A lot has been written and said recently about how congestion and low scoring are ruining the game.

Personally, I’m in full agreement.

We cannot sit back and be calm about this. This unprecedented emergency requires two things, hysterical commentary and ill-thought out rule tinkering.

Despite its massive popularity and record revenue, AFL footy is always on the brink of collapse.

Remember how the slide tackle almost destroyed the game? Or what about when flooding almost ended our great sport forever?

I think the biggest danger we’ve had in recent years, is when the Hawks rushed several behinds in the 2008 Grand Final.

Luckily, the game was saved with a rule change. If the AFL hadn't reacted so quickly the 2009 season would have never happened.

Of course, many of the people who are now calling for rule changes to stop congestion, are the same people who say the AFL changes the rules too often.

Many of them also like to say the game is now too soft and over officiated.

I have no problem with this. Hysteria does not require a cogent argument. It mainly calls for lots of panic, shouting and where possible, blaming groups or individuals.

It seems sensible to me, to blame changes to the interchange rules for the current low scoring and then call for further rule changes to fix the unintended consequences of that rule change.

New rules set in train a wonderful series of events and outcomes that will enable us to complain about something else next season.

Of course, it would be simpler to acknowledge that the addition of two extra teams recently and the expansion of the competition over the last 20 years has diluted the talent pool and resulted in many teams adopting a defensive posture to cover for a lack of skilled players.

Unfortunately, that can’t be fixed with a rule change.

So tonight, when you’re lying in bed worrying about the imminent collapse of the AFL and the immediate takeover of Australian sport by soccer football, remember, this will all be fixed by some wonderful rule tinkering.