In a bold move that could revolutionise the game, the AFL has conducted further secret trials in its ongoing quest to eradicate congestion, with some clubs participating in 16-a-side practice matches.
The trials constitute an unofficial declaration of war by the laws of the game committee on congestion and could result in the 2018 pre-season series being played with fewer players on the ground.
The AFL has narrowed down two specific ways to reduce on-field congestion and has approached three clubs to help it with its covert trials, with measures potentially coming into the game within 12 months.
Fairfax Media discovered on Tuesday that St Kilda had been involved in an intra-club match – with official AFL umpires – that involved players starting in set zones.
It can now be revealed that two additional clubs, Geelong and Sydney, have also participated in modified practice matches to enable the league to gather vision and empirical evidence on ways to reduce congestion.
The laws of the game committee has concluded that there are two practical ways to reduce congestion: starting positions (zones) and reducing the number of players on the field.
Geelong conducted a 40-minute intra-club match at Simonds Stadium on Wednesday where each side could only have 16 players on the field at any time.
That came after last Friday's session at Seaford, where St Kilda played two 10-minute halves in which a certain number of pairs had to start inside the 50-metre arcs when there was a stoppage.
All the trials are being filmed by the AFL and players' GPS results will be made available to league officials.
The process is being run by Football Operations Manager Mark Evans and AFL Competition Stakeholder Manager Michael Poulton, who acts as a conduit between the clubs and league headquarters.
"Is there a sense that zones are the answer or is there a sense that reducing the number of players on the ground is the answer?" Poulton said to Fairfax Media.
"Spreading the game out has been in the front of the minds of the laws of the game committee for a while now."
Once vision has been assessed and data analysed, the AFL will sit down with the coaching staff of the three clubs involved later in the year and ask for feedback.
If the data shows the trials reduce congestion and if the feedback is positive, it is likely that one of the measures will be introduced into 2018's pre-season matches.
"If we were to introduce one of the measures, that is a significant shift, we wouldn't do that without trialling it in the pre-season series beforehand," Poulton said.
"We don't have the NCAA or the university competition (like in the United States), the pre-season comp is the only way we can do that.
"We're constantly up against the theory, 'leave the game alone.'
"But from time to time the league has to make some bold decisions as to how the game is going to look in the future.
"It might be we trial players in the arcs in the JLT series next year."
The AFL and the clubs involved have done their best to remain hush-hush about the trials, which goes to show how seriously they are considering such measures to reduce congestion.
Poulton says that while football is great as it is, the league owes it to the game to remain one step ahead if it needs to be.
"It comes back to the charter of the game and the things we want to see, how the game should look like.
"We don't let everyone in the centre square now, but once upon a time we used to."