Rewarding mediocrity or providing new hope? AFL confirms divisive finals wildcard plan

The AFL has defended its decision to expand the finals series to 10 clubs with the introduction of a divisive “wildcard round” from next season.

The two additional matches will be held during the weekend that has been used for a pre-finals bye in the men’s competition while the AFLW will lose the clear air it has had for early-round fixtures over the past three seasons.

The expansion of the finals series will see the clubs that finished seventh and 10th meet in a cut-throat final, while eighth will play ninth with the winner to extend their season.

The top six sides at the end of the home and away season will continue to enjoy a week off.

“Our fans love finals games, so we think it provides opportunities and hope for our fans,” AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said. “I’ve got plenty of good feedback from the clubs overnight.

“Our fans love finals and they love games of consequence. We know those games are the best attended and most watched on television.”

A wildcard round this year would have seen seventh-placed Gold Coast play their club-first final against 2024 runners-up Sydney.

The other wildcard clash would have allowed Western Bulldogs to continue their season against eighth-placed Hawthorn.

The Bulldogs missed out on a finals spot when defeated by the Dockers in a virtual round-24 elimination final, while the top 10 this year was already locked in after round 22.

The new finals format is expected to reward sides that finish in the top six while making it more difficult for the seventh- and eight-placed teams to repeat the Bulldogs’ run in 2016 when they became the first – and still only – club to win a premiership from outside the top five.

“I don’t think it rewards mediocrity,” Dillon said. “It makes that gap between sixth and seventh something clubs will strive for.

“You’ll have a big difference between first and second with the home final. Third and fourth, you get the double chance. Fifth and sixth you get the week off and seventh and eighth you host a home wildcard final.”

While Dillon talked up increased interest in the expanded finals series, the AFL Fans Association (AFLFA) has found that 77% of fans do not support the wildcard round.

An AFLFA survey highlighted concerns with rewarding mediocrity and diluting the significance of season-long performance as the majority of clubs earn a finals place.

“Fans want a fair game, the wildcard proposal smacks of unfairness and reinforces wider concerns about fixture design and scheduling,” AFLFA president Ron Issko said.

The wildcard round is the biggest shake up to the finals series since the AFL introduced a pre-finals bye in 2016.

The weekend without men’s football has given the AFLW space to showcase the competition over the past three seasons but the women’s league will now crossover with the start of the AFL finals series.

“W is super important for us,” Dillon said. “But we saw this year with rounds one and two overlapping with the last two rounds of the men’s competition, that the AFLW and the AFL men’s competitions will co-exist successfully.

“And we just see this as a further iteration of that and we get then all of October and all of November to celebrate AFLW.”

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