It’s only a matter of time. 

Agreed it will happen. Ticks boxes for the league on the ratings front and integrity/tanking front but as a regular nba-watcher the play-in tournament is a bit of a fizzer…. A weekend of games is better than a weekend of nothing though I suppose 

Nope. It awards mediocrity and cheapens the achievement of making the finals. If they want to shoehorn in an extra week of football make it an entire home & away round. 

If it's makes the AFL more $$$ then it's only a matter of time.

BRING - IT- ON.

It’s the most obvious thing that’s going to come into the league in the next few years.

In fact, the day after the grand final the wild card weekend should be announced for 2025.

Edited July 18, 20241 yr by Bring-Back-Powell

I hate it…. It’s a long enough season as it is.

Nah, let’s not.  8 is enough.

maybe have some bottom 4 games to determine draft order. That would be fun!

So 10 th can sneak in at the expense of 7 th? How is that fair?

Plus it would mean that 7 th to 10 th miss out on the pre finals bye, while the other teams get it. It makes a joke out of all the work that mid ranked teams put in to get a finals berth.

Utterly gross.

Anyone who watched last year's vfl finals knows how bad it is.

A question of when not if

The advent of the Tasmanian franchise would seem the logical entry point 

Here we go again, another crass idea based off American sports. 🙄 Why can't things just be left alone?

The United States: Yet another objectively terrible idea.

Everybody else: We should do that. 

31 minutes ago, Ollie fan said:

Plus it would mean that 7 th to 10 th miss out on the pre finals bye, while the other teams get it. It makes a joke out of all the work that mid ranked teams put in to get a finals berth.

Agreed. If they are going to do it - which seems inevitable- then they should adopt the NBA model. Not saying it’s ideal, and you’d have to play 2 rounds of wildcard games spread across a week, however it’s grossly unfair on 7th on the current proposal. 

Yet the W comp has a pathetic 11-game H&A season. 🙄 

More Seppo [censored]. Agreed only a matter of when not if. 
 Would rather a round of state of origin played mid year than a wildcard round if the AFL wants more football and dollars. But I also know this also won’t happen.

Never been more disillusioned with the state of and direction of AFL. It is at the stage that I care more about Junior and local senior football. Wake up Dillon you’re asleep at the wheel.

Edited July 18, 20241 yr by Dee Viney Intervention

I prefer no double chance and a knock out system.

I like the old NFL system with 12 finalists for the AFL. Essentially it would work whereby the top 4 get the first round off and 5-12 play against each other to get into the second round of 8 teams. The match ups and home ground advantages work through ladder seedings.

The four winners then play off in the prelim. Again the match ups and home ground advantages work through ladder seedings.

This means the top 4 need to to win three in a row and 5-12 need to win four in row to be premiers.

If you were wanting to have a truly equal fixture, then:

Rounds 1-17, play everyone once

Ladder after round 17 is split into 3, Top 6, Middle 6, Bottom 6

Top 6 guaranteed finals, play each other once to determine top 6 order

Middle 6 play each other once, top 2 then make up final 2 spots in final 8

Bottom 6 play each other for ladder position and determine number of balls for “lottery” draft picks (picks 1-6), with highest getting more, etc. 

Means 22 games plus finals. Devil is in the detail however at least we’d have equal fixture, similar interstate travel, and avoids tanking

Finals get more coverage, people are more interested, attendances are higher and ad revenue is higher.

Obviously Solution.

Cancel the Home & Away season and just have 22 more rounds of finals.

Every one of which is a theme round.

1 hour ago, Ollie fan said:

Plus it would mean that 7 th to 10 th miss out on the pre finals bye, while the other teams get it. It makes a joke out of all the work that mid ranked teams put in to get a finals berth.

It would place a premium on finishing top 6. I don't think that's a bad thing.

For those against the wild card, unfortunately the AFL are keeping an eye on the USA leagues. The NBA have introduced their wild card/play in in while the MLB and NFL have continually expanded their playoffs.

As if we're not going to follow what's going on over there if there's a buck to be made.

 

42 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

I prefer no double chance and a knock out system.

I like the old NFL system with 12 finalists for the AFL. Essentially it would work whereby the top 4 get the first round off and 5-12 play against each other to get into the second round of 8 teams. The match ups and home ground advantages work through ladder seedings.

The four winners then play off in the prelim. Again the match ups and home ground advantages work through ladder seedings.

This means the top 4 need to to win three in a row and 5-12 need to win four in row to be premiers.

Yeah I've always liked the NFL playoff systems.

The best 1 or 2 teams in each conference get the week 1 bye, but after that they have to win to stay alive. 

Not a fan tbh, but if the AFL could automatically install it for this season i may relax a little about our run home aha

Apply this model to last year and you have the Crows on 11 wins in finals

Literally lost more games than they won and they are rewarded with finals?

Horrible idea.

The final round of the season is basically a wild card round. I expect 2-3 positions to be up for grabs.

 

* I actually don't mind this concept in the NBA as they play 82 games and there are 30 odd teams. So you still have good teams playing off

10 hours ago, Demonland said:

It’s only a matter of time. 

Worst concept floated in a long time 

It’s just trying to copy the NBA (USA basketball model).  Nothing like innovation through trying to copy the USA!!! 
 

Leave the current finals as is … 

This cannot be compared to the wild card system the NFL apply.

To earn a wild card entry teams need to have strong win/loss ratio over the season and miss the play offs because they were part of a highly competitive Division. 

This is just expanding the finals series and rewarding a team that finishes in the bottom half of the ladder with an opportunity to play finals.

8/18 is plenty. 10/18 does not make sense I think.