PROMINENT media personality Waleed Aly has denied reports he was sounded out for his thoughts on the aesthetics of the AFL, despite admitting he was invited to a briefing with football operations boss Steve Hocking.

The Herald Sun reported on Monday night that Aly, a Richmond supporter, had been asked for input as part of the AFL’s investigation into the state of the game.

The AFL confirmed to the Herald Sun that Aly had met with Hocking and David Rath as part of a series of one-off meetings around new rules and ideas.

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But Aly says the meeting was purely to satisfy his own curiosity as a broadcaster.

Speaking this morning, Aly said been briefed on the rule changes - after a request to his friend and AFLW boss Nicole Livingston.

But he denied he was giving the AFL advice.

“There’s been a lot of talk about three or four things that the AFL was pretty solid on doing to the game to make some changes to the style of the game, but no one was really saying in public what they were,” Aly said on SEN.

“So I was pressing her for information. And credit to Nicole, she said, ‘I absolutely can’t tell you that’.

“She then said, ‘If you want, I can get you to a briefing and you can see what they’re looking at, the analysis behind it, that sort of thing’.

“I responded, ‘That would be amazing, but I don’t want to impose’. She said, ‘I’ll send Steve Hocking an email.’

“The offer came, they said, ‘OK, they’d be happy to sit down with you and brief you on the research they’ve done’.

Waleed Aly of The Project. Picture: Channel 10 Source: Channel 10

AFL legends Malcolm Blight and Leigh Matthews, Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy and AFL 360 co-host Gerard Whateley have all sat on a competition committee.

Triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown had a laugh with Healy during Fox Footy’s On The Couch on Monday night.

“Gerard you were there … you’ve been sacked, so Waleed’s off the bench and you’ve been benched,” a cheeky Brown said.

With a grin, Healy replied: “Rotated.”

Hocking and the league this year launched a widespread investigation into the aesthetics of the game, speaking to various corners of the AFL community.

“We don’t want to offend the fans,” Hocking said on 3AW on Saturday.

“They have called out congestion, No. 1, and they have called out defensive tactics, No. 2. What they want to see in the game is freedom (of ­movement).”