The AFL is likely to recommend the introduction of the proposed "six-six-six" format at centre bounces for the 2019 season when the league’s Competition Committee gathers for a crucial meeting on Wednesday.

Under the proposal – the biggest change to centre bounces since the introduction of the centre square – each team would be forced to have six players inside of the 50 metre arcs at both ends. The centre square set-ups would remain at four players per side, with two per team – wingers, effectively – outside the square and between the arcs.

Under the likely recommendation, which has been developed by the AFL’s game analysis group and trialled by clubs, those two "wingers" could be stationed anywhere, including on the back of the centre square, giving the coaches some flexibility for tactical placements.

If adopted – and it would have to be approved by the Competition Committee and then ratified by the AFL Commission later this year – this "six-six-six" set up for centre bounces would constitute a muted form of "starting positions", compared with the more radical concept of having a smaller number of players (between two and four) forced to stay in the arcs at all stoppages.