I’m not sure there’s a problem. Some games are thrilling, and some are turgid. It’s always been that way.
Along with Shane, I’d get rid of runners, and I’d also limit interchanges to after goals only. There’s a safety element there too, because one day a young player is going to be blindsided and seriously hurt by a thug like NicNat sneaking off the interchange bench and trying to hurt someone.
I’d keep coaches in the box, only because if you made them sit at ground level they’d just find a sneaky way around it.
The interesting one for mine is whether you end up reducing the number of players on the ground to 16 (which they’ve tried with the AFLW). Players are covering more ground than ever before, but grounds have stayed the same size. It’s not the only reason for congestion, but it’s a contributor. But that one could go with way – it could create more space for players to execute skills, or it could mean coaches just find even fitter players and still have no-one in their forward lines.
I’d be inclined to tweak at the edges for now.
