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Matt WalshNov 10, 2025, 10:53 AM<\/p>\n
Close<\/a>Matt Walsh has been with ESPN for more than seven years, covering AFL football, tennis, and other sports both online and in podcast form.<\/p>\n Well, this is sure to rustle the jimmies of footy’s old heads and traditionalists. The AFL<\/a> on Sunday announced the introduction of a ‘wildcard’ week<\/a> of finals starting next season, with 10 teams to get a September shot at glory.<\/p>\n In the re-vamp, seventh with play 10th and eighth against ninth, with the winners re-seeded to then face fifth and sixth. The extra finals will take place in the week usually reserved for the pre-finals bye.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks Predictably, the reaction was immediate and brutal. Fans lamented the Americanisation of the game. Others pointed out it’s not a true ‘wildcard’ round, but a ‘play-in’ format similar to that used by the NBA. And many asked a fair question: ‘who asked for this?’<\/p>\n Aside from the obvious — think the league’s bean counters and the broadcasters — it’s a fair question. Footy, for all its flaws, is in good shape. Crowds are as high as they’ve ever been, a record TV deal was signed a couple of years ago, and the quality of play is high. And the current top eight format, which has been in place since 2000, has struck a nice balance between rewarding the top two and four teams, but keeping the fifth to eighth-ranked teams in with a shot.<\/p>\n The Andrew Dillon era of AFL has been divisive to say the least. He’s struggled to with number of big moments. The Izak Rankine anti-gay ban<\/a> comes to mind, as does the Willie Rioli threats saga, and the continued push for an Opening Round that hasn’t really reached glorious heights. Plus, overseeing a raft of controversial rule changes<\/a> in quick succession and the reintroduction of State of Origin<\/a>, it’s been a busy office at AFL House under ‘Dill’.<\/p>\n But Dillon is doubling down on tweaking Australia’s most popular professional football code, and quickly. Instead of maybe taking stock, or introducing incremental changes, he’s backing his vision for the league and making moves. Say what you will about his tenure, but he’s not sitting still.<\/p>\n “Our fans love finals games, so we think it provides opportunities and hope for our fans,” Dillon said on Monday.<\/p>\n “I’ve got plenty of good feedback from the clubs overnight. Our fans love finals and they love games of consequence. We know those games are the best-attended and most-watched on television.”<\/p>\n So shouldn’t we give it a go?<\/p>\n Think about the current finals structure, and the pre-finals bye. The biggest criticism of that period is how slow it feels, and how the momentum of the season halts. Having the play-in\/wildcard would immediately keep the good times rolling in a week usually without men’s footy.<\/p>\n Taking 2025 as an example, it would also give teams like the Western Bulldogs a chance to play finals disruptor. They finished the year in ninth, with the third best percentage (137%) of any team. They played explosive football. Seeing them face off with Hawthorn in a ‘wildcard’ would have been box office footy.<\/p>\n The last few weeks of the year suddenly also have more meaning for clubs in that 9-13 slots; one last push for finals instead of sending players in for surgery and limping over the line.<\/p>\n Sure, a team ranked ninth, or 10th probably isn’t going to win the premiership. But the same can be said for most teams outside the top four, most years.<\/p>\n And on the surface it might seem like the move to a ‘top 10’ is cheapening the finals, given more teams will make it than won’t, but think longer term. In 2028, Tasmania will enter the competition, and perhaps a 20th license will be awarded not long after.<\/p>\n “I don’t think it rewards mediocrity,” Dillon said. “It makes that gap between sixth and seventh something clubs will strive for.”<\/p>\n The AFL ignored temptation to expand the finals in 2011 and 2012 when the Suns and Giants joined the competition, at which time the split went from 8\/16 to 8\/18. The league could soon be in the same position as it was in 2010 when half of the league’s teams made finals – not the end of the world by any stretch.<\/p>\n The jury is out regarding whether a ‘wildcard’ or ‘play-in’ is the best way to format a ‘top 10’ finals system. Like the AFL has done in the past, it may look to revamp how September works in due course.<\/p>\n But rubbishing these ideas without giving them a go? Nothing would ever change, and the league would no doubt slip into a malaise.<\/p>\n At the risk of his personal publicity radar going off, you can’t help but admire how Peter V’Landys has steered the ship at the rugby league.<\/p>\n Not every idea of his may have worked, but, as Dillon is trying to emulate, V’Landys is not shy about trying new things. Games in Las Vegas, ‘six again’ (for better or worse), expansion — it’s not dissimilar and the reality is footy needs to keep innovating, because it’s competitors constantly are as well.<\/p>\n Give the AFL’s wildcard week a chance, you may be pleasantly surprised – especially if your team makes it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matt WalshNov 10, 2025, 10:53 AM CloseMatt Walsh has been with ESPN for more than seven years, covering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-274371","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/r1573407_729x729_1-1.png&w=130&h=130&scale=crop&location=center.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe AFL will introduce a wildcard weekend in 2026.\u00a0ESPN\/Getty Images<\/p>\n