BRISBANE is the latest club asked by the AFL to trial potential new rules at a training session on Tuesday.
The Lions played two 10-minutes halves, fully umpired, under the eyes of key AFL officials to test out the role zones could play in easing congestion in games.
It follows a similar session recently conducted by Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium.
The Lions tried out some of the ideas at a session at the Gabba, including taking kick-ins from 25 metres out from goal instead of the goalsquare.
Other rules trialled included three players from each side having to be in the forward 50 and defensive 50 at every stoppage.
At centre bounces, each side was required to have six players in the three zones of the ground.
Brisbane football manager David Noble said the Lions were excited to trial the rules.
"It certainly looked different, it looked more open," Noble told AFL.com.au.
"I didn't mind it. It certainly gives you a different look.
"There's more capacity for players to have one-on-ones.
"You've got numbers staggered up the ground rather than the condensation of numbers. With that distribution there's more space to work with.
"It needs more work and more trialling and to have more data … it needs to be trialled in a full game."
The AFL's football operations manager, Steve Hocking, was one official on hand to oversee the trial.
In a release, Hocking thanked the clubs' players and coaches for taking part in the sessions but added the League still intends to consult supporters before it went ahead with any drastic changes for next season.
Brisbane defender Harris Andrews, who featured in the trial match, said the new rules opened up the game, but made it more difficult for defenders both physically and in terms of marking their opponents.
"It took away a little bit of the team-defence mechanism that has been used in modern day football and opens up the ground and produces a lot more one-on-one contests," Andrews told Sportsday radio.
"It plays to the strength of good one-on-one players and I guess that's what the fans come to see, good battles … even on the weekend, watching Alex Rance on Patrick Dangerfield, that's what the people come to see.
"It's probably a little bit tougher for the defenders from that point of view, in regards to making up a lot more ground by getting up the ground and then getting back inside 50 when there is a stoppage. But it certainly opened up the game."
The League's Competition Committee, a select group comprising club presidents, chief executives, coaches, football managers and players, including Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield, will next meet on July 26.
The group will analyse the data and feedback on ideas presented at their May meeting on ways to reduce congestion in the modern game.
