Could the Dees and Tigers give the AFL's wildcard dreams a boost?

There are two words that seem to divide the AFL-loving community…wildcard weekend.

Regardless of which way you lean regarding this initiative, it’s clear that a wildcard weekend or wildcard round is something that the AFL headquarters is pretty keen on introducing.

For a while now, they have been drip feeding it into the public to get the temperature from the average punter and the football community in general. The big selling points seem to be that it works well in American sports and that it would keep more teams alive deep into the season.

Firstly, American sports generally have conferences, and a lot more teams, so that argument holds very little weight with me. The second point also doesn’t push me from the negative side of the fence to the positive. If you’re not good enough to finish in the top eight after 22 games, why should you get a ‘second chance’?

However, to play devil’s advocate, let’s take a look at this season. Bear with me here, and indulge me a little.

Firstly, let’s take a look at the bottom end of the ladder. There’s a team sitting down in 16th that last year set the competition alight with their fast ball movement, aggressive attack on the ball and high scoring football.

The Demons have been anything but exciting this year so far with only four wins. But the last month or so has seen some significant improvement. It’s arguable they should’ve beaten West Coast in Perth and Adelaide in Darwin. Both these teams harbour top-four ambitions.

On Saturday, the Demons got over the line against Fremantle, another team in the top eight. Yes, Fremantle did have injury concerns, but Melbourne also have quite a few players still on the sidelines: Neville Jetta, Jake Melksham, Jake Lever and Aaron vandenBerg to name a few.

There are nine matches to go in the 2018 season. The Demons play only three teams currently in the eight – Brisbane at the Gabba, West Coast in Alice Springs and Collingwood at the MCG. If the Demons can get a few more players back and start to get some consistency, who’s to say they can’t win seven of their last nine?

Okay, it’s unlikely, but when you look at their draw and look at what their best 18 is capable of, it becomes something to consider.

Seven more wins will get them to 11, and for argument’s sake, close to 100 per cent. Not enough to get into the eight, but it may just be enough to get them to tenth position and into a wildcard weekend in red-hot form.

(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Keep indulging me here. If Melbourne slip into tenth position, who will be in ninth? Well, look who currently occupies ninth spot now…the Tigers. The Tigers have also had their injury concerns, but by the end of the season will hopefully have Trent Cotchin and Jack Riewoldt back in form, and it is remotely possible that Alex Rance could sneak back for a September tilt.

Probably not, but imagine the possibilities…the Tigers and Demons finish ninth and tenth. Both with a healthy squad, and both with momentum, form and a big supporter base riding them into September.

But who would they play against? For the sake of the argument, we’ll again go to the ladder. Port Adelaide and Fremantle occupy seventh and eighth, separated only by the barest of margins (0.1 per cent). If those two teams swapped positions, imagine the fixtures…Port versus Richmond at Adelaide Oval in a replay of the infamous Trent Cotchin ‘kicking against the wind’ elimination final.

The other fixture would be Fremantle versus Melbourne, with Jesse Hogan and Steven May taking centre stage as the big story.

No matter whether you’re for or against a wildcard weekend, there would be a real interest surrounding those two matches. To add to that, there are only two Victorian teams currently in the top eight, so allowing the chance for two more to climb in at the death would certainly be an exciting appetizer to September.

Of course, this is purely speculation and a bit of fun. We know there is no wildcard weekend this year. I also think Richmond will likely make the eight anyway, and I don’t think the Dees will get up to tenth.

But if the above scenario does play out, the AFL would have a very large and positive platform to sell their wildcard dreams for 2020.