The National Rugby League is currently in rude health, with the biggest TV rights deal in Australian sporting history recently inked, and last year’s grand final outrating the AFL’s finale for the first time in a decade.

However, as Barry O’Brien, chairman of Atomic 212° writes, all that success doesn’t mean the league shouldn’t pinch an idea or two from its biggest competitor.

I watched something over the weekend that was a big win for sport: for footy fans, for a city, for sponsors, for bars, restaurants, airlines, Ubers and taxis, for TV networks and, importantly, for the sport itself. It was the result of the AFL’s new wildcard finals.

The Friday night wildcard final on Seven between the Western Bulldogs and Collingwood was the number one program of the week nationally, the number one program on Saturday with all people, 25 to 54s, 16 to 39s and grocery shoppers, and the number one sports broadcast of the week. It reached 2.54m people, with an average national audience of 966,000. The Saturday final between Melbourne and Carlton backed it up, again topping every key demographic, reaching 2.21m people with an average audience of 894,000.

Two sold-out stadia. Two fantastic games. Two nights of TV that beat everything else on air. That’s what one extra, high stakes round of finals football can do. The AFL deserves a lot of credit for introducing the concept. It was a big success, as proven by the fan engagement, the ratings, the crowds and the media coverage.

I reckon everyone at the NRL is thinking the same thing – and working out how to copy the AFL’s smart move.

Let’s be clear here: rugby league does not need saving. The game is in the best shape it has been in for years. The Las Vegas season opener has been a genuine hit. Magic Round in Brisbane keeps growing. State of Origin game two this year drew a record television audience of more than 4.3m. And in July, the game locked in a seven-year, $5.3b broadcast deal with Nine and Foxtel. Add a 20-team competition on the horizon and the NRL is a code with serious momentum.

That’s exactly why it should adopt the wildcard finals idea now, not later. A competition expanding to 20 teams needs more jeopardy in its finals system, not less, and one more do-or-die round is precisely that. One of sport’s greatest asset is uncertainty: crowds and broadcasters will always pay a premium for a game that means everything. The AFL has just proven, in prime time, exactly how much that is worth.

I know the idea of wildcard finals belongs to rugby league’s oldest rival, and I know pride is a real thing in this business. But good ideas do not care whose logo is on them, and a competitive advantage sitting in plain sight is still a competitive advantage.

NRL boss Peter V’landys is not exactly short of nerve when it comes to reshaping a code. He has already reimagined the NRL calendar with the Las Vegas launch and Magic Round. He has done the same for racing, with the Everest, the Big Dance, the Kosciuszko and the Golden Eagle. Racing already runs its own version of a wildcard, with the Big Dance held on Melbourne Cup Day. V’landys understands better than most how one extra, high-pressure event can lift a sport’s profile. An NRL wildcard finals round is not a stretch for him.

The case is simple. Two more sold-out venues. Two more nights of unmissable TV, delivered just as the ink dries on a new billion-dollar rights deal. A bigger stage for sponsors, broadcasters, pubs, restaurants and so on. Nine and Foxtel have just paid record money for the NRL TV rights; giving them one more can’t-miss weekend of finals football is a gift, not a cost.

V’landys has already been talking about reviving the old Amco Cup, the midweek knockout that lit up Leichhardt Oval on winter nights from 1974 to 1989 (the Amco name was dropped after 1979), as the code moves toward a 22-team, 21-round model built around the State of Origin period. On paper, those games are pencilled in for weekends. I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes further than that. A code sitting on a $5.3b broadcast deal has every incentive to give those matches a permanent midweek home and put Wednesday night NRL back on the map for the first time in decades. It’s the same logic as the wildcard finals round: give fans another reason to watch.

The AFL got there first with the wildcard finals. That shouldn’t stop the NRL, and Peter V’landys, from getting there next (and finding room for Wednesday nights while he’s at it).

It makes real sense: steal the idea, add it to the finals series, and keep the momentum building for all 20 teams.

Article originally published on Mumbrella.