games.

Be bold... 26 wins.

 

[Roobs321]

Post R3 think we can just about scratch Essendon. 0-3 with defeats to Port & North makes top 10 chances look bleak. Wont rule out others just yet, the other 17 sides still look vulnerable to inaugural wildcard defeat.

 

[ioppolo]

I'm sticking with St Kilda. A late season run into 9/10th just to be destroyed by, let's say Fremantle.

 

[Freomaniac]

Be bold... 26 wins.

Well your team lost one game so far.... I guess you eagles have to settle with 25 wins

 

[Handsuper47]

I think it'd be really funny for Essendon to sack their coach, get a mid-season surge, finish 10th, be in front with 5 minutes to go then collapse at the last minute to let the opponent kick a bunch of goals.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

10th in an 18-team comp is essentially no different to 8th (Collingwood) in the 1994 15-team comp when the final 8 started and no one is complaining about the 1994 season

Since the 18-team comp began in 2012 The 10th placed team has had the following win-loss records:

2012: 11-11
2013: 10-12
2014: 11-11
2015: 12-10
2016: 10-12
2017: 11-11
2018: 12-10
2019: 11-11
2020: 8-9
2021: 10-12
2022: 11-11
2023: 11-12
2024: 12-1-10
2025: 12-11

10th placed team: 152 wins, 153 losses, 1 draw. Winning percentage 49.8%

So to say they aren’t any good is not true. Bottom four teams are no good. 10th has been a 50-50 team who, on their day can cause an upset.

What's interesting is that the Dogs missed finals last year with 14 wins. And yet, under the final 8 system, there's never even been a case where a team missed finals even with 13 wins.

Yet, had we had a final 10 (with your above posts), no team would have ever made the final 10 with 9 wins. Every team that would have made the finals would do so with 10 wins.

And yet, we were culturally accepting of these teams making finals:

1995: Brisbane 10-12
1997: Brisbane 10-11-1
2009: Essendon 10-11-1

And looking at how bad the bottom 5 teams are this year, there's a reasonable chance that 10th will need to go 11-12, with a 10-13 record not good enough to finish higher than 11th

We accepted that it was fine for these three teams to make finals, therefore we can live with the outcome if/when a 10-13 team makes finals (though far unlikelier than 11-12) - because it's certainly not as unfair as our cultural acceptance of when a 14-9 team misses finals, as was the case last year.

People just don't like change. But I don't how a 10-13 team making finals is any more outrageous than a 14-9 team missing it, and that happened last year.

 

[Freomaniac]

What's interesting is that the Dogs missed finals last year with 14 wins. And yet, under the final 8 system, there's never even been a case where a team missed finals even with 13 wins.

Yet, had we had a final 10 (with your above posts), no team would have ever made the final 10 with 9 wins. Every team that would have made the finals would do so with 10 wins.

And yet, we were culturally accepting of these teams making finals:

1995: Brisbane 10-12
1997: Brisbane 10-11-1
2009: Essendon 10-11-1

And looking at how bad the bottom 5 teams are this year, there's a reasonable chance that 10th will need to go 11-12, with a 10-13 record not good enough to finish higher than 11th

We accepted that it was fine for these three teams to make finals, therefore we can live with the outcome if/when a 10-13 team makes finals (though far unlikelier than 11-12) - because it's certainly not as unfair as our cultural acceptance of when a 14-9 team misses finals, as was the case last year.

People just don't like change. But I don't how a 10-13 team making finals is any more outrageous than a 14-9 team missing it, and that happened last year.

Crazy thing is had the dogs beat the dockers in the final round, dockers would of finished 9th with 15 wins and 8 losses