11 minutes ago, Macca said:

The teams 7th to 10 haven't been added to give those teams a chance to win the flag (in my view)

How many teams that have finished 7th or 8th have advanced to the Preliminary finals? Is it the Bulldogs only?

Off the top of my head, Hawthorn last year were 8th but made the prelim, and GWS in 2023 finished 7th but made the prelim.

Just now, titan_uranus said:

Off the top of my head, Hawthorn last year were 8th but made the prelim, and GWS in 2023 finished 7th but made the prelim.

Not enough to justify having 7th or 8th in the finals. Yet over time, it's been accepted that 7th & 8th should be part of the finals

Top 6 would be my choice but I'm not running the sport. If I was, then the top 10 would be operative

Edited 17 hours ago17 hr by Macca

1 hour ago, Macca said:

And under the old system, finishing 7th or 8th was no great shakes anyway. So it's really 4 teams making up the numbers (Doggies outlier premiership aside)

Since the pre finals bye I think 7th and 8th became very small live chances, although they needed a freak run like the Dogs had with some other advantages on the way. Dogs played Thursday vs Eagles in the first week, then home against the Hawks in Melbourne, then away to GWS who they outnumbered in the crowd.

That said, I care little about 7 and 8 losing premiership equity, they didn’t qualify high enough to really deserve any.

What I am concerned about is 5/6 suddenly having an easier path than 3/4. 3/4 usually plays a war in the Qualifying final, as the away team and often on the road. 5/6 will now play a beat up 7-10 who have already played a final without any rest.

Even if 5/6 has to travel the next 2 or 3 weeks they might start the first week beating up a 10th team that’s travelling for the second week straight, didn’t have a pre finals bye and is generally just happy to have made finals and won a game.

On top of the additional week of finals, the thing I like the most about the 'wild card' or top 10 is that more games will be relevant in the final month. Although I concede that 2025 was a bad year for 11th and below as the top 10 was essentially decided after round 20.

But to support my argument, let's look at the final two weeks of the 2024 AFL season from an MFC perspective.

In round 21 we had a heartbreaking loss to Port by 2 points and at the time our season was dead and buried. We were 8 points and 10% below 8th spot. However if the wild card was enacted in 2024, we would have been 6 points behind 10th spot and a slight chance of making the top 10 finals.

Let's say the wildcard was around in 2024, we ended up beating GC in round 23 by 54 points to improve our percentage dramatically. We were in 12th spot but only 4 points behind 10th placed Collingwood with a better percentage. 11th placed Essendon had to play Brisbane in round 24 and were never a chance to win.

So, come round 24. We play the Pies. It's win and your in for the wild card round and you're playing Hawthorn on Friday night in front of 80,000 for a wild card final. If that doesn't get you excited as a Melbourne supporter I don't know what does.

But as there was no wild card, the Dees V Pies game was a complete dead rubber in front of only 53,000. Imagine the extra crowd figures and revenue for our home game if the wild card was in existence in 2024.

The wild card will make the season a lot more interesting IMO.

Im still optimistic.

Last season we began with 5 losses after pre season issues, Trac resuming with tentative movement after life threatening injury, Clarry with personal and physical issues.

I think the coach and players lost their way and confidence.

We did see improvements from unexpected sources, Disco, Langford,Culley.

We lost 5(?) matches by less than i kick. and we kicked atrociously all season. We did beat the premiers at their home, (a game they didnt want to lose)

While we have lost Trac and Clarry we have Steele and a good mix of potential replacements.

With a new coach and new game plans hopefully better use of JVR and and improvement from Jefferson plus some mature presence with Mihocek, Kozzie and Trelly producing magic, the rest of the squad just maintaining their levels I reckon we will surprise and finish top4. From there as Goody always said anything can happen in a new (finals)season.

All sides will change and we have a good squad , a mix of experience and youth, a great captain and plenty of variation with most positions with multiple options.

Its gonna be a great season

GO DEES.

1 hour ago, DeeSpencer said:

Since the pre finals bye I think 7th and 8th became very small live chances, although they needed a freak run like the Dogs had with some other advantages on the way. Dogs played Thursday vs Eagles in the first week, then home against the Hawks in Melbourne, then away to GWS who they outnumbered in the crowd.

That said, I care little about 7 and 8 losing premiership equity, they didn’t qualify high enough to really deserve any.

What I am concerned about is 5/6 suddenly having an easier path than 3/4. 3/4 usually plays a war in the Qualifying final, as the away team and often on the road. 5/6 will now play a beat up 7-10 who have already played a final without any rest.

Even if 5/6 has to travel the next 2 or 3 weeks they might start the first week beating up a 10th team that’s travelling for the second week straight, didn’t have a pre finals bye and is generally just happy to have made finals and won a game.

3rd & 4th get the double chance which is a big advantage over 5th & 6th

3rd & 4th also get the chance to win a QF and then straight through to a PF with a week off

5th & 6th no such luxury

Edited 15 hours ago15 hr by Macca

1 hour ago, dpositive said:

I reckon we will surprise and finish top4.

You can get $34 on us finishing top 4.

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

You can get $34 on us finishing top 4.

Serious question: Is that before or after the wildcard round? In other words, at the end of home and away or end of the finals?

1 hour ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Serious question: Is that before or after the wildcard round? In other words, at the end of home and away or end of the finals?

I’d suggest after round 24.