AFL Fans Association President Ron Issko has asserted fans' preference for fewer bye rounds.
The competition is currently in the midst of five consecutive weeks of byes stunting the momentum of the season at a time of year where footy has been the topic of conversation for more than a century.
From May 25 until July 1, there is not a full weekend of footy.
“The fans' view is that it just goes on too long and the ladder is inaccurate for too long,” Issko told Zero Hanger.
"Fans want to get the byes over and done with in one or two weeks - the AFL has it over five weeks at the moment, maybe there is a happy medium in the middle."
Appeasing broadcasters and providing flexibility in the fixture are the key reasons why the league's current model is being used but it is unquestionable that the lustre of the season is lost during the bye weeks.
Preserving three games across Saturday and two on Sunday, as well as marquee matches in Thursday night and Friday night slots are the priority, which prevents more than four teams having a bye in a weekend.
The annual Big Freeze match on King's Birthday always falls within the AFL bye weekends, which forces an eighth game to be played that weekend to satisfy broadcast demands, adding another layer of complexity.
The staggered byes also allow the AFL to schedule higher profile games on Thursday and Friday nights and ensure there is not a significant difference in the breaks for clubs opposing each other.
Broadcasters would never support a week off footy or an old-fashioned split round where four games would be played on one weekend and five the next, but fans have been clearly disenfranchised with the current model since its inception last year.
Footy's lull coincides with a time where rugby league is building momentum going into the second half of the season with State of Origin taking centre stage.
NRL's State of Origin will come to Melbourne on 17 June, packing out the MCG and peaking interest in the sport. It is an own goal to give Peter V'Landys more than a month of compromised AFL fixtures to try to win a southern audience.
A compromise could be the league returning to the structure which existed in 2019, 2021 and 2022 when there was three weeks of bye round with six games on per round.
The subsequent two seasons had four weeks of mid-year bye rounds, which was last year increased to five.
The current bye structure's introduction coincided with the commitment to weekly games on Thursday nights, which has been a ratings hit and has become an important part of the weekly cycle in footy.
But something needs to give and having three weeks off Thursday night to enable a more streamlined bye structure is a potential obvious solution.
The AFL has conceded the Opening Round experiment did not deliver the way it was intended, with a consequence being four bye rounds in the first five weeks of the season limiting the spark when the league is trying to get fans hooked back on footy.
That will be discontinued next year and there is the opportunity to heed warning signs from fans and change the structuring of the mid-year byes.
In trying to limit the damage to each individual round, the AFL is creating a broader winter problem which is affecting the rhythm of the season.
