{"id":589297,"date":"2026-04-06T14:52:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/589297\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T14:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:52:21","slug":"geelong-coach-chris-scott-calls-out-wildcard-round-introduction-as-cash-grab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/589297\/","title":{"rendered":"Geelong coach Chris Scott calls out wildcard round introduction as cash grab"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geelong<\/a> coach Chris Scott<\/a> has taken a shot at the AFL<\/a>, calling the organisation out for the introduction of wildcard round. <\/p>\n

The AFL extended the finals series for the 2026 season, with seventh playing tenth and eighth playing ninth for the last spots in the top eight.<\/p>\n

The move has been a controversial one, particularly with the league declaring them true finals and not a play-in<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Epic’ scenes as US superstar conquers Stawell Gift<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Young guns asked to save Broncos amid spine crisis<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Schumacher’s daughter opens up in new documentary<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Chris Scott, Senior Coach of the Cats looks on during the AFL Grand Final.\u00a0via Getty Images<\/p>\n

And Scott has joined the chorus of those against the change, saying the decision was purely a cash grab by AFL headquarters.<\/p>\n

“This is why I shouldn’t do these interviews this close to the game, because I speak my mind and it’s good for you and bad for me,” Scott laughed on Fox Footy, speaking after his side’s loss to Hawthorn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I just tend to think they just made it up (wildcard round).<\/p>\n

“Just threw in another couple of finals for no good reason except cash, probably.”<\/p>\n

“Our media manager is sweating,” Scott added with a laugh.<\/p>\n

After four rounds, Geelong currently sits outside of the new top 10, with two wins and two losses. <\/p>\n

They lost an instant classic to the Hawks on Easter Monday, going down by a point.<\/p>\n

North Melbourne premiership star David King agrees with Scott, calling the change to the finals system “nonsense” when it was first mooted.<\/p>\n

“Mate, come on. What absolute nonsense this is,” King told SEN.<\/p>\n

“In 2021, a team who’d only won 10 games for the year would be involved in this. They’ve had a failed season and we’re rewarding them? It’s just a nonsense.<\/p>\n

“Give me meaningful impact in the finals over money.<\/p>\n

“I’ll tell you what I’ll do \u2026 I’ll retire immediately if ninth or 10th wins the flag. Immediately. Teams that have failed seasons and they’re going to go on and win the flag? I am happy to walk away from the game if they win it.<\/p>\n

“They’ve struggled to have 50-50 seasons and we’re going to reward them with a final series? That’s rubbish.”<\/p>\n

As things sit round now after four rounds, Melbourne would host Collingwood and Port Adelaide would host Brisbane in the wildcard games. <\/p>\n

Had the top 10 been instituted last year, Gold Coast would have hosted Sydney and Hawthorn would have faced the Western Bulldogs. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Geelong coach Chris Scott has taken a shot at the AFL, calling the organisation out for the introduction…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-589297","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\/589297","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=589297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}