The AFL has been urged to take a positive from the coronavirus disaster and use the indefinite pause in the premiership season to overhaul the game.
With the season on hold until at least May 31, two-time North Melbourne premiership player David King believes the league has been presented with a unique opportunity.
While the health and safety of all associated with the AFL, along with its financial security, will remain the key focus, King hopes some time can also be put into game development.
The AFL brains trust has tried for years to free up a game that has become clogged by the team structures of defensively-minded coaches.
But the league has largely been reluctant to introduce radical changes designed to boost scoring and one-on-one contests for fear of upsetting traditionalists.
“We’re just fumbling our way along,” King told Fox Footy.
“We do this all the time. We make rule changes, we just make the change and we see where it takes us.
“Why can’t we say ‘This is what we want it to look like’ and start from the end point and work back?
“We don’t ever seem to do that.
“I think we chase our tails a little bit and we’ve got a perfect opportunity now with a two or three-month window, to sit back and say ‘What should the game look like when we’re finished?'”
In response to the unprecedented conditions presented by COVID-19, the league has already shortened the season to 17 rounds and shrunk quarters to 16 minutes plus time-on.
AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has even refused to rule out playing a grand final as late as December away from the MCG, with the league to get creative if given the green light to restart the season.
The AFL was on Friday handed the flexibility to play games deep into December when the AFL Players’ Association agreed to a new pay deal to slash wages by up to 70 per cent in response to the shutdown.