Most fans quickly dismiss a Wildcard Weekend concept in the AFL and NRL. But there’s one minor tweak that might get momentum moving back in a positive direction.
It’s baffling how quickly the vast majority of fans don’t want to have this conversation. Particularly after a chaotic end to the NBA regular season and the subsequent must-see Play-in games.
It’s even harder to understand how so many are so adamant that Wildcard Weekend is a bad idea. If only some of them could pump the breaks for a moment and just engage with open dialogue. Or even just try. That’s the most frustrating thing about this discussion.
Because Australia’s two major football codes – the AFL and NRL – should have a Wildcard Weekend. And frankly, it’s a no-brainer.
The National Rugby League were genuinely considering its introduction back int 2019. But instant, close-minded outrage bullied the administration into submission.
Widespread sentiment around the concept is dismissive; it’s argued that mediocre and bottom-half teams shouldn’t be rewarded. A fair point, to be sure. But there isn’t a lot more depth to that perspective and it’s time some of them come at the conversation a little differently.
The numbers clearly don’t paint a picture supportive of the Wildcard Weekend concept.
But this isn’t about rewarding teams. There is nothing rewarding about finishing 7th or 8th and having to fight for your spot in the post-season. It’s a punishment, plain and simple. Having eight teams – or half the league – straight up qualify for the finals is still rewarding mediocrity.
Let’s just clear something up quickly: teams making it to a hypothetical Wildcard Weekend don’t need to be called finalists. Let’s use that as an important starting point here.
Selling Wildcard Weekend is all about language
The AFL and NRL’s post-season have their own nuances, despite being identical top eight formats; the AFL has a week off after the last regular season round, while the NRL does not.
And even though the start of the AFLW season in August 2022 got clean air and more attention across the AFL’s Finals bye, which it whole-heartedly deserves, there was undoubtedly also room to sneak in a few eliminator men’s matches. Instead, the teams that finished 7th and 8th in the AFL put their feet up and recharged the batteries over the weekend. Richmond and the Western Bulldogs were hardly deserving of such an opportunity, barely scraping into the finals and doing little more than a number of teams beneath them on the ladder.
The AFL, which is somewhat likely to expand from 18 teams if Tasmania gets its way, could’ve comfortably played two knockout matches that weekend – branded something other than ‘finals’ – and it then makes a bunch of teams outside the top six actually earn their place on the inside.
Realistically, there’s maybe only five or six teams with genuine claims when we hit September each year. And almost every time the finals series will sort a lot of that out anyway.
So including extras doesn’t hurt; it keeps more games more interesting for longer. If we were going to crown the most ‘deserving’ side each year, we’d shift the codes to a Premier League model; crown the minor premier. And that works perfectly fine in English football. But finals are fun and big games in our football codes are box office.
It’s not broadcast executives that need convincing, of course, there’s an obvious appetite at that level, given the opportunity to sell more advertising space and create more must-watch content.
It’s fans arguing that 9th and 10th don’t ‘deserve’ to be finalists. So let’s be really careful about the language; only the top six teams automatically book their spot. Let’s add some drama, plus actually make teams earn their September spots.
Sport without context just isn’t as interesting. So providing more teams with some hope late in the season shouldn’t be viewed as a bad thing. It’ll result in more fan bases staying engaged deep into July and August.
As we’ve witnessed with the NBA’s fairly new Play-in Tournament concept, the drama towards the race to the cutoff is captivating. And any side in that Wildcard Weekend window is severely up against it. In the NRL and AFL, 7th-10th would ultimately need to win five straight games to claim a premiership; close to impossible. But deserving, if good enough.
The result of a Wildcard Weekend, when it’s boiled down, is more meaningful games, more interest, more drama, more opportunity for leagues to profit, better crowds late in the season and more incentive to be better than mediocre.
Because for teams that miss the top six, there’s a disadvantage awaiting them. Fans deserve matches with meaning, while more teams will ultimately get what they deserve.
