In the space of a month two AFL coaches, who between them have won five of the past seven premierships, have called games their teams have won "horrendous" and a "terrible spectacle".

Clearly for Richmond coach Damien Hardwick and Hawthorn’s Alastair Clarkson frustrations with the current game are spilling over to the point both have found themselves canning the game.

But do you want to know what’s really wrong with footy? Yes, it’s the lack of time and space, the fact all players are congested in one part of the ground and scores have seldom been lower. But at the root of all this is coaches have completely abandoned the unwritten rules and common conventions of the game in a bid to find new ways to win.

Unwritten rules and agreed upon conventions exist in all sports and over time, they’re all generally broken. It was once an unwritten rule in cricket not to bowl underarm. In tennis, the common understanding was that the server would not take an unreasonable amount of time to serve between points.