AFL ‘wildcard’ round set to force rule change as concerns emerge about clubs resting players

The AFL has suddenly found itself working through complications with the proposed changes to the finals system.

The league is keen to present the concept of ‘wildcard round’ to the AFL Commission in a fortnight but there are now concerns about teams ranked seventh to 10th (who cannot move positions in the final round) potentially resting players en masse.

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Ross Lyon, when coaching Fremantle, once rested 11 players ahead of a qualifying final in 2015, and the league doesn’t want to see a repeat of such tactics as teams enter the wildcard round.

As a result, it now seems that the AFL will place limits on how many players a club can drop for crucial matches.

“It looked over the line, but there were talks late yesterday (Monday) at the AFL and there is one serious snag that the AFL are trying to work through before they put this proposal goes to the Commission in a couple of weeks on Brownlow Day,” veteran AFL journalist Caroline Wilson said on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters.

“So this snag involves what happens when you have teams from seventh to 10th who on the eve of the final round can’t move.

“They can’t move higher than seventh, they can’t move lower than 10th. Are they going to do what Ross Lyon did in 2015 with his Fremantle team? Are they going to do what Brad Scott did in 2015 with his North Melbourne team?

“Bearing in mind, that only a couple of weeks ago Penrith going for their, I think, fifth successive flag rested something like 16 players on their penultimate home and away round of the season.

“So it’s a real dilemma and they don’t want this happening, teams dropping players, etc, on the second last round of the season.

“So what they’re looking at doing, and this is fascinating to me because I think they should have looked at it, the Gillon McLachlan administration, back in 2016 when they introduced the pre-finals bye.

“They’re actually looking at mandating the amount of players a team can drop going into a big game.”

7NEWS chief AFL reporter Mitch Cleary wondered how the league would be able to make that call without suggesting the club is lying.

“Is there any way they can do that, though? Because players and clubs will be able to find ways around this. Is a player actually injured? Are they not? Are they going to be able to physically do that?” Cleary asked.

Wilson said both both Fremantle and North Melbourne were honest about it at the time and the strategy paid off.

“(But) I think there is a way you could say maybe no more than six players or no more than four players (can be rested in one go),” Wilson said.

“And I think they’re looking at seriously doing that before they introduce (the wildcard round).

“It’s a fascinating conundrum for Andrew Dillon and Greg Swann and their team before they go to the commission.”

Wilson also said that there were other “interesting fixture decisions” on the horizon with a game set to be played in Melbourne in Opening Round (where the games have so far been exclusively played in the New South Wales and Queensland).

“My understanding is it’s going to be on Sunday night, probably at the MCG, and almost certainly involving the Collingwood Football Club.”

Cleary said Collingwood were so far the only Victorian team that had made the trip north for both Opening Round fixtures and they have been “strong” in their opposition to going again next year.

“The Pies, via (CEO) Craig Kelly, have come out and said, on record, they do not want to be travelling again for a third time,” Cleary said.

Wilson said in the new-look Opening Round for 2026 there would “definitely be two games in Queensland” and there would still be two in Sydney (hosted by Sydney and GWS).

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“The game in Melbourne will be an all-Victorian game on the eve of the Monday Labour Day holiday,” she said.

“My belief it will be the only other game in opening round. And St Kilda, in the coming days, are going to put forward a fascinating proposal to the AFL.

“St Kilda want to declare this, their annual Spuds game. Today, being actually the anniversary of the late, great Danny Frawley’s death, Spuds game will be played on the Sunday night. They want to play against Collingwood.

“It will be also the 60th anniversary year of their only premiership victory over the Collingwood Football Club (a famous one-point win).

“And I think the club see it as a perfect opportunity to launch a documentary that they’re making at the moment, that they started making after the re-signing of Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera … so it’s going to be a really interesting proposal.

“It’s St Kilda’s one big fixture request for 2026.”

But Wilson also revealed the Western Bulldogs also wanted to play Collingwood in the re-imagined Opening Round and so did Melbourne.

Cleary said: “It’s a line-up.”