I saw my first “real” game of footy in March 1967. It was a Hawthorn FC intra-club practice match at Mitcham Oval in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. It was the day I first laid eyes on Peter Hudson. He booted a running drop kick from the boundary line – I kid you not! My brother and I still talk of it today.
I religiously followed the Hawks from 1967 to 1975 but when I started to play senior footy my days of the weekly ritual of visiting the suburban grounds of Melbourne each and every week came to an end.
After a stint at teaching, I found myself at the Melbourne Football Club in 1988 as a Development Officer and remained in the AFL “system” to the end of 2016 having served as CEO of AFL Queensland for fifteen years and COO of the GWS Giants for seven years. I had nigh on the thirty years in football.
When I talk footy to my mates these days, they anticipate me being a “traditionalist” due to my love of the game from the 1960s and my professional involvement for three decades.
I saw the introduction of the out on the full rule, the centre diamond then square, the gradual increase of field umpires, 15 metre penalties turn into 50, interchange numbers increase, rotations introduced, centre circle lines, 50 metre arcs introduced, two hands in the back rules, differing interpretations of holding the ball, dropping the ball (no such rule for years), incorrect disposal, six-six-six, the stand rule, and the list goes on.
And ten years ago, we saw the introduction of the AFLW competition which has grown into a credible stand-alone product with well attended crowds, good number of eye balls on screens and players earning an average salary of $82,000 by 2027.
All the while the finals system has changed with the increased number of teams since the advent of the AFL and the introduction of clubs from Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. Tasmania is coming. We had a final four, final five, final six and now a final eight.
Opening Rounds, Gather Rounds, mid-season byes, and pre-finals byes have all infiltrated the AFL Fixture in recent years.
And now we learn of the introduction of a “Wildcard Round” to conclude the season. The top six placed teams have a bye while the seventh placed team will take on the tenth placed and the eighth placed team will take on the ninth placed. The winners of the wildcard games will progress into the top eight finals series format.
And why not I say?
Every footy fan needs hope. Religion is about hope. For some, footy is a religion. Why not give them hope for as long as is possible? The AFL “haters” are claiming it’s another money grab, an extra round for the broadcasters and rewarding mediocrity.
Apart from giving hope to thousands and thousands of fans it will eradicate clubs resting players, pulling stumps four or five rounds out to put players into “pre-season” surgery and dare I say it – tanking. It might even influence the movement of players under the Free Agency rules.
I can recall one high profile Football Manager in the final game of the season standing in the player bench area instructing the runner to take players off the field to ensure a loss was achieved. After leading at three-quarter time the desired outcome was achieved. The Number 1 pick in the draft was guaranteed. Not good for football.
There are also the gambling implications, when people become aware of a club’s plans to rest players..
For those that say stop “tinkering” with the game be reminded the game has been tinkered with for decades – remember the flick pass?
In my time at the AFL, they lived by a mantra; “if it isn’t broke fix it anyway.” In other words, find innovation and be receptive to change to stay ahead of the game. Australia is the only nation in the world that sustains four football codes but make no mistake our game needs to continually innovate. Our competitors in the northern states, where over 50% of the nation’s population resides (for Victorians be reminded it is a national game), the NRL get a jump start every year with their season starting prior to the AFL, they now have content in the US with games played in Las Vegas, State-of-Origin dominates and will never be superseded by a one off AFL Interstate game played in February. The NRL Finals match the AFL in ratings and viewership.
The man I most respect in football is Neil Balme. Out of interest I rang him to get his thoughts. Neil has never been a great “fan” of the AFL, and I expected a negative response to the wildcard round – which Dills has explained is in fact the “first week of the finals.”
“Yeah, I reckon its great. Why wouldn’t you create more opportunities for clubs and players, more anticipation and engagement with fans and particularly club members who pay for membership. It gives everyone more hope!”
There you go. I asked him about the others…
And what of the last touch rule? “The South Australians got it right and it works in the AFLW.” Tick.
Centre bounce gone? “Good call. Umpires need to get decision making right and not worry about whether they can bounce the ball straight. It will also help junior umpire ranks I reckon.”
State-of-Origin? “I loved representing my home state so I’m all for it but I’m not sure about February.”
My own prediction, come next year when the wildcard “finals” games are being played is there will be massive crowds, huge television audiences, more interest in our game nationally, and above all people who want hope in their lives will be enriched, inspired and connected through their love of their club and the great game of Australian football.
You know why? Because some will believe they can win it from tenth spot!
More from Richard Griffiths can be read HERE.
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100% agree Richard. The naysayers will change their tune when the round arrives. Noone likes the break after the final round. Now you’ll get two good games to keep the whole thing rolling. The lure will keep mid table teams right at it for the chance to progress. If it gives up and comers a taste why not. This ‘everyone gets a prize’ drivel is annoying. It’s not true. The only prize is the Premiership Cup. That will always be the case.
Hey Griffo, all you say is fair and reasonable. In reality hard to argue against this “progression”.
I’d rather have seen them address the inequities of the “draw/fixture”!!
Surely the game is strong enough, even with pressure from the telecast media, to move to an even 17 round season. Home game advantage rotated over 2 seasons.
The idea that some teams, by playing 2 rounds against lesser teams get a flying start. In effect a 4 game win as opposed to an unknown win loss scenario.
Maybe even play specialty rounds after all clubs have played each other once in the season. Debatable!
For the record, my first game of footy was at Princes Park in 1965 to see RDB take on the Dees for the first time. I was 10. Loved the game ever since even if it has had some ups and downs. Enjoyed your thoughts?
We get what we’re given. Take it or leave it. We are all actors in this.
Well said Griffo
As a traditionalist, when first mooted I was against the idea but now it makes sense to me
Lets hope some of the extra cash for the keepers of the code finds it was back to community footy.
This is simply a distraction to take our focus from the real issues the AFL needs to fix. This is being imposed versus what the fans want. If it wasn’t for the love, passion, commitment of the average AFL fan this organisation would be stuffed. It’s a Boys Club as per Michael Warner’s book. Jobs for the boys and noses in the trough. I’ve watched the deterioration of grass roots footy over the last 30 year while the AFL’s profit has exploded. The NRL might not get the crowds but as a 60 year footballer and coach in AFL I have found myself watching way more NRL than I could ever have dreamed of. Any extra cash the AFL makes from a top 10 will never reach grass roots. You can tell from the CEO’s Trump-like announcement of the top 10 that this is the culture we have to accept now. Will the changes affect tragic like me? Of course not. I’ll continue to watch my Saints every week and it’s the great unwashed like me that the suits at the AFL rely on.
The AFL is difficult to admire on so many issues and here’s another. Lots of we know that you know what we’re doing but are doing it anyway. Of course, the language of ‘wild card’ is disingenuous given it’s borrowed from the NFL with a system of conferences and divisions. But for the AFL to call it a top ten more directly allows criticism about rewarding mediocrity. Again, they know that we know.
Having said this will I watch the wild card weekend? Of course. And if my team wins by a point! All a given.
The ‘wildcard’ round has been discussed ad nauseam for years, so its introduction was inevitable. And yes, it is a revenue-raising decision, despite the AFL’s mantra of selling hope.
Do I want it? No. Will I attend an elimination final if my team finishes 10th? Of course!
Thanks RG for a thoughtful appraisal of the introduction of the “wildcard” round next season.
As a couple of others have noted in the comments, if the AFL took their role as custodians seriously in wanting to correct/improve/reset anything about the current arrangements they would focus on fairing up the game. That is, they would create an equal, equitable and just competition with all teams playing each other twice, once at home and once away. Before we hear cries of “the comp could not sustain that many H&A games” I have a perfect, I mean reasonable solution. And you hinted at it in your essay.
Blow the whole thing up. What should have happened in 1990 can still happen. The buck stops with the big V. Back then Victoria took it as given that the AFL could and should be the VFL with extensions. That was the first (well one of them anyway) big lie Victoria masquerading as the official spokesbloke of the Australian Rules Football Past Present and Future League tried to sell. Footy lovers outside Vic called bullshit on that then and it still smells, looks and tastes like BS so lucky we didn’t step in it. Au contraire, we did.
What should have happened in 1990 (and if we had the wherewithal, we could still change things today) is the AFL should have been set up separately to all state comps, including the VFL, WAFL and SANFL.
The AFL could be a comp of 14 teams. Teams from state leagues would tender for a license to play in the national comp. Hell, you could have two comps – a Premier League and a Second Division. Then we would have 28 teams. Trouble is, Victoria would have to swallow its pride as a max of 6 of its VFL teams would be get a license in the Premier League, with WA and SA receiving 2 licenses and NSW and Qld, one each. Likewise for the Second Division. The AFL would support state leagues to continue and these leagues would feed into the national comp, via Second Division.
Yes, I know that this idea has flaws aplenty and plenty of questions, but here is the thing. What it would offer is priceless, an actual national comp. Instead of the artificially constructed “AFL”, that for some reason allowed and continues to allow VFL history/records/memories to be incorporated into it, while proud state leagues across the country are ignored and forgotten, as if they never existed, in AFL records. Kinda reminds me of the hat from Kundera’s novel, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
If this reads like a rant from someone who has less years ahead of them then behind, refer back to the essay it is responding to. It starts with a quaint memory from 1967. I remember the WAFL in 1986 as a strong competition with 15,000 footy mad fans going to see their teams win and lose at grounds like Bassendean and Lathlain. And then in 1987 when the Eagles entered the VFL (not even the AFL!) the comp collapsed, with barely 2,000 attending local footy . Whose fault is that? All of ours. Can we rectify it? Surely. The AFL hucksters, I mean custodians want our focus to stay on how our team will fare in 2026 (all the noise is about rule changes; trade deals; fixtures teased out) but there are enough memories in this essay and the comments and through the whole Footy Almanac to suggest we do care about the game. Not just the comp for comp sake, but the legacy.
So, I say whatever to the “wildcard” idea. It, apparently, is about making things fairer, as in giving more teams a chance to dream about the big dance. But this is another band-aid when surgery is required. It means diddly squat, compared to actually creating a fairer competition. Rant, over and out.
Footnotes:
1. While it was good to read your point that Victorians need to be remined it is a national game, it would appear you had already Victorianised the AFL in an earlier paragraph, when you inadvertently left Victoria out of the statement about the advent of the AFL: “… since the advent of the AFL and the introduction of clubs from Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. Tasmania is coming.”
2. The VFL introduced the Final 5, replacing the Final 4 in 1972. That finals concept was introduced in 1931, which replaced a finals system that had run since 1901 and didn’t engage a Preliminary final. So, in basic math terms, the VFL was content with a top 4 for 30 years, then modified that (bringing in a Prelim), which ran for 40 years. Final 5 then ran for 20 years. In 1991 (one year into the AFL) it was revised to 6 team finals comp, and three years later, to an 8 team finals arrangement. This version ran for 5 years and then it was revised. With the introduction of the “wildcard” round, the AFL for the first time (and I don’t think the VFL, SANFL or WAFL ever had this arrangement) will in 2026 run a comp where more than half the teams play in a finals series. Smells like pandering to me.
Will I watch it? Yes. Will it create interest? Yes. Do I agree with it? No. I just can’t believe you can give a lifeline to a side that finishes 10th. It’s laughable. This year for instance, Sydney could have rested all their star players for the final round because they couldn’t finish any lower than 10th. This means they would play Hawthorn the following week (who finished 7th but were a chance to finish top 4 so went full throttle for the final round). This means Hawks would be severely disadvantaged in the first week of the finals – playing a rested up Sydney. The whole point of the bye before the finals was to stop this sort of stuff. Just laughable.
Two things DB, first, thank you for finally shaking off yer absurd love of the Pies and seeking the light at the mighty Hawks! Second, terrific example. Cheers
Completely agree with Richard on this one, and I also agree with the AFL too, regarding the Wildcard Round. He is absolutely spot on when he mentions every footy fan needs hope. Especially, St Kilda supporters who from 1967 onwards, were extremely upset that the VFL deprived them of winning more premierships by awarding Hawthorn their prized Mornington Peninsula zone. St Kilda, you could argue, have never really recovered from that unfortunate decision, apart from losing Grand Finals in 1971, 1997, 2009 and 2010. Even Allan Jeans, St Kilda’s only premiership coach, said these changes to the zoning rules affected St Kilda greatly.
Most premiership success starved St Kilda supporters, as well as the club having limited finals appearances in their history, would be absolutely be delighted to finish 10th on the ladder. Should that eventuate, it’s possible that St Kilda could play away interstate or play a Victorian team that plays regularly at the MCG. However, that’s possible in most top 10 finishes on the ladder.
I remember in a 12 team VFL competition, the top 4, then the top 5 made the finals. In the end, seven teams missed out. Under the new top 10 system, 8 teams will still miss finals, and it will be 9 teams missing the finals, when Tasmania join the AFL.
It’s amazing the ladder final position nowadays. Prior to the AFL, twelfth on the ladder used to be embarrassing, as it was the wooden spoon position. Yet Richmond in 2016, finished 13th, then won the flag the following year. To me, that shows that there is great depth in the competition, justifying more teams, in this case the top 10, playing finals. Nowadays with 18 teams and then 19, means more teams should be allowed to play finals. Otherwise, it’s too hard for many teams to play finals. If St Kilda are fortunate to finish 10th on the ladder in 2026, I also say bring it on!