Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has floated a radical idea to revamp the way the game is umpired.

McGuire suggests that goal and boundary umpires should be scrapped and matches should be umpired by a team of eight dressed in black and white, similar to NFL referees.

Two field umpires would stand on the goal line while the rest would remain in four other policing zones on the ground.

Under his plan, all eight umpires would be able to make decisions, signal goals and behinds and throw the ball back into play after it goes out.

He recently raised his plan with the AFL’s competition committee.

“I’d dress them up like (NFL) referees and put them in long pants,” McGuire told the Herald Sun.

“My suggestion is all about what would you do if you started the game again today. How would your umpiring system look?

“We have made the game very hard for our umpires.

“And a lot of our really good umpires are getting old, so I want to keep them in the game. We could even bring back (AFL umpires boss) Hayden Kennedy under this one.

“If you zone the game up and let the action come to you, it’s much easier to officiate. They’ll be in the right positions, all of the time.”

AFL football operations boss Steve Hocking confirmed that the league was assessing its options about remodelling the way the game is officiated.