If a Wildcard Weekend was in place this year...

Matchu

Norm Smith Medallist
Apr 12, 2007
7,751
7,041
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Wildcard Weekend - August 30 & 31
7th hosts 10th
8th hosts 9th

Current ladder positions that could be affected:

6. GWS 12-9 (111.5%)
7. Essendon 12-9 (95.8%)
8. Bulldogs 11-10 (105.6%)
9. Hawthorn 10-11 (106.6%)
10. Adelaide 10-11 (103.0%)
11. Port Adelaide 10-11 (103.0%)
12. North Melbourne 9-12 (99.1%)
13. Fremantle 9-12 (94.0%)
14. St Kilda 9-12 (85.4%)

Round 23 fixtures with affected teams:

Fri - Ess (7) v Col
Sat - StK (14) v Syd
Sat - NM (12) v Mel
Sat - GWS (6) v GC
Sat - Haw (9) v WC
Sun - WB (8) v Ade (10)
Sun - PA (11) v Fre (13)

Only two games in the last round would be completely unaffected. This would make for a more interesting final round leading into the Wildcard Weekend the following week.

Thoughts?
 

Matchu

Norm Smith Medallist
Apr 12, 2007
7,751
7,041
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Having a system where 10th could potentially play finals rewards mediocrity.
We don't need that IMO.
A team in 10th position would only be rewarded if they traveled to the 7th placed team's home ground and beat them in a sudden death situation. You EARN your way in. It also gives greater incentive to finish in the top 6 because those teams get the week's rest during the Wildcard Weekend. For example, Essendon could really put the pressure on GWS by beating Collingwood this Friday night. Then GWS are put into a position where they MUST win an away game on Saturday night otherwise they are forced into the Wildcard Weekend and have one less week's rest.
 

M Malice

Hall of Famer
Aug 31, 2015
31,433
72,022
By the Gabba.
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Other Teams
Valleys. Chelsea.
Call it what it is, it's not wildcard it's a final 10 in an 18 team competition, absolutely hate the idea, rewards mediocrity. No need to change it, the top 8 system the way it works now is great, rewards the right teams the right way.
giphy.gif
 
Oct 6, 2011
1,393
1,643
Melbourne
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Other Teams
Denver Nuggets
A team in 10th position would only be rewarded if they traveled to the 7th placed team's home ground and beat them in a sudden death situation. You EARN your way in. It also gives greater incentive to finish in the top 6 because those teams get the week's rest during the Wildcard Weekend. For example, Essendon could really put the pressure on GWS by beating Collingwood this Friday night. Then GWS are put into a position where they MUST win an away game on Saturday night otherwise they are forced into the Wildcard Weekend and have one less week's rest.
You don’t really earn your way in though. Play well for 1 week and you play finals. It’s a no from me.
 

Matchu

Norm Smith Medallist
Apr 12, 2007
7,751
7,041
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
All these could potentially make finals? LOL, no. Just no.

View attachment 731425
Extremely unlikely any of them would actually make it. The only team that would actually have a genuine chance would be North and even they would need multiple results to go their way plus a big percentage booster. The teams that are most likely to finish 9th and 10th currently sit with a record of 10-11 and probably need to be 11-11 by the end of round 23 with a percentage greater than 100% to qualify under this hypothetical system. That's no different to what used to happen before Gold Coast and GWS entered the competition when 11 wins and a healthy percentage would often get you into the finals.

If letting teams that finish with a record of 11-11 have the opportunity to qualify for finals is considered rewarding mediocrity then we've become too precious IMO.
 
Personally. I believe we should scrap pre-season and finals and just have a 34 week season (naysayers who say it’s logistically impossible, we currently have 23 rounds, 4 weeks of finals, 3 weeks of pre-season and 2 bye weeks between everything. - you think it’d be hard to get 2 extra weeks of oval availability? Victoria play most of their matches at junction oval, nsw move around (Bankstown, Drummoyne, Canberra) sa played a game at park 25, Queensland played at Alan border field, and wa still plays at the waca. Would these states rather 4,000 patrons or 50,000 patrons?)

But that ain’t happening and we continue with finals
5 team structure is perfect but 5 teams out of 18 I don’t believe is enough.
6 team structure is bs 1st vs 2nd to decide who gets to play the sf which gets automatic entry to the gf with a double chance with the position of the ef winners deciding who goes into which game? As much as adelaide was advantaged in 1993 - getting the double chance despite finishing 5th, only getting it because us and west coast knocked out 3rd and 4th, and with us finishing 5th vs west coast so 6th we get the double chance and shot at the grand final with a bye? Wtf!!! that was the most bs finals setup I’ve ever seen)
7 team structure? Never seen one
8 team structure is good and doesn’t stretch too far down
9 teams with wildcard? Pushing it
10 teams? Too far. Bullshit.
 

AvantGardener

Premiership Player
Mar 13, 2016
4,736
5,078
AFL Club
Carlton
Bulldogs and Adelaide are playing off for finals this weekend. Perfect reason NOT to have a wildcard because its pretty s**t if Bulldogs win this week, finish 7th but then get knocked out by a wildcard before getting their chance at GWS in an elimination final 6th v 7th (who Bulldogs beat last week!)
 
Sep 22, 2011
40,568
87,808
Your girlfriend's dreams
AFL Club
Essendon
Wildcard Weekend - August 30 & 31
7th hosts 10th
8th hosts 9th

Current ladder positions that could be affected:

6. GWS 12-9 (111.5%)
7. Essendon 12-9 (95.8%)
8. Bulldogs 11-10 (105.6%)
9. Hawthorn 10-11 (106.6%)
10. Adelaide 10-11 (103.0%)
11. Port Adelaide 10-11 (103.0%)
12. North Melbourne 9-12 (99.1%)
13. Fremantle 9-12 (94.0%)
14. St Kilda 9-12 (85.4%)

Round 23 fixtures with affected teams:

Fri - Ess (7) v Col
Sat - StK (14) v Syd
Sat - NM (12) v Mel
Sat - GWS (6) v GC
Sat - Haw (9) v WC
Sun - WB (8) v Ade (10)
Sun - PA (11) v Fre (13)

Only two games in the last round would be completely unaffected. This would make for a more interesting final round leading into the Wildcard Weekend the following week.

Thoughts?

Make it a final 18 so every game is affected and we have a cracking final round. I mean, that’s the goal right?
 
Back