AFL boss Andrew Dillon says wildcard finals round will create more games of consequence despite being rejected by fans

AFL boss Andrew Dillon is adamant a landscape-shifting move to introduce a finals wildcard round is not “rewarding mediocrity”. adamant it’s what fans want despite overwhelming rejection of the plan. Nearly 80 per cent of AFL fans don’t support the change, which opens the door for the teams that finish ninth and 10th in the regular season to win a “knockout” final on the weekend, which had become the pre-finals bye. As the plan was confirmed, the AFL Fans Association called on the AFL Commission to reconsider the proposal to introduce it in 2026, with the likes of Richmond champion Matthew Richardson aghast. “More than half our teams make the finals. Seriously?” he wrote on social media. But Dillon was adamant the plan was designed to give fans more “games of consequence” during the season as clubs jostle for positions until the final round and had the full backing of the clubs. “By expanding the final series, we’ll have all games of consequence during the home in a way which we know our fans love,” he said. “We know fans will go to those games. We know they’ll watch them in numbers. But what we also know is that, particularly final series this year where we had pretty much every game as a close enough to a sellout, our fans love finals games.” Dillon was adamant the teams tat finished ninth and 10th in 2025, the Western Bulldogs and Sydney, would be worthy of a finals spot. “I think if you look at the ladder over the last few years, and you see the teams that have been finishing in ninth and 10th, and this year’s a great example, you had the Bulldogs won well more than 50 per cent of the games, had a percentage of over 130,” he said. “And you had the Swans who won over 50 per cent of the games, so I don’t think it rewards mediocrity. What it does is provide opportunities and more games of consequence.” The Bulldogs won 14 games in 2025, a number that could have been enough to finish as high as fifth in some recent seasons, but needed 15 wins to play finals. Dillon confirmed that a wildcard finals win would be counted as a finals win for all clubs, and the move would put a premium on every finishing position inside the top eight, with teams above seventh to get a week off still. “What it does do then is actually make that gap between sixth and seventh, that’ll be something that the clubs will be striving for,” he said. “We’ll see during the finals, you’ll have a big difference between first and second because you get the home final, third and fourth, you get the double chance, fifth and sixth, you’ll get that week off, and then seventh and eighth, you’ll get to host a home wildcard final.” But the reaction was swift from the fans association, which declared 77 per cent of fans did not want the change and called for an immediate review. “Fans aren’t opposed to innovation,” AFLFA president Ron Issko said. “But the wildcard proposal has raised questions about fairness and the home-and-away season. We encourage the AFL Commission and AFL executives to review this proposal, share the rationale, and ensure any decision balances innovation with what supporters value most. “Fans have made their views clear. We hope the commission and executives consider this feedback carefully while balancing the needs of the competition, players, and supporters alike.”