Almanac (Finals) Footy: The Wild Card Weekend

 

The Hutchyfication of Australian Sport continues apace, with the news that the NRL is having a good hard look at what is essentially a Final Ten instead of the current Final Eight.

 

On the Sounding Board podcast that Craig Hutchison shares with Damian Barrett, the former suggested that the introduction of a Wild Card weekend for the AFL is a “no brainer”. But that comes as no surprise, given his self-interest as a purveyor of sports-related content across multiple media methods (and his love of all things Stateside).

 

The format being floated would see, after the final home and away round,  7 v 10 and 8 v 9 playing off (gulp) to determine which two of those four sides would fill the seventh and eighth spots in the remaining finals series (presumably in line with the existing Final Eight fixturing).

 

Arguments proposed in favour of this move include:

a) fewer meaningless late season home and away matches as two or more teams are in the finals race for longer;

b) it is better than having the pre-finals bye weekend (still giving the Top 6 a week off);

c) it possibly still gives teams dudded by an uneven home and away draw a chance at finals;

d) something something content content something I’m paying big money for the rights so I want something in return something America America.

 

The naysayers point out that:

a) more than half of the eighteen teams would be rewarded with a crack at the flag (and the premiership path for seventh and eighth becomes more difficult than under the existing structure);

b) tradition blah blah America America phooey.

 

What would be the consequences of such a move, Almanackers? Does the proposed solution address a real problem? Is this treating the symptom but not the cause? Who would be the unlucky eleventh team each year now that the Tiges have well and truly put Ninethmond to rest? Would this allow Gold Coast to stay in the hunt until at least Round Five?

 

Get out the imaginary whiteboard, Utopia style, and see what you else you can come up with.

 

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About Mark 'Swish' Schwerdt

Saw my first SANFL game in 1967 - Dogs v Peckers. Have only ever seen the Dogs win 1 final in the flesh (1972 1st Semi) Mediocre forward pocket for the AUFC Blacks (1982-89) Life member - Ormond Netball Club -That's me on the right

Comments

  1. Paul Harradine says

    Mark the only thing I can say in defence og this proposal is that here in the states the “wild card”weekend of games usually brings the sporting public(me)with some of the most intriguing and a lot of the time closely fought games than the rset of the playoffs.Teams that find themselves in these games know it’s win or go home and after the absolute snore fest brought about this years “super bowl”I can safely say bring on wild card weekend and let the action fly.

  2. Rob Dawson says

    Worst mistake they could make. It rewards mediocrity although in today’s politically correct, “everyone’s a winner or my feelings might get hurt” society then that probably makes sense. It disadvantages the 2 teams above them who earned their right to play finals. You start the season knowing you need to finish Top 8 – end of story. If the bye round is a problem then remove it. We grew a fantastic national game without it a bye round for over a hundred years and only brought it in to stop teams that had already qualified for finals in potentially ‘throwing’ the games in the last 2 rounds by resting players. Solution? Limit the number of team changes in those 2 rounds to 3 or 4 a side unless verified by an independent AFL sanctioned medical opinion. Simples. It’s sport!! A competition!! Why do we feel the need to keep offering the losers another chance and devaluing the integrity and strength of the competition?

  3. What Rob said

  4. Mark 'Swish' Schwerdt says

    Thanks Paul, Rob and Noel.

    The wildcard concept may have some theoretical legs if/when the league adopts conferences, because the wildcard could be seen as giving some recompense to sides that find themselves in a stronger conference. But that isn’t what we have now, is it, so it would be just a Final Ten in another guise.

    I cracked it a bit when North pulled their final round shifty a few years back, but the bye week solution is worse than the problem that it is meant to address.

  5. JASON ANDREW TOPPIN says

    IF THE NRL WANTS THERE TI BE A WILDCARD ROUND FOR THE FINALS THEN FIRST THEY WILL NEED TO EXTEND THE RESERVE GRADE COMP TO A NATIONAL COMP THEN STRART AN UNDER 20’S COMP AND HAVE THE SOON T BE TEAMS + THE TEAMS ALREADY IN THE NRL IN THE COMP ALLOWING MORE YOUGER PLAYERS TO COME THROUGH THE RANKS OF EACH CLUB THIS IS THE ONLY WAY A WILD CARD ROUND WILL WORK.

  6. To hell with the wildcard system.
    Let’s just have a final 12, or final 14, and let the bottom four clubs suffer.
    Imagine a final 14 play-off which would drag on well into November.
    The mind boggles.

  7. Rulebook says

    I admit I prefer it than 1 having the bye and 2 doesn’t make the unevenness of the draw such a problem
    I do see the point it’s rewarding mediocrity tho

  8. Mark Duffett says

    “bye week solution is worse than the problem that it is meant to address”

    Spot on, Swish. The AFL are making an art of this – the third man up rule also comes to mind.

    I believe it’s an unpopular opinion in these parts, nevertheless still harbour a soft spot for the 17-5 season. Not so much for the three-conference split with a fresh draw for the 5 rounds going into finals, but more for the great merit of its basis on each team playing every other once.

  9. I wondered what happened to the bloke who did the Big Bash League fixture. Poached by AFL Marketing Department.
    JASON – YOUR CAPS LOCK IS STUCK ON – JUST LIKE MY LEFT TURN INDICATOR – ACCORDING TO MY WIFE.

  10. Mark 'Swish' Schwerdt says

    Thanks JASON, Smokie, ‘Book, Mark and PB

    Based on the lack of acceptance shown here, it looks a cert to be introduced in 2020.

  11. So then we have 9th and 10th possibly resting players before having a crack at the 7th and 8th teams. It will make even more a mockery of this once great game, purely for more dollars to sponsors and tv rights holders. If the comp is to be split into ‘conferences’ surely a split each year along the previous year final odd and even ladder positions would render the conferences most fair. Rigging/manipulating the draw each has to end. Where has the spirit of the game gone?

  12. Luke Reynolds says

    The wildcard weekend will be a great lead in to the finals and the Superbowl at the MCG for our franchises.

    ‘Hutchyfication’. Brilliant.

  13. Mark 'Swish' Schwerdt says

    Thanks BJ and Luke – I’ll put you both down in the Against column.

  14. Phillip Dimitriadis says

    Definitely against Swish. To quote the nose picking scene at the Sermon on the Mount from Life of Brian: ” Leave it alone. Give it a rest.”

  15. Why would you follow ANYTHING that the NRL are looking at?

    A final 8 in AFL already rewards some average teams, so why extend that concept further?
    Then another 5 years from now will they consider 11th and 12th teams and have 9th v 12th and 10th v 11th to pay off against the 7th & 8th sides? Geez….what a sideshow it is becoming.

  16. Daryl Schramm says

    Definite no for me on the wild card proposal Swish.
    However I do have some strong opinions on minor round / finals set up but I’ll save that for another time. They have totally stuffed up the AFLW program for minor round and finals this year.
    DJS

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