“You can take that to the bank”: Dwayne Russell’s mail on an AFL wildcard round

SEN’s Dwayne Russell firmly believes the AFL will introduce a wildcard round as early as next year.

There have been some calls to develop a play-in round for teams at the bottom of the eight and those who sit just outside.

While the finer details of the concept are still to be finalised, Russell is hearing that a round of games to determine a finals position (or two) will be introduced in 2025.

“We are getting a wildcard round next year,” Russell said on SEN’s Dwayne’s World.

“You can take that to the bank. We’re getting a wildcard round next year, I reckon. I’m just hearing it from too many people for it to not be true.

“I’m hearing the AFL might want to have a special name for it though. A bit like they wanted to have a Gather Round but they didn’t know what to call it. What do they call this special round? Can’t take the name that Rugby League have been using - Magic Round. You’ve got to have your own name.

“I don’t think the AFL will want to call it wildcard round either because it’s too NFL, it’s too American.

“So what do they call it? Taking that into account that we’ll get it, what do we call it?”