Wildcard Weekend

[Jaded No More 67,469]

The AFL trying to come up with new ways to ruin the game 

[layzie 32,678]

At the end of the day it's us who are the idiotic morons in their eyes for not instantly accepting things like these and getting on board. 

[whatwhat say what 22,009]

1 hour ago, DeeSpencer said:

There's already a buck in letting 9th and 10th play 2 extra finals games. The logistics of selling off a final when you don't know who's playing seems way too impractical, so much so that it would be hard to get a great price anyway.

Imagine if it was Collingwood - Essendon and you're giving up 100k at the G to have 50k scramble to Adelaide, many of whom would just drive given it's last minute.

And what if the other game was GWS - Gold Coast in Perth and you'd have a grand total of 3 men and a dog travelling over for it.

fans travelling to go to the game is almost completely irrelevant 

also, those falling in the likely 7-10 spots should know that they'll be heading for a destination location to play their elimination 'wildcard' game, so if they desperately 100% want to get there, they can

it's all about broadcast revenue and gambling $$s

as always

[deanox 9,603]

17 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

Let’s just make the season 12 months long. We need games daily, we need more special rounds, I want a clown round where everyone has to play in clown shoes. 
What could go wrong? It’s not like we have the highest number of injuries on record or anything… 🙄

Ironically I think making the season much longer could have a good outcome for the game.

- Shorter preseason means players can't be "as fit" in round one. It means overall fitness levels might plateau closer to what is sustainable year round and get rid of the assymetrical "loading" and fitness issues that plague June and July.

- Lower fitness probably means more one on one and less gut running zone, which seems to be a preferred feature for many viewers

- More games means more equitable fixture, playing everyone home and away

- Need for larger squads to manage fitness, injuries, etc. means that there is more depth kept on AFL lists (instead of using the list mostly for development).

- Longer season might even see a reduced reluctance to rest players when injured.

 

I can see a good case for this. Not saying it isn't without its issues, I haven't actually thought this through. But I think it's worth considering if they can secure the grounds.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,284]

Collingwood 10th V Melbourne 12th heading into round 24.

Winner likely finishes 10th.

Next year that would get you a spot in the wild card. That would’ve meant our win over Gold Coast last week would’ve had massive ramifications under the wild card model.

A disastrous season actually could’ve turned into September action.

Everyone still dead against the wild card?

[titan_uranus 24,522]

22 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Collingwood 10th V Melbourne 12th heading into round 24.

Winner likely finishes 10th.

Next year that would get you a spot in the wild card. That would’ve meant our win over Gold Coast last week would’ve had massive ramifications under the wild card model.

A disastrous season actually could’ve turned into September action.

Everyone still dead against the wild card?

Yes. 

I hate that we’re in the bottom half of the competition after 22 games and yet would, if there was a wildcard round, still get a chance to play finals. 

Talk about rewarding mediocrity. 

[Sir Why You Little 36,554]

31 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Collingwood 10th V Melbourne 12th heading into round 24.

Winner likely finishes 10th.

Next year that would get you a spot in the wild card. That would’ve meant our win over Gold Coast last week would’ve had massive ramifications under the wild card model.

A disastrous season actually could’ve turned into September action.

Everyone still dead against the wild card?

Absolutely against the whole idea. 
we were not good enough or consistent enough in 2024. 
rewarding mediocrity is just wrong…

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,284]

1 minute ago, titan_uranus said:

Yes. 

I hate that we’re in the bottom half of the competition after 22 games and yet would, if there was a wildcard round, still get a chance to play finals. 

Talk about rewarding mediocrity. 

We’ll I’d imagine if the Wild Card was implemented this year, we’d definitely get back the 10,000 people that you were concerned about were not going to turn up this Friday, because it was a dead rubber.
 

[Timothy Reddan-A'Blew 4,723]

2 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

Yes. 

I hate that we’re in the bottom half of the competition after 22 games and yet would, if there was a wildcard round, still get a chance to play finals. 

Talk about rewarding mediocrity. 

1 hour ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Absolutely against the whole idea. 
we were not good enough or consistent enough in 2024. 
rewarding mediocrity is just wrong…

Those who have reflected glass-half-full on our several games and close losses against teams firmly in not-mediocre ladder positions might dispute that we are mediocre?

[Sir Why You Little 36,554]

2 minutes ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

Those who have reflected glass-half-full on our several games and close losses against teams firmly in not-mediocre ladder positions might dispute that we are mediocre?

We haven’t won enough games to Reach the 8

Deal with it and get better….

[Dee-tonator 158]

Giving a team finishing 10th, usually after losing more than half its games, even a theoretical chance to call itself the season's premiers is simply absurd.

[ANG13 1,968]

2 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Collingwood 10th V Melbourne 12th heading into round 24.

Winner likely finishes 10th.

Next year that would get you a spot in the wild card. That would’ve meant our win over Gold Coast last week would’ve had massive ramifications under the wild card model.

A disastrous season actually could’ve turned into September action.

Everyone still dead against the wild card?

Yes it’s a shocking idea, but the AFL don’t care it’s all about money. 

[Neitz the Great 555]

Imagine if the Bulldogs in 2016 had to play in the wildcard round after finishing 7th. The giants last year

 

it will ruin the first actual week of AFL finals

[Dr. Gonzo 23,656]

3 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Collingwood 10th V Melbourne 12th heading into round 24.

Winner likely finishes 10th.

Next year that would get you a spot in the wild card. That would’ve meant our win over Gold Coast last week would’ve had massive ramifications under the wild card model.

A disastrous season actually could’ve turned into September action.

Everyone still dead against the wild card?

Yes.

It's absolutely ridiculous, the aim is to win the flag. Doing that from outside the 4 is nigh on impossible (apart from the Dogs aberration) let alone winning from 9th or 10th.

It's just more pointless money grabbing from the AFL, trying to find more ways to appease the broadcasters with more content, not giving a stuff about the supporters or the integrity of the competition. They are an absolute clown show.

Wildcards make sense in the NFL because of the division structure. So you might have a division winner with a 7-10 or 8-9 record make playoffs while another division has 3 teams with records of 10-7 or better so it makes sense for the better teams in the stronger division to qualify for playoffs as "wildcards" despite not winning their division to qualify.

The AFL does not have divisions or conferences, we have one ladder with the qualifying for finals being finishing in the top 8. After 22 (now 23) rounds if you haven't done enough to qualify for at least 8th spot then you aren't a serious threat for the flag are you?

Edited August 20 by Dr. Gonzo

[titan_uranus 24,522]

13 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

We’ll I’d imagine if the Wild Card was implemented this year, we’d definitely get back the 10,000 people that you were concerned about were not going to turn up this Friday, because it was a dead rubber.

That’s twice you’ve run an “ends justify the means” argument. 

I don’t agree. 

We’d get bigger crowds with a whole host of bad or annoying ideas. That doesn’t stop them being bad or annoying. 

At any rate, we will see crowds and viewership diminish if we keep playing more games. Scarcity is an important concept and one the AFL doesn’t appreciate.

[ElDiablo14 4,868]

10 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yes.

It's absolutely ridiculous, the aim is to win the flag. Doing that from outside the 4 is nigh on impossible (apart from the Dogs aberration) let alone winning from 9th or 10th.

It's just more pointless money grabbing from the AFL, trying to find more ways to appease the broadcasters with more content, not giving a stuff about the supporters or the integrity of the competition. They are an absolute clown show.

Wildcards make sense in the NFL because of the division structure. So you might have a division winner with a 7-10 or 8-9 record make playoffs while another division has 3 teams with records of 10-7 or better so it makes sense for the better teams in the stronger division to qualify for playoffs as "wildcards" despite not winning their division to qualify.

The AFL does not have divisions or conferences, we have one ladder with the qualifying for finals being finishing in the top 8. After 22 (now 23) rounds if you haven't done enough to qualify for at least 8th spot then you aren't a serious threat for the flag are you?

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[ElDiablo14 4,868]

14 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Collingwood 10th V Melbourne 12th heading into round 24.

Winner likely finishes 10th.

Next year that would get you a spot in the wild card. That would’ve meant our win over Gold Coast last week would’ve had massive ramifications under the wild card model.

A disastrous season actually could’ve turned into September action.

Everyone still dead against the wild card?

Imagine using a dead rubber game to justify a stupid idea which only aims to generate more money, specially broadcasting money. 😮‍💨😮‍💨

[rpfc 28,026]

It will happen and it will be fine. Fun even.

8 teams from 18 teams playing finals leave mechanisms like the ‘wildcard weekend’ as useful to keep people interested in their team, and by extension, footy in general.

Get upset about more important things.

[ElDiablo14 4,868]

25 minutes ago, rpfc said:

It will happen and it will be fine. Fun even.

8 teams from 18 teams playing finals leave mechanisms like the ‘wildcard weekend’ as useful to keep people interested in their team, and by extension, footy in general.

Get upset about more important things.

You'll be happy when the league has two conferences and super wild car, just copy the yanks 🙄🙄

[Dee*ceiving 1,625]

I'd support the wildcard if it reduced the length of the H&A season. A widcard weekend of 4 teams would at least save 3 otherwise meaningless games 

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,284]

I do find it odd that most posters are against it, and yet which club would get one of the most benefits out of it this year?

Which club would still be in the hunt heading into this weekend?

Which club's supporters would be genuinely pumped up about this week with the chance of still playing in September?

Which club's supporters would've enjoyed the GC win with the knowledge that genuine finals implications were on the line, not just a late season 'feel good' dead rubber.

I refuse to believe that passionate die hard posters against the wild card would thumb their nose at an opportunity of playing a stand alone round of football with the chance to play finals. I know the club and its sponsors would embrace the opportunity.

And lastly, for those that state the wild card weekend rewards mediocrity. It actually places a premium on finishing top 6 which guarantees you a final berth. 

 

 

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,284]

1 hour ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Imagine using a dead rubber game to justify a stupid idea which only aims to generate more money, specially broadcasting money. 😮‍💨😮‍💨

Imagine beating Collingwood this week with the opportunity of playing finals.

 

[layzie 32,678]

1 hour ago, rpfc said:

It will happen and it will be fine. Fun even.

8 teams from 18 teams playing finals leave mechanisms like the ‘wildcard weekend’ as useful to keep people interested in their team, and by extension, footy in general.

Get upset about more important things.

I don't like the idea and feel it's stupid but I do think you might be right. Wasting energy on hating something like this is futile, like moving the Grand Final to night, there are more important things to be angry at.

I'll say it again, I don't like it. Can I say that after 5 years of using this format that people won't wonder what they were worried about in the first place? I cannot. If it happens, just gotta lean into the change. 

[titan_uranus 24,522]

28 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I do find it odd that most posters are against it, and yet which club would get one of the most benefits out of it this year?

Which club would still be in the hunt heading into this weekend?

Which club's supporters would be genuinely pumped up about this week with the chance of still playing in September?

Which club's supporters would've enjoyed the GC win with the knowledge that genuine finals implications were on the line, not just a late season 'feel good' dead rubber.

I refuse to believe that passionate die hard posters against the wild card would thumb their nose at an opportunity of playing a stand alone round of football with the chance to play finals. I know the club and its sponsors would embrace the opportunity.

And lastly, for those that state the wild card weekend rewards mediocrity. It actually places a premium on finishing top 6 which guarantees you a final berth. 

 

 

So are you saying that if we were 1-6 on the ladder, or no chance of finishing 9-10, you wouldn’t be in favour of it?

If we’re saying 8/18 isn’t enough, but that we’re rewarding the top 6, isn’t that inconsistent? Why not just reward the top 8?

Using the outcomes of an H&A season where there is no wildcard to justify how good it is also doesn’t make sense. Teams would likely do things differently in the lead up rounds if they’re targeting 10th instead of 8th. 

But if you want to do that, go the other way. Would Fremantle v Port have any interest this week if Fremantle were already locked into wildcard round? Would there have been any excitement over Carlton’s final fortnight if they were already locked in?

[ElDiablo14 4,868]

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Imagine beating Collingwood this week with the opportunity of playing finals.

 

As if we deserve it. 🤷🏻‍♂️