Six Points: 'Wildcard Blues' should have rivals nervous come September

Each week of the 2026 AFL season, ESPN.com.au's Jake Michaels looks at six big talking points.

This week's Six Points feature the finals-bound Blues, thoughts on a Showdown at the MCG, why Western Australia should never host Thursday night games, and praise for the umpires for pinging Max Hall's 27m (yes!) run.

1. Nobody will want to play Carlton in September

No matter what happens to the Blues from this point on, season 2026 will go down as one of the most bizarre, inexplainable campaigns in AFL history. Let's quickly recap. The club begins the year having just waved goodbye to three of its six biggest names, then proceed to lose eight out of its first nine games (many from seemingly unlosable positions). They sack coach Michael Voss, appoint untried Josh Fraser as caretaker, and now string together five consecutive wins to sit just one win outside finals.

Right now, only ladder-leading Fremantle is riding a better win streak than Carlton, and the Blues have upcoming games against West Coast and Richmond to potentially make it seven on the trot. Should they win those two games, this side would become the first team in league history to follow a seven-game losing streak with a seven-game winning streak. It's nuts! Morale is through the roof, the fans have again found voice, and there is a groundswell of excitement about their September prospects. And while they're not there yet, this side looms as a potential giant killer come finals time.

Think about it. The Blues were written off by just about every footy scribe in the country a month and a half ago and now seem to be coming with a bullet. They will have zero pressure on their shoulders should they make it, and they've already proven they can either mix it with, or beat, a number of teams we believe are finals certainties.

Since Fraser took charge ahead of the Round 10 clash against the Bulldogs, Carlton is hitting 15 of Champion Data's 32 premiership standards and only ranking bottom six in four. It's a seismic leap from the five it had been checking and 18 it had been failing under Voss through the opening nine games of the year. The shift in game style has been clear, with the Blues now adopting a patient, methodical attacking approach, as opposed to the bomb-and-hope philosophy of old. Quite simply, it's an extraordinary in-season turnaround, the likes of which we've never seen before.

It seems crazy to suggest this but it would almost be disappointing if the Blues didn't make finals from here, particularly now the September action has been extended to the top 10 sides. If they do, it's likely to be as a wildcard team. You just know Andrew Dillon is rubbing his hands together at that prospect!

2. Leave the damn Showdown at Adelaide Oval!

It's a footy take that comes around like clockwork. Showdown week rolls around and a select group of Victorians begin posing the question if it's time South Australia's showpiece home-and-away game is played at the MCG.

I'm a Victorian. I love footy. I love watching footy at the MCG. And I've been labelled both an Adelaide and South Australian hater on several occasions this year. But in absolutely no world does it make even an iota of sense for any Showdown to be moved away from Adelaide Oval, much less to another state!

Anyone who suggests the Showdown love should be shared around the country can get stuffed. This is South Australia's game. Just because it's become an absolute must-watch fixture on the AFL calendar, regardless of where you reside and your footy allegiances, it doesn't mean Victoria has a right to barge in and snatch it away. And the argument that a greater number of tickets would be sold at the MCG compared to Adelaide Oval, while likely true, doesn't justify the drastic change.

Imagine the uproar if one year the AFL decided to shift Carlton vs. Collingwood to Adelaide Oval. Or maybe the traditional Anzac Day clash between the Magpies and Bombers was moved to Optus Stadium for something, I don't know, a little different. It's a laughable concept. Leave the Showdown at Adelaide Oval. If you're a Victorian that's desperate to experience one, then hop on a plane and head over. Simple.

3. Max Hall ran 27 metres. Stop sooking about a free kick being paid

Footy is a sport filled with an abundance of grey area and rules that are open to all sorts of weird and wonderful interpretation, but one thing that's just about black and white, and therefore something we should all be able to agree on, is that running further than 15m without taking a bounce is a free kick against.

Apparently not. On Sunday afternoon at Marvel Stadium, St Kilda's Max Hall had a goal waved away after the umpires deemed he had run too far before taking his shot. Good. He did run too far. And to all you Saints fans complaining and calling for the umpires to err on the side of 'playing on' for those line-ball decisions, while I'm with you, this was not remotely close to line-ball.

Max Hall is denied a goal for running too far..#AFLSaintsDogs pic.twitter.com/iGmq0nzB0D

— 7AFL (@7AFL) June 21, 2026

Hall ran closer to 30m than he did 15m. He takes a bounce approximately 55m out from goal and the ball is secured back in his hands at about the 52m mark. He then runs over the 50m arc towards goal and only puts the ball to his boot when just about halfway between the arc and the centre of the goal. That means he's run about 27m!

You can be frustrated with the inconsistency of adjudicating this rule but you can't tell me he didn't run 15m without taking a bounce. Players are already given a degree of leeway when it comes to this rule, though at some point it needs to be whistled, regardless of when and where it occurs on the ground.

As a side note, I'm not sure people realise just how quickly players can cover 15m when running at full tilt. About two-and-a-bit seconds oughta do it.

4. Thursday night games should NEVER be in Western Australia

Thursday night football is a polarising subject, but I for one am a huge fan of an extended footy weekend. Having said that, Thursday evening games being staged in Western Australia make little sense.

Since 2000, there have been 20 games played in Perth on a Thursday night (we have another one coming up later this year) and on each occasion the league has had to land on an incredibly compromised starting time, one that just doesn't suit fans residing on either coast of the country.

Take last Thursday evening's blockbuster clash between ladder leading Fremantle and Geelong. That was a 6:10pm local time start, too early for those working standard 9-5 hours in Perth, evidenced by the thousands of empty seats at the first bounce despite a strong crowd figure by the end. It's also 8:10pm on the east coast, meaning fans watching in Victoria were forced to stay up until close to 11pm to watch until its conclusion ... on a school night.

You can't really make it earlier. You can't make it later. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work as a standalone fixture. Let's scrap them for good.