AFL finals wildcard round put on back burner after ‘very high level’ discussions

AFL CEO Andrew Dillon has put the wildcard round concept on the back burner for at least another year.

Last month, Dillon said there has been growing support among clubs for an extra knockout round leading into the finals, which would effectively be expanded from eight to 10 teams.

The extra round would see 7th play 10th and 8th play 9th with the winners advancing to form the top eight teams.

It would effectively expand the current finals system into five weeks and wouldn’t need to change the schedule given the current pre-finals bye round.

“It’s got probably a bit more support than it has had previously but there’s a lot of consultation that we’ll have to go through with our clubs, players and commission,” Dillon said last month.

“But from small ideas come big things. Gather Round was a thought bubble at one stage and we’ve seen how successful that’s been.

“It’s something that we’d look at but the final eight is tried and tested, and it’s worked for the competition for a long time (since 1994).”

The AFL first expanded to a top-eight finals system in 1994 and have had the current format since 2000.

The wildcard concept has been floated for a number of years and was again thrashed out with club CEOs and presidents in a meeting with the AFL on Monday.

But speaking to 7NEWS at the Brownlow Medal on Monday night, Dillon revealed more work needs to be done to change the format despite “high level” discussions.

“It was discussed at a very high level, but still got a bit of work to do before we start tinkering with the finals format that’s served the game very well,” Dillon told 7NEWS.

When asked if it could feature in the coming years, Dillon said: “Yeah, a lot of work still to go into it.

It has previously been reported the AFL would consider selling off the wildcard round — like it has done with Gather Round — to a state outside of Victoria.

Meanwhile, the Opening Round concept will likely continue next year with four games in New South Wales and Queensland to kick off the 2025 season.

But there could be a new addition with two Victorian teams tipped to square off at the MCG to ensure they get a taste of the action.

Tune in to Seven and 7plus on Saturday to watch the AFL grand final live and free.