AFL officially makes massive finals fixture shake-up

After months of speculation the AFL is finally set to introduce a wildcard round, in a massive shake-up to the current finals format.

The change will see the top-eight essentially expanded to a top-10, with two additional matches to be added to the AFL calendar, in the week that is currently occupied by the pre-finals bye.

The two fixtures will see the teams that finish from 7th-10th at the end of the home-and-away season play-off to determine which sides will take the final two elimination final spots a week later.

It means seventh will play 10th, and eighth will play ninth, with the losers’ seasons coming to an end.

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The format has been used in the VFL since 2022.