RICHMOND coach Damien Hardwick has backed an AFL-led proposal that would see the fixture undergo a radical overhaul.

AFL.com.au revealed on Thursday that the construction of the fixture would be the hottest topic debated when club CEOs meet with the League in Melbourne on Thursday.

One of the proposals would involve a '17-5 model' under which all clubs would play each other once in their first 17 games, before the competition is split into three groups of six according to each club's ladder position.

The top six teams would then play each other once in the remaining five rounds for their position in the finals, the middle six teams would compete for seventh and eighth position and the bottom six teams would fight for draft positions. 

Hardwick said the fixture proposal had merit.

"It's a good idea. It's hard to make sense of the ladder at various stages. Anything that can add to the excitement of our game is a good thing because at the moment we see other sports jumping in," he said on Thursday.

"Soccer's growing by the day. You only need to look at our local ground, it's full of soccer teams. So we've got to do something."