Essendon coach Brad Scott has slammed the idea of a wildcard round, saying a change to the finals structure would be "fraught with danger".
Incoming AFL boss Andrew Dillon will raise the idea of an NBA-style format after the home-and-away season when he meets with the league's chief executives on Tuesday.
Scott, who was the AFL's general manager of football prior to taking on the Bombers coaching job late last year, believes it would be an "unjust" way for the league to go.
"Maybe I'm a bit overly cautious of these things, but you fight tooth and nail for 23 games of the year to get to a position," he said on Tuesday.
"I think the seventh-placed team playing the 10th-placed team or whatever format that would be, there's potential for some almost unjust outcomes based on a 23-game season and then it comes down to one game when a team has qualified well in front of another.
"In a fixture that is clearly inequitable, in almost every way, in a system where broadcast and attendance is prioritised over fairness and equity, to put something else which is potentially inequitable into the system is fraught with danger, in my opinion."
The NBA introduced a play-in tournament in 2020, pitting teams ranked seventh to 10th in each conference against each other for the last two spots in the top-eight for the playoffs.
It comes as just one-and-a-half games separates fifth-placed Geelong and Gold Coast in 13th as teams outside the top four scrap for the remaining four positions in finals.
GWS coach Adam Kingsley said on Monday night he was "interested" in the wildcard round idea but North Melbourne caretaker coach Brett Ratten was firmly against it.
Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley insisted the idea had some merit.
"With the ladder looking as squeezed as it is, it sort of warrants that you've got to win that last one on a wildcard weekend," he told Fox Footy.
