Dear AFL.

[u/jastcabr1]

Dear AFL,

Instead of a wildcard finals round, may I recommend a "free choice" game. Where the team that finishes first gets to choose which of the other 7 finalists they play in the qualifying final (all other games are adjusted accordingly)

I'm getting a little bored of SA teams embarrassing themselves in the first week of finals.

Sincerely, NOT a crack pot.

[u/the_amatuer_]

[u/CrashMonkey_21]

If the other team wins (say 7th), do they go straight to a prelim?

[u/jastcabr1 → u/CrashMonkey_21]

Yes. Because why not.

[u/wadjemup → u/CrashMonkey_21]

Yes of course, guaranteed double chance only for the first three. Love it! Nothing can go wrong with this.

[u/jastcabr1 → u/wadjemup]

Finals are too formulaic, we need more absurdity similar to the old final 8 system

[u/MisguidedGames → u/CrashMonkey_21]

Straight knock out finals.

[u/lazy-bruce]

Maybe we just need to introduce finals were the two SA teams automatically just finish 7th or 8th regardless

Get it over with a bit quicker

[u/jastcabr1 → u/lazy-bruce]

So long as Richmomd are also 9th. Good plan

[u/NoEar7053]

Teams that have a good season and finish 3rd or 4th have earnt the right to go to Adelaide and build some confidence. Would not be fair to take that away and give it to someone else.

[u/Bigkev8787]

I actually like the idea of 1st and 5th getting to choose their opponent, and 2nd, 6th getting whoever’s left.

[u/Vinnie_Vegas → u/Bigkev8787]

No team would want to do that. Matchups being the result of circumstance is fine, no hurt feelings.

You finish top and get the prize of getting to put the world's biggest rocket up your opponent by insulting them, and putting a giant amount of pressure on you to beat your hand-picked team.

[u/jimbsmithjr → u/Vinnie_Vegas]

Yeah agreed. I think it'd create a lot of fan toxicity too

[u/Pottski → u/jimbsmithjr]

And the last thing Adelaide would ever endorse through no comment is a toxic crowd!

[u/Nakorite → u/Vinnie_Vegas]

They had this in the cricket World Cup and iirc we flipped a coin to decide who to play so it didn’t spur the other team

[u/Vinnie_Vegas → u/Nakorite]

So it's completely pointless to implement then.

[u/Nakorite → u/Vinnie_Vegas]

Yeah I suspect they won’t be doing it again

[u/jastcabr1 → u/Vinnie_Vegas]

It's the psychological warfare that would be so interesting to watch. Similar to the battle of wits that accompanies a coin toss in cricket.

[u/skooterM → u/Vinnie_Vegas]

You've just explained why this is such a great idea.

[u/jamessmith17]

If the AFL did this, it wouldn't be a simple email around the clubs. It would end up being a huge TV show with 10-minute conversations with each club/coach representative before they selected their team, with the first of the last 4 teams doing a Bachelor-style pick.

[u/jastcabr1 → u/jamessmith17]

As long as it involves all 8 coaches standing in a room, and a single rose being passed between two of them. I'm all for it. 

[u/Boatster_McBoat]

Bring back the Challenge system (ignore flair*)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argus_finals_system

* Seriously, please ignore flair, I'm so tired

[u/Stunning_Memory8782 → u/Boatster_McBoat]

Woah! A quick read of that article and now I know how we derived the naming "preliminary final" and why we seem to be one of the only sports who use the term "grand" in front of our final. Genuinely learnt something interesting. Thanks

[u/jastcabr1 → u/Boatster_McBoat]

I find it hilarious looking back at the finals campaigns in the years where that system was in use. If I remember right there were a few years where #1 would lose the first week, then take a week off, and play in the "grand final" good times. 

I wouldn't mind a system where the #1 team has a clear advantage, similar to the top 5 system currently in the SANFL. Otherwise if the top 4 teams are all Victorian, there's no real advantage and it's all just recent form that makes a difference. 

[u/Boatster_McBoat → u/jastcabr1]

It's better now, but IIRC for a while there SANFL ran pre-finals bye plus McIntyre 5 meaning 1st might have played one game in four weeks prior to the GF. Not sure that's an advantage

[u/TheBoanne]

There should be a swimsuit section and a colouring in contest to determine winners.

[u/MisguidedGames]

NOT a crack pot.

Agreed, it would add a very good dynamic. Imagine Geelong finish top and under the current rules they would play Collingwood or Richmond.

Do they choose an MCG tenant or Gold Coast who finished 8th?

They get the home ground advantage they deserved instead of handing it to MCG tenants.

[u/Richo1624 → u/MisguidedGames]

Not too sure the Tiges made it into the finals this year

[u/BusinessPooh → u/Richo1624]

the ai summary used probably told them we did

[u/MisguidedGames → u/Richo1624]

It's an example of MCG Clubs that they could play in the finals. The OP wasn't making a suggest just for September 5th, 2025. Stop using AI and use some abstraction

[u/Richo1624 → u/MisguidedGames]

Brother what are you talking about you’re the comment’s OP

[u/Competitive-Food7021]

Adelaide still probably would of chosen us

[u/oohbeardedmanfriend]

I mean, this is basically the pre-2000 Macintyre Final 8 system where no-one really knew which way the finals were going to end up each week.

[u/ehdhdhdk]

I like this. As a fan of the US sports I could imagine them having a tv show around this, they already have shows regarding the college football top 25 and March Madness although I don’t really follow the college sports.