Scott Pendlebury (left) and Dyson Heppell showcase their clubs’ predominately black 2021 Anzac Day jumpers. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

What would you do if you were the AFL boss for a day?

Fans around the country have pondered the question, which has been a regular feature of player profiles in time-honoured publications, for decades.

I’d get rid of jumper clashes. Not “clash jumpers” – the competition needs those now more than ever – but jumper clashes.

Last week, we looked past Greater Western Sydney’s slightly lame marketing guff – specifically the naming of its new “Never Surrender” jumper – and lauded the sleek new charcoal look, which took centre stage under lights in a heart-stopping win over Sydney.

It provided a stark contrast to the Swans’ traditional red-and-white strip, and spared us the eye-watering glare of previous derby clashes. The Giants nailed it.

But now, just a few days later, AFL uniforms are under fire yet again as we lament an entirely avoidable jumper clash between two clubs that are wearing one-off commemorative strips for Anzac Day.

Collingwood and Essendon could hardly have made their black-and-white and black-and-red jumpers look more alike for the return of their traditional MCG blockbuster.

The Magpies have gone with overlapping white rosemary sticks as their stripes, while the Bombers have again gone with a cluster of red poppies as their sash. Both jumpers look great on their own, but both are predominantly black.

The major sponsors’ badges – the Pies with a block of Emirates red and Dons with white Fujitsu and Amart text – could even be accused of an elaborate trolling effort on fans by using the opposite club’s colours.

Essendon’s white shorts (to be worn as the ‘away’ side) won’t be of much help.

The immediate response to the unveiling from fans and media types, including former players, has been close to unanimous; the clash will be an issue once the ball is bounced.

“This is a horrific jumper clash and it’s going to be hard to tell the teams apart,” Nick Riewoldt said on Fox Footy, succinctly summing up the sentiment.

How did it come to this? Is there no communication between the clubs, their kit manufacturers and AFL House?

Unlike the Anzac Day jumpers themselves, the clash isn’t a one-off. The AFL is still plagued by clashes, as it has been for many years.

Many claim these issues weren’t present in the “good old days”, but I’d argue they were.

Collingwood-North Melbourne-Geelong games last century were a mess, watching the Bombers away to St Kilda was a struggle, and it can’t have been much fun trying to navigate the broadcast vision of Richmond-Essendon games in black and white. West Coast’s navy and royal blue jumpers have thrown up several clashes over the years.

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Nevertheless, the clashes are a lot worse in the modern AFL landscape, where we now have 18 clubs (up from the old VFL’s 12) sharing a limited colour palette.

The game is faster and there are far more players around the ball. Throw in TV cameras that zoom in and out at speeds that make your head spin and you’ve often got a dog’s breakfast on the box.

Collingwood’s meetings with Geelong, North Melbourne and Carlton (when the latter is the ‘away’ side) are eyesores. The Cats and Kangaroos produced one last week, while there were questions asked after several stray passes in the recent Richmond-Hawthorn fixture.

Fremantle’s white strip doesn’t do much better than its dark purple when it plays away to the white-and-dark-striped Pies and Roos. The list goes on.

If I was perched in Gillon McLachlan’s seat, I’d be mandating all clubs produce a genuine clash uniform – shorts and all – that provides a stark difference with other clubs’ home kits.

Some, if not all, would also be required to produce a “third kit” for games where the clash jumper doesn’t cut it (see Fremantle above).

There’s no doubt you’d get resistance from clubs, which is somewhat surprising, given they usually jump at the chance to make more money through the sale of branded merchandise.

They’d bleat “but footy’s culture is different” when you point out having multiple kits work just fine for the world’s biggest sporting organisations, and only enhances, rather than damages, their brand through increased merchandise sales.

But even Collingwood, which is the AFL club most protective of its brand and conveniently ignores the fact it has actually made many tweaks to its strips over the years, has shown it has the capacity to rise above the recent high-profile kit debacles against Geelong.

The Magpies did the right thing when they wore an all-black training strip away to the Cats (wearing their standard jumper with white shorts) during the 2021 pre-season.

Several clubs have nailed their clash jumpers already. They maintain a strong sense of history while providing enough contrast to serve a genuine purpose.

Melbourne’s royal blue throwback and Brisbane’s Fitzroy-inspired red jumpers lead the way, with the predominantly yellow strips worn occasionally by West Coast, Richmond and Adelaide also contenders for the podium.

How hard is it, really? You’d say common sense should prevail, but it seems sense in this department isn’t all that common.