Richmond premiership coach Damien Hardwick has added to the chorus of concerns that proposed AFL rule changes could lead to more blowouts.

Momentum is building for the introduction of starting positions at centre bounces and stoppages after trials at a number of clubs.

The idea is one of several being debated by the AFL’s competition committee as the league looks to reduce congestion around the ball.

But while Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield has led support for the change among players, Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley believes it would be a “blight” on the game and Hardwick fears it could have unintended consequences.

“You’ve got to be careful what you wish for,” Hardwick said on Thursday.

“If you want to see more goals, we’re going to see more blowouts.

“We value as coaches three facets of the game: offence, defence and contest. If you want to establish one phase more than the others, the better sides are going to get better.

“I’m all for the progression of the game and what that looks like but we’ve also got a very, very good competition at the moment. We’re at round 18 and there’s a lot of sides vying for top-four and top-eight spots so we’ve got to be careful which way we go.”

Hardwick added that coaches were better-placed to judge potential changes than other stakeholders given the amount of game footage they watched.

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott, who sits on the 12-person competition committee, is also wary of potential blowouts.

“When you even things up and open up the game, the top teams can really dominate the bottom teams,” Scott said.

“That’s something that has certainly been raised.”

AFL legend Malcolm Blight on Wednesday declared that congestion was choking the game and anyone resisting rule changes should “join the unemployment queue”.

Scott took a more balanced view, saying he didn’t believe the changes being debated by the committee would radically alter the game.

“From what I’ve seen so far, I think there’s enough evidence to say that a couple of complementary changes would be very hard for the football fan to actually discern from their seats in the stands,” he said.

“We don’t want to see the game look completely different to what it does now.”

Any tweaks proposed by the competition committee would have to be approved by the AFL executive and commission.

The AFL will trial any changes in a full game, most likely in the VFL, by the end of the season.