'It's political correctness gone mad'

Former AFL player Nathan Brown has slammed a push from umpires to eradicate the centre bounce from the game altogether.

A report emerged last week that umpires were moving to have the bounce banned under Occupational health and safety grounds, hoping to replace it with a ball-up.

But former Richmond and Western Bulldogs star Brown is having none of it.

"I can't believe this," Brown said on Sunday.

"It’s political correctness gone mad.

"We’re too keen in this industry to put our arm around somebody and say it's OK, let's find the easier way to do it.

"If you play in the forward line and you're paid to kick goals, but you miss the goals all the time, you don't play AFL football — it's part of their job.

"They just need to practice it and get better at it and do the job they are paid to do."

The centre bounce used to be employed all around the ground but is now restricted to the start of each quarter and after each goal.

"It's a unique part of our game. Every game starts with a centre bounce. It's one of the last traditions we have in our game," Brown said.

"It's very hard to do, I can understand that. But they have been doing it for 100 years, so I think they should continue to bounce the ball in the middle of the ground.

"They're claiming it does hurt their back, it's very hard, but any profession that is physical, it's the same thing."

The iconic centre bounce was brought back into the spotlight after history-making female umpire Eleni Glouftsis chose to throw the ball up in the second half of last week's match between Essendon and West Coast.

An unusually soft relaid strip of turf in the centre of Etihad Stadium made it difficult for Glouftsis to elevate the ball high enough at centre bounces.

"With the bounce being reviewed as it is it's not really one of the parts of the game we're focused on too much. We'd rather get the decisions right."