But nothing matched the volume and intensity as when talk turned to the out-of-bounds rule, the one where the last player to touch the ball on its way to the boundary was penalised.
This office came alive at the mention of boundary lines and whistles, with colleagues emerging from under desks and behind partitions to say just how stupid they believed the rule was.
One of the problems, they shrilled, was that it's outside the spirit of the game; an act that might otherwise have been praised, such as a timely push over the line by a canny defender, was penalised with a free kick.
The rule was also said to be confusing, with neither players nor umpires sure when a defensive act was to be penalised. Steele Sidebottom seemed to have the best idea when he did the umpires' job for them, signaling a boundary throw-in after he was the last player to touch the ball before its exit from play.
But, really, why all the fuss about confusion? The game is played with an oval ball. Randomness is in footy's DNA. The rule is being trialled for only the first round of the pre-season competition. It will be completed this weekend.
Other experimental rules were unchallenged because they made good sense, at least in theory. After Chris Dawes had kicked an apparent goal, the field umpire gave the all-clear but the goal umpire forced a video adjudication by saying he was unclear whether the ball had been touched.
It turns out the video cameras were unable to portray conclusively whether the ball had been touched. The field umpire's all-clear was allowed to stand. The incident is unlikely to force a backtracking on the use of video cameras, but it does make clear that even technology is fallible.
There was no controversy over the rule that gives boundary umpires the power to penalise players for holding or high contact. Nor were there any complaints about the rule that penalises a tackler when he drags the ball beneath his opponent and locks it in. Both passed the "sensible" and "about time" criteria.
The round-robin concept was also well-received. It gave the games a certain carnival feel. There's no point getting all edgy and earnest when the last day of the season is almost eight months away.
Of the coaches who passed comment on the boundary-line penalties, Dean Bailey was the most vociferous when he described the rule as "stupid" (big cheers from workplaces everywhere). More interesting were the coaches who had no complaints.
Alastair Clarkson said he was fine with the experiment, while Nathan Buckley also shrugged his shoulders. Fair play to them for not getting worked up about a short-lived trial.
Buckley, however, has some way to go with his coach's comments if Saturday night is a guide. The most high-profile assistant in the business said coaching the Magpies on secondment was like "driving someone else's expensive car".
On face value, it seemed witty and apt, but, really, he's got to get more rustic if he's going to take over the main job. "The earth is slow but the ox is patient," is the standard set. There'll be no more talk of fast cars.
Of the losing coaches, Damien Hardwick summed it up best when he said he was pleased despite his team receiving the biggest shellacking of the weekend, a 43-point loss to Collingwood. Hardwick was pleased because his teenagers were able to learn from the best. Most coaches echoed the line about giving new players a go.
Mark Harvey appeared to contradict himself when he slammed his players for failing to measure up and then turned around and said he wasn't fussed about stumbling out of the NAB Cup at the first hurdle.
Fremantle did win hands-down in the new-jumper stakes. Their triple "V" looked very handsome in its debut in an official match, while Melbourne's white variation on its traditional yoke jumper was also attractive.
The loser here was Richmond, whose big tiger on a white background looked like the pyjamas of an aggressive schoolboy. There's an old adage: "It's not really a footy jumper if your grandma can't knit it." That means no dogs or devils or Jackson Pollock-esque splashes.
Tigers and others, take note.
Among the weekend's winners, Collingwood showed that it would again be a force by wiping aside Richmond and Carlton. Melbourne also enhanced its reputation by defeating both South Australian teams in Adelaide. Significantly, the Demons haven't won a match for premiership points in Adelaide for a decade.
The biggest winner, however, was Hawthorn, whose squad of teenagers should have worn name tags. The Hawks lost to West Coast by two points and then saw off Fremantle. Along the way they unearthed talents like Isaac Smith, Jordan Lisle and Tom Schneider. Their performance boded well for the season ahead.
And what does all this hooey mean anyway? The main point is that 40,000 went to see the Collingwood-Carlton-Richmond group at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night. That's 40,000 in mid-February for the first round of the pre-season competition.
Go back to your desk and ponder that for a while.
