2025 Wildcard weekend at long odds as AFL refuses to commit to Opening Round

SEN news breaker Sam Edmund can’t see a Wildcard Round being introduced by the AFL in 2025.

AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said last month that the league was exploring the concept that would see teams that finish seventh to 10th on the ladder at the end of the home and away season facing off for the final two spots in the top eight.

Under the proposal, the top six teams would automatically qualify for September, while 7th would play 10th and 8th would play 9th. The winners from those two games would progress to September officially.

While the idea received some support from club bosses at a meeting in Perth during August, Edmund understands that it won’t be rushed in for the 2025 season.

“I would put it at a maybe 100 to 1 for next year, and maybe even that is leaving the wiggle room that we don't need to leave,” Edmund said on SEN Afternoons.

“I think the AFL are happy for the conversation to linger because it's all good fodder and maybe they look at it as a bit of a temperature check of sorts.

“It was one of those things that was raised at that CEO meeting in Perth. It got more traction on the ground over there and certainly, it got more support than ever before.

“But it won't be coming in, certainly not for next year, is my understanding.

“I was at a function with Laura Kane last week and I'd suggest we can put a line through it for now and even Opening Round.”

Edmund also isn’t certain that Opening Round will return for 2025 with AFL footy boss Laura Kane non-committal on starting the season the same way as it did in 2024.

“I can't get Laura to commit to Opening Round,” Edmund said.

“It's certainly all being worked through behind the scenes at the moment. I think it's reasonable to assume at this stage that Opening Round might proceed in a different matter with a different structure around it.

“It’s twice now that I've put the question directly to Laura and she won't commit to it at this stage.

“So, I think there's a lot being worked out behind the scenes at the moment such as, ‘Who’s involved? How many teams? What happens with the structure at the back end?’.

“Gather Round is obviously a set and forget, that's contractually tied in and is going to become a juggernaut.

“But I just wonder about Opening Round where this is going to drop when it does drop and what it's going to look like.”

The 2024 Opening Round saw four games take place across Queensland and New South Wales with Brisbane, Sydney, GWS and Gold Coast hosting Carlton, Melbourne, Collingwood and Richmond respectively.