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A wildcard round at the end of the home-and-away season makes complete sense as the AFL look towards its expansion in the coming seasons.
It seems as though many are caught between their view of an ideal competition and the reality in which we are faced with.
Allegations of inequitable fixturing and tarnishing the fabric of our national game have been levelled and quite frankly, those preaching aren’t necessarily wrong.
But the competition is what it is. These conversations, whether they’re from a place of complaining or mere observation, arrive in a metronomic, cyclical nature as we approach the end of July on a yearly basis.
Sure, every team should only play 17 games so that it’s one game against each opponent. What sense does a Gather Round make when you really think about it? Wouldn’t a rolling fixture just be fantastic?
The AFL is the AFL. We know what to expect, not a whole heap changes and we still end up loving watching it anyway.
As the competition expands to 19 teams when Tasmania joins and the inevitable 20th team gets their license within the decade, it’s going to end up making little sense for 40% of the teams to play in finals when we have a nice, round number right in front of us.
Jack Silvagni. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
There are fears that leaning into the NBA’s play-in tournament model is further Americanising the game, with free agency being a bastardised version of what they do in the US. What’s next, a seven-game series to decide the World Champion?
The truth is though that like it or not, we’re just as much in the entertainment business as we are the sporting industry. That’s true for all sport in this day and age globally.
If there’s an opportunity to get more eyes on more games, give more matches meaning and whatever financial boost can come of the marketing, then that’s a massive tick.
Seasoned AFL viewers are sick of the game around this time of year, but they’re not the ones necessarily targeted here. Kids aren’t as jaded as the veteran follower, yet their influence cannot be understated. Similarly, the majority of AFL fans just want to see their team play and if that’s not an option, the finals-like atmospheres are contagious.
The idea of having 7th vs 10th and 8th vs 9th play off for the right to officially make an appearance in finals will only serve to bring that infectious atmosphere forward by a week. More games of consequence attracts more people.
We know that the sibling coaches of Essendon and Geelong haven’t exactly given the idea a five-star Google review, preaching the same, tired old line that it’s just further adding to the inequities of the fixture.
We’re also still in a period of recovery from when trying to maintain as much stability as possible necessitated drastic financial measures, so to have senior coaches come out and indicate those who run the competition are prioritising finances over their perceived fabric of the game, then have clubs and unions work towards improving an array of financial measures, it can get a bit confusing.
The AFL lost out during COVID and the clubs suffered significantly, particularly when it came to their soft caps. A lot of quality coaches and people were lost to the AFL environment.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
For instance, slowly, the soft cap is being increased in marginal increments, although the $7.2 million soft cap in 2024 is a far cry from the near $9.7 million it was in 2020. We’ve got arguments for how much of a head coach’s salary should be included in there.
Let’s also not give the coaches too much power to dictate how the game should be run and complain about the competition, their art form is to take advantage of and figure out a way to navigate through what’s in front of them, not shift the goal posts themselves.
We’ve then got the desire to pay the biggest stars more, there’s funding that clubs get and a constant desire for it to be more and of course, there’s a new club coming into play which in itself throws a spanner in the works.
A wildcard weekend isn’t some sort of revolutionary financial windfall that’ll make some sort of huge difference down the line but similarly, if there’s an opportunity to benefit from the currently free weekend between the end of the home-and-away season and the finals then yes, you best believe the league will look to take advantage of it.
And is the AFL really going to be a ‘laughing stock of world sport’ if they bring in a wildcard weekend? Really? It’s headline grabbing to say it, but let’s be completely honest – no one actually cares.
Rarely has there been a moment during frequent viewing of ESPN during the NBA and NFL seasons where the commentary teams have taken a moment to breakdown the AFL’s fixturing or finals system.
Peter Drury hasn’t dropped it into any of his English Premier League calls and Martin Brundle didn’t ask Red Bull’s Team Principal Christian Horner or Ginger Spice about the competition on his latest F1 Grid Walk.
It’s the best sport in the world but let’s not pretend the AFL has any power internationally, particularly not the intricacies of its fixturing, even for a headline.
If anything, 2023 is the perfect example as to why a wildcard weekend would be great.
Dan Butler. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
The top six teams still get a break before finals. The race for a spot is so tight that percentage could end up separating spots seven to ten anyway. Having even the team 13th on the ladder participate in games of consequence in a bid to make an unlikely charge for finals in the last couple of rounds of the home and away season, that only serves to pique further interest.
And really, by the time 20 teams come in, having implemented a wildcard round earlier on, there can be a judgement call on the validity of maintaining a top eight for official finals with the wildcard, or if we get even further down the ladder to bring teams into play.
If a club finishes fifth and wants to complain about losing their first final to the team that finished 10th, chances are they’ve got a few more problems at play than a wildcard round.
In its purest form, an extra weekend of meaningful footy is fun. The play-in tournament in the NBA is fun, albeit in different circumstances that the league brings. The Miami Heat won the Eastern Conference after being a minute from play-in elimination. It just added an extra edge to the entertainment basketball rings.
The AFL isn’t going to go to 17 rounds and it’s not going to remove teams from the competition. It’s not going to look for ways to reduce the number of financial opportunities available to them and it’s not going to restrict its upside as a form of entertainment because people complain about fixturing.
So yes, it makes sense for them to open the door for two extra teams to try to make finals once all is said and done.
The top six teams go unpunished and they’re the ones who really deserve some sort of reward.
A wildcard weekend makes heaps of sense and will only serve to benefit the competition as a whole.