“I would challenge anyone who thinks the game is in a poor state to turn on a random game from a random era that they thought was the best of the game and see which one compares better,” Mitchell said on SEN.

“I think modern footy stands up pretty well and I think the one thing you say about the rules committee is they have made a lot of changes in recent years and sometimes they don’t know what (the rule changes) are going to do.

“An example of that might be the third man up. I think it’s probably increased congestion a little bit and it’s not something anyone would’ve forseen but because of that you can’t hit the ball out of the area because there’s only two people who can compete.

“I think rule changes are necessary but the research that needs to go into it is so significant. If you’re making them at the last minute because of media talk … that’s where the media plays such an important role in what people think of the game because that’s the way people listen and watch. If you look for things you’ll always find it.”

In the past fortnight, the AFL has used Hawthorn and Brisbane to conduct trials of some of the rules that have been suggested to the league’s game analysis committee.