A GROUP of AFL stars have called for a change on the state of the game, saying the AFL is not as interesting as it once was at the start of their careers.

As part of Player Takeover Round, Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield, Melbourne’s Nathan Jones and GWS’ Phil Davis co-hosted Fox Footy’s On the Couch.

Melbourne captain Jones says he has begun to stop watching the game from home as it wasn’t as good as it once was.

LIVE Stream every match of every round of the 2018 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. SIGN UP NOW >

Finals Week 1

“The game is not in the best position or state it could be,” Jones said on Fox Footy’s On The Couch.

“As far as watching — I use to be an avid watcher: Thursday night, Friday night, Sunday footy — had I played on Saturday, but now I feel like I’m turning games off it’s not as aesthetically pleasing.

“I’m not getting as much enjoyment out of it. And it’s not providing that excitement that it use to.

“It’s about bringing back the magic.”

With the extra congestion around the stoppages, Geelong superstar Dangerfield says it makes it hard for skills to be at a premium with the large pack of players hunting the ball in the contest.

“It makes disposing of the ball really difficult,” Dangerfield said.

Patrick Dangerfield in action. Source: Getty Images

“It’s not clean, it’s just running into a wall of numbers, constantly and you can hear when you’re playing those games when there’s not as big as a crowd, you can hear the frustration from the crowd, wanting the ball to move freely.

“Structure overrides everything that we do as players and as a team, because structural will help us win. The game is heavily coached.”

The 2016 Brownlow Medalist says that the AFL wants decisions to be made now, believing it needs to “be changed … to bump audiences” up.

He also implored the general public to give the rule changes a chance before slamming them without a trial.

“What it can bring is potentially worth it, before you judge it — take a look at it first because I think there’s merit in it.”

GWS Giants co-captain Phil Davis suggests that when the AFL look to make decisions they need to make sure they have the make-up of the group correct to help the game.

Nathan Jones with ball in hand. Photo: Michael Klein Source: News Corp Australia

“I think what you’ve got to do is take certain stakeholders out of the decision,” Davis explained.

“Because I don’t care how the game looks if I win, the coaches don’t care how it looks as long as I win. Take us out of the decision making process, there’s no point asking a coach what they think of the game, because unless they can think of their own needs which is hard to do, you’re going to get self-fulfilling answers back.”

The key defender also believes that before the AFL make a change on the rules to help fix the state of the game, that there needs to be a trial period to help assess the significance.

“There has to be a good trial period though. I think there has to be a substantial period where we get numbers for it.”