Patrick Dangerfield concedes AFL has a traffic problem

Patrick Dangerfield concedes on-field congestion remains a big problem for the AFL.

Patrick Dangerfield, centre, says congestion is AFL’s biggest on-field issue.

As Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield admitted his concerns that congestion was ruining the game, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan was preparing to host the league’s 18 club coaches on Monday night.

Just days after league legend Leigh Matthews attributed the blame for the current look of the game on his former peers in the coaching box, McLachlan will host an annual dinner with them after the Queen’s Birthday game between Melbourne and Collingwood.

The AFL chief executive said there was no set agenda for the meeting, but it seems likely that the manner in which football is being played will be a topic of conversation.

“It is just a chat. It is their agenda. We get to talk about what they want to talk about. Sometimes it is micro-level. Sometimes it is big picture,” McLachlan said.

“They don’t get to talk to each other very often in a social setting, if ever, so to sit around and shoot the breeze, I have always found helpful and I know they do as well.”

Dangerfield, who is on the AFL’s new competition committee comprising players, coaches and club administrators, conceded there were some issues with the game. Chief among them the amount of congestion around the ball. It is now common to see every player on the ground within a kick of the football, or at least in one half of the ground. On occasions, they squeeze within a quarter of the field.

“I think we’re kidding ourselves if we say there’s not (an issue) and obviously that comes back to congestion,” Dangerfield told SEN today. “I think the game is really heavily coached at the moment and that’s only natural with the amount of coaches that every team has in their football department and how well the game is covered from a camera angle.

“There is nowhere to hide. Rather than playing on instinct, players tend to go with team structure, which is fine and what we are coached to do.”

Dangerfield, who is the AFL Players Association president, said the league was doing the right thing in considering possible solutions that would improve the look of the game.

AFL football operations manager Steve Hocking met with league legends Leigh Matthews and Malcolm Blight, Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy and journalists Mike Sheahan and Gerard Whateley on Thursday to canvas their thoughts.

On Thursday night, Matthews said he had no doubt the coaches were responsible for the change in style over the past decade.

“The look of the game in 2018 is much different to the look of the game in 2008 and that is due to coaching tactics,” he said.

McLachlan said Hocking will also look to discuss matters with supporters in coming months, though it is possible no changes will stem from the meetings.

“Part of his remit is to look at the game. He came in with fresh eyes. This thing started in November last year and he is consulting widely,” he said.

Among ideas floated at the meeting on Thursday were a last-touch out-of-bounds rule, extending the goal square in length to allow the player kicking in to punt the football further afield, while reducing the number of players on field from 18 per side to 16 was also raised.

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott is on the competition committee, along with Brisbane counterpart Chris Fagan, Geelong star Dangerfield and Collingwood president Eddie McGuire.

“We’ll throw everything on the table and try to refine it and come back to something that is going to improve the look of the game,” Scott said. But my primary function is to try and win games. My prevailing view is that the game is pretty good.”