Is it time for the AFL to extend the finals format?

[bulldogsthru&thru]

The competition is as even as it ever has been. Currently more teams miss the finals than make it and if the league expands to 20 teams, even more will miss.

Is it time for the AFL to introduce a play-in or wild card finals week?

It's been implemented in all the major US leagues as either a play-in tournament or wild card round.

The benefits are that more teams can contend for a spot in the finals. We'd have less dead rubber games towards the end of the season and potentially an extra week of finals to enjoy. Having more than half the league out of finals action seems a bit of a downer, especially given there's nothing going on for them such as a relegation fight.

So what would it look like?

The week after seasons end would see positions 1-6 get a week off. Then you'd have 7 v 10 and 8 v 9 playing off for a spot in the final 8. The winners of each match would qualify for positions 7 and 8 of the finals.

After that, you either continue with the existing finals format or rejig it so that it's 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5 in total knock-out format.

Thoughts?

[FrediKanoute]

No. It is right that more teams miss than make the business end of the season.

As it is only one team has won a GF from outside the top 6 which suggests that any expansion to include the 9th/10th placed teams will just serve to pad games out. Teams finishing in those positions finished there for a reason and are better off giving their players a break and coming back next year.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

No. It is right that more teams miss than make the business end of the season.

As it is only one team has won a GF from outside the top 6 which suggests that any expansion to include the 9th/10th placed teams will just serve to pad games out. Teams finishing in those positions finished there for a reason and are better off giving their players a break and coming back next year.

Fair point. I think for me the potential expansion to 20 teams is an element but the evenness of the competition is the main one. The NBA has just seen 1 game separate up to 4 teams. Missing finals by percentage might become a more frequent occurrence and it is even more compounded when you throw in an unfair fixture.

I'm not wanting to see extra games for the sake of extra games but I feel we're starting to see a top 10 or even 12 starting to develop with maybe only 5-6 teams complete rubbish.

[Flamethrower]

The reason it works in the USA is because they have multiple divisions in each league (up to 8 divisions).

Aussie AFL fans have said time and time again that they don't want the AFL split into divisions - it would be WAY too complex for the average AFL fan to comprehend.

[jeemak]

I actually think the league is only now becoming even enough to justify eight teams making the finals, increasing it to more teams in my view softens the prestige. If after 22 rounds or whatever it is now isn't enough to stake a claim to be in that last eight then you probably don't deserve to be there.

Club (position) wins
2022 - WB (F - 8) and Carlton (9) 12 wins, St Kilda 11 wins (10), Port (11) and GCS (12) 10 wins
2021 - GWS (F - 7) and Essendon (F - 8), WCE (10) and St Kilda (11) and Fremantle (12) 10 wins
2020 (17 games) - Coll (F - 9), Melbourne (10) 9 wins, GWS (10) 8 wins
2019 - WB (F - 7) and Essendon (F - 8) 12 wins, Hawthorn (9) and Port (10) 11 wins
2018 - GWS (F - 7) and Geelong (F - 8) 13 wins, North (10) and Port (11) and Essendon (12) and Adelaide (13) 12 wins
2017 - Essendon (F - 7) and WCE (F - 8) and Melbourne (9) 12 wins, WB (10) and St Kilda (11) 11 wins

You could argue a case for it if the results of 2018 and 2019 became a trend as in those years teams lower on the ladder actually won more than half of their games, but over recent years we've seen anyone who missed out winning less than half of their games. I can't understand why you'd give the privilege of finals to teams that can't complete the season better than 50% W/L.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

I actually think the league is only now becoming even enough to justify eight teams making the finals, increasing it to more teams in my view softens the prestige. If after 22 rounds or whatever it is now isn't enough to stake a claim to be in that last eight then you probably don't deserve to be there.

Club (position) wins
2022 - WB (F - 8) and Carlton (9) 12 wins, St Kilda 11 wins (10), Port (11) and GCS (12) 10 wins
2021 - GWS (F - 7) and Essendon (F - 8), WCE (10) and St Kilda (11) and Fremantle (12) 10 wins
2020 (17 games) - Coll (F - 9), Melbourne (10) 9 wins, GWS (10) 8 wins
2019 - WB (F - 7) and Essendon (F - 8) 12 wins, Hawthorn (9) and Port (10) 11 wins
2018 - GWS (F - 7) and Geelong (F - 8) 13 wins, North (10) and Port (11) and Essendon (12) and Adelaide (13) 12 wins
2017 - Essendon (F - 7) and WCE (F - 8) and Melbourne (9) 12 wins, WB (10) and St Kilda (11) 11 wins

You could argue a case for it if the results of 2018 and 2019 became a trend as in those years teams lower on the ladder actually won more than half of their games, but over recent years we've seen anyone who missed out winning less than half of their games. I can't understand why you'd give the privilege of finals to teams that can't complete the season better than 50% W/L.

Well the play-in concept would have teams 9th and 10th not technically make finals. They'd just be given an extra chance at it. Theoretically if they aren't good enough they'd lose to 7th and 8th. A top 10 would be a totally different concept, one that I don't know how it would operate given odd numbers that would eventuate.

Finishing 9th/10th by a game and knowing you played top 4 opponents twice as much as teams finishing 7th/8th is pretty crap imo. A play-in could somewhat challenge that final ladder position.

Personally I wouldn't mind either way. The debate in us sports is interesting as it would be here. Ultimately a complete even fixture is what we need, but it'll never happen.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

The reason it works in the USA is because they have multiple divisions in each league (up to 8 divisions).

Aussie AFL fans have said time and time again that they don't want the AFL split into divisions - it would be WAY too complex for the average AFL fan to comprehend.

I don't think conferences really matter with the format though. It's just about giving teams on the fringe a better look in.

Divisions/conferences are needed in the US with 30 odd teams. It COULD be useful in the AFL but I don't really think it's needed. Divisions carry history in the us. It doesn't here.

[MrMahatma]

I’d prob be more in favour of making it a 6 again than a 10. As much as we’ve “benefited” once by making a run from 7th, I do think the whole of season performance needs to be the reason for qualification/advantage and as it is, you only tend to need to be 50/50 win:loss to make finals.