Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield has doubled down on his contentious call to shorten quarter lengths while offering his opinion on another controversial aspect of the AFL.

The Cats veteran midfielder retweeted NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's televised conversation on potentially reducing the basketball league's quarters by two minutes, to which Dangerfield replied with agreeance and hopes to implement the drastic change to his own sport.

A contentious view, which has been argued by Dangerifeld as AFLPA President, especially so in May last year when the AFL faced a growing injury crisis, is widely regarded as outlandish by supporters of the code.

Dangerfield asserted the claim with a left-field reason, citing apparent declining attention spans in society, which implied reduced quarter lengths could assist the AFL from a television programming perspective - something NBA Commissioner Silver floated in his interview on the David Patrick Show.

"Put aside what it means for records and things like that, I think a two-hour format for a game is more consistent with modern television habits," Silver said.

AFL Tipping

JOIN NOW!

Dangerfield chimed in: "As audiences attention span reduces the debate will continue with the AFL quarter lengths.

"It's time to reduce them - cue outrage."

Speaking on SEN, Dangerfield doubled down on his take despite receiving widespread disagreement from social media users and AFL commentators.

โ€œIt's off the back of, obviously the NBA and the challenges that that they've had, and the increase the NFL's had in their traffic. Whether that's the Taylor Swift effect or it's just the quality of their game,โ€ Dangerfield told SEN Breakfast.

โ€œBut I think it's reasonable to suggest at some stage that it's something that we could consider as a code to make the game more accessible because there are flow-on effects of reducing game less where you could have better quality slots, more primetime games, less changeover between games.

โ€œWe're talking more five-day breaks. You might even throw a four-day break in depending on where you get to with game length.

โ€œThat's absolutely my opinion. I think it would help alleviate and fix some of the problems we have around scheduling.โ€

Dangerfield then delved into the exact way he would prefer quarters to be shortened, with there being a variety of ways the AFL could implement such a change.

The AFL could simply cut two minutes or so off the regular time, as Silver suggested for the NBA. Other ideas include reducing breaks between goals and continuing the countdown during stoppages to ensure less time on.

The latter option is one Dangerfield leans towards.

โ€œIf I was handed the keys, I think COVID taught us that 16 minutes, that's just too short, it didn't feel like you could really get the flow on in a game," Dangerfield said.

โ€œBut I think the time-on question's a relevant one, whether there's an ability to reduce time-on rather than seeing quarters heading to the early 30-minute mark. I think it makes sense if they're around the 20 to 28.

โ€œI think you could pull back almost 15-20 minutes of the game, which in the scheme of professional sport and high-performance sport, it's a big toll that I think could make a material difference.โ€

Embed from Getty Images

SEN also queried Dangerfield on his thoughts about other contentious AFL rules, notably the substitute. The sub has remained largely controversial and has dipped in and out of the rules since its first use in 2011.

The rule was discarded after the 2015 season but returned as a "medical sub" role in 2021. Flawed usage of the sub then changed the ruling to allow tactical substitutes again in 2023, effectively reverting to the original rule without the fluorescent vests.

Dangerfield said he is against the rule, opting for a modern approach that has been floated by pundits as a solution to the current standard.

โ€œLook, I'd probably scrap it, to be honest, and just have five on the bench," the 34-year-old said.