AFL legend Garry Lyon has accused the AFL of "kite flying" after they confirmed that the length of half-time breaks would continue to remain at 20 minutes heading into the upcoming season.
The idea was floated last November, with the governing body eager to prevent viewers from changing the channel before the final two quarters.
This was met with mixed reactions by key figures within the game, with Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett showing his disgust, whilst many of the players and coaches supported the move.
Despite this, it was revealed that the length will stay the same after the league confirming that they had abandoned the idea on Sunday.
"Our focus is to ensure the best experience for fans at the ground or watching the broadcast, and ensuring the best possible outcome for players and clubs, we have decided to keep the length as is (20mins) for this season," football operations boss Steve Hocking told the clubs on Friday night.
"We will continue to work with stakeholders around the evolution of the game and will ensure you are engaged in any further developments."
The extensive discussions surrounding the idea has angered Lyon, who believes that the whole concept was a smokescreen by the league in order to attract attention.
“Why did we waste the best part of two months arguing and debating about shortening the half-time break?” he told SEN Breakfast.
“And we just turn around now on the second of February and say by the way, all that chatter about the half-time break and shortening it from 20 minutes to 15 minutes or 12 minutes and the players support it and all that, guess what, we ain’t doing it.
“It was just crap.
"It went to the stage where the players backed it, some of the coaches came out and said yeah, and it was almost accepted that we were going to have a 15-minute half-time break.
“Then they say by the way, we’re not doing it ... it's kite flying."
Essendon legend Tim Watson believes that the league will continue to do this in order to gauge potential innovations along with to keep themselves in the headlines.
“I don’t know if this was one of those stories that’s put out there to change the narrative, Watson said.
"I can’t remember what was going on back when this first broke, but I think sometimes the AFL floats things anyway just do gauge feedback and this was one of those.”