"So glad we made those rule changes. Wait what?"
Nathan Buckley's wry tweet during the Essendon-North Melbourne thriller left little doubt where the Collingwood coach stands in the debate about the state of the game.
The prevalence of congested, slow-paced, low-scoring snooze-fests this season has AFL House looking at potential rule changes to improve the spectacle of the game.
But it's fair to say the 'leave the game alone' lobby will feel emboldened by some cracking contests in round 15.
The Bombers' clash with the Kangaroos was on track to produce over 50 goals at quarter-time at Etihad Stadium before it settled into a more familiar rhythm.
Essendon's 17-point win was still an entertaining thing of beauty.
Opposing coaches John Worsfold and Brad Scott were at a loss to explain why that was the case.
Both agree it was an exciting contest but remain open to rule tweaks that might see similarly entertaining clashes happen more often.
"Don't have your head in the sand and say that because it's always been that way it will always be the best way," Worsfold said.
"I'm open to explore change, but very considered change.
"Generally change is best on a practice field so we can have a look to see what the unintended consequences might be."
Rule changes including starting positions, extending how far players can run without bouncing and extended goal squares for kick-ins have been trialled by Hawthorn, Brisbane and Fremantle over the past month.
Remaining clubs will reportedly also be given the chance to trial the new playing conditions being considered by league football boss Steve Hocking for possible introduction next year.
"I think we're at a point where we've got to at least investigate opportunities to make the game look better," Scott said.
"We shouldn't be fooled into thinking that it was opening the game up with forwards at both ends (today) ... that happened to a certain extent but both teams were still able to manipulate numbers around the contest and behind the ball.
"If you take away that option from a coaching group potentially a lot more games look like it did today.
"I think it's really worth looking at ... I think our game is fantastic but it shouldn't stop us from looking at ways to make it better."
