AFL wild about a finals revamp

THE AFL would consider a wildcard finals series and even a best-of-three grand final series but only in the event of a rapidly improving scenario that sees football back within coming months.

AFL fixturing boss Travis Auld has moved from helping the league get its finances under control to examining various fixturing models.

The AFL is set to meet with the AFLPA to get approval for four-day breaks which will see teams travelling interstate and playing a pair of games within four days. That will allow the league to jam 17 rounds into a shorter period of time.

But wildcard weekends and a best-of-three grand final series adds extra time to the fixture where the coronavirus pandemic might not allow sport to be played until August or September.

The league could even compress its fixture early with no crowds across all days of the week then play a chunk of the fixture as normal Friday to Sunday to maximise crowds when they are able to return.

But the league’s determination is to play at least 17 rounds and four finals before thinking about adding weeks.

Auld said yesterday nothing was off the table but everything depended on a return date.

A grand final series would be extremely unlikely given the break with tradition but still hasn’t been ruled out.

“We are (open to a wildcard weekend) except it’s going to add length to the season,” Auld said. “If we have got the time maybe but things would have to change really quickly for us to be in a position where we have spare time. If we had kept going from Round 1 we would have had spare time but every week that goes by you lose that space.”

In a crammed fixture Victorian teams will travel and play both teams in a state — potentially on a Saturday, then Wednesday — with non-Victorian teams doing the reverse.