Round 12 saw the start of the mid-season byes, and for the next four weekends, there won't be a full fixture of games.
Over the weekend, two games were dropped from the weekly fixture, while the remaining 14 teams will enjoy a bye that will be staggered through the next month.
Speaking on the Six Points AFL podcast, Mark Stevens believes the mid-season bye affects the momentum of the AFL season.
"They (the byes) just take the sizzle out of the sausage a little, just wandering the streets yesterday, people didn't seem as interested in the footy," Stevens said.
"It's not good when you're stretching it with Thursday night as well.
"There just seemed to be not a lot of interest in it, and we can lose momentum."
Daniel Harford shared the same sentiment.
"That's more the point, these bye rounds you do lose a little bit of momentum and sizzle out of the sausage is a nice way to put it, I still hate the bye rounds, it's not going to affect my world too much, but I hate the bye rounds," Harford said.
With the addition of Opening Round in recent years, there have been more weekends of byes added to the AFL fixture.
This season, there will be a total of nine rounds affected by byes.
Harford believes the AFL needs to change the mid-season bye structure, which would allow fans and the AFL to support local football.
“There should just be a weekend free of footy at some stage during the year," Harford said.
"Where you have one game one week and may have eight the next week, so everyone gets their bye within two weeks.
"This stretched out garbage, I don't think it serves the game very well to your point, but if you had a weekend off, support local footy around the country."
Stevens called for a 'local footy round', where stars of the competition could return to their home clubs, celebrate grassroots football and enjoy the weekend off.
