David King has proposed an alternative to reducing the lengths of quarters, following several pre-season matches that blew out beyond two hours.
The game has returned to 20 minute quarters in 2021, after the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic saw terms shrink to 16 minutes plus time on in 2020.
“The goal gaps, not the game are responsible for (it running) 131 minutes," King told SEN's Whateley.
“It’s crept up a little bit. Last year we had fewer goals, shorter games so we all said okay, we’ll take 60 seconds (and) give the broadcaster, Channel 7, an opportunity to play some ads.
“We’ve got to push back for a second, because the gap between goals at the moment is north of 50 seconds. That’s too long.
“If we’re going to get 26 goals on average, people are going to get sick of sitting through 50 seconds of ads 26 times a game.”
King believes decreasing the length of breaks is a means of reclaiming time without altering the nature of the game.
“It was 45 seconds in 2019, and I reckon it was in the mid-30s three or four years ago," he recalled.
“We’ve got to get back to that… (even) if you bring it back to 40 seconds, you’re picking up four or five minutes a game.”
Gerard Whateley maintained the administrators should consider 18 minute quarters.
“If an 80 minute game is running 131 minutes, I would be having that discussion,” he added.