Morris: Wildcard Finals will not be sold

There has been some conjecture around the AFL’s Wildcard Finals Round this week.

Some reports suggested that the 7 v 10 and 8 v 9 finals games - which take place for the first time in 2026 - would be sold to the highest bidder.

That would have taken the home ground advantage away from the teams who finish seventh and eighth.

The idea caused somewhat of an uproar on social media but fans can rest assured that it won’t be happening.

SEN’s Tom Morris has reported that these new fixtures will not be compromised.

“There was a report a coupe of days ago that Wildcard Round could be sold off to the highest bidder,” Morris said on SEN’s Crunch Time.

“That won’t be happening, that’s not taking place.

“You can rest assured that whoever finishes seventh and eighth this year will have home finals that weekend.”

Ken Hinkley rejoiced.

“Well, it was a home game for seventh and eighth,” he said.

“That was the reason you’d be playing in it, you’d at least got a home final.”

As did Gerard Whateley who was worried about the integrity of the concept if this sales idea were to go ahead.

“This is the line between it being a gimmick and them being actual finals,” Whateley said.

“If you made them proper wildcard games - as in you’re not in the finals until you play these games - then you could have held some sort of tournament if you’d wanted to.

“But we’ve declared them finals, you have to have the integrity of the other finals.”