Carlton coach Mick Malthouse says the game of Australian football has become unrecognisable.

Malthouse, a 701-game coaching legend, is fed up with the aesthetics of the modern game and has called on the AFL to make some rule changes to get the game back on track.

"If I wasn't coaching, I'd hate the game," Malthouse said at the MCG on Thursday morning.

"We've moved so far away from what our Australian game was."

Malthouse was part of a panel that included Carlton skipper Marc Murphy and Collingwood adversaries Nathan Buckley and Scott Pendlebury for the Peter Mac Breakfast.

The teams will compete for the 12th annual Peter Mac Cup at the MCG on Sunday night. 

The Blues coach is worried about on-field congestion, starting with the number of players teams are employing around the ball.

At any one time, he said, teams were stationing up to 10 players around the ball each, and the look of the game was suffering as a result.

Although he acknowledged the players' skills, strength and fitness had lifted a notch, Malthouse was adamant the League needs to step in and address some glaring issues. 

"We don't see the contests of yesteryear," he said.

"I don't know if the public really enjoy that …

"At the end of the day, we're supposed to be entertainers. Maybe down the track, and we do have some say in where the game is going, we've got to change it."

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan believes the game will continue to evolve, with concerns about the ugly style of 'rolling mauls' being overstated.

"Yes, there's bad games. But there's a lot of good games too," McLachlan told Fox Footy's On the Couch on Monday night.

"We accept there are parts of it that are unattractive."