A key component of the AFL's investigation into the state of the game will happen on Thursday when league officials consult with a hand-picked gang of five industry heavyweights.
Leigh Matthews, Gerard Healy, Malcolm Blight, Mike Sheahan and Gerard Whateley will meet with AFL footy boss Steve Hocking's team in Melbourne.
They will discuss where the game is currently and canvass ideas that could potentially nudge its evolution in the right direction.
AFL coaches, recently retired players and fans will also be consulted as the league looks at ways to combat congestion, strike a better balance between defence and attack and ensure instinctive players still have a future.
"It's about the evolution of the game," Hocking said.
"We have a balancing act because we govern the game ... so we need to make sure we're talking to the right stakeholders to gain a greater understanding.
"What levers you decide to pull have to be done in concert with the clubs.
"It's about getting a balance between defence and attack, but we want to show up and see players take the game on.
"We want to see the instinctive nature of players."
Hocking said the debate about the state of the game - with concerns around congestion and low scoring in the spotlight this year - is healthy and the league is keen to embrace it.
While he and his team have some firm ideas on where the game is headed and how it might be helped, he added that the AFL is "not the font of all knowledge" and would be doing the game a disservice if a wide range of opinions weren't canvassed.
Ideas on how to improve matches as a spectacle have ranged from small tweaks like reducing the cap on interchanges and limiting runners to radical shifts like introducing zones and reducing the number of players on the field.
Any ideas must first respect the heritage and history of the game as well as be progressive to make it through a process that involves the new competition committee, the AFL executive and the Commission.
"The critical thing to understand is that it's a complex game ... all of us (at the AFL) to people in the stands have all got things that might help evolve the game," Hocking said.
"How about we do this? What about that?' What we have to do - before we pull the trigger on anything, even if we do anything at all in the future - is understand the consequences."
Hocking restated his previous undertaking that any changed ratified by the Commission will be conveyed to clubs in October to give them time to adjust.
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