He said clubs must improve themselves to reach the level that Horsham had attained with their history-making run of seven successive premierships.

Barassi was in Warracknabeal yesterday for the VCFL WorkSafe Game of the Month between Warrack Eagles and Minyip-Murtoa.

Asked about Horsham's domination of the Wimmera league, he said he believed it was a healthy competition.

"Normally I would say yes it isn't healthy, but if you are obeying all the rules and don't have any unfair advantages then how can you punish or restrict a team?" Barassi said.

"It is up to the clubs in the league to get to their level or join forces to catch them."

Barassi said the key to a successful club was management and administration.

"In the old days of league football, to get a run of success going you had to have a very good to great coach, a good president and a good chief executive, or secretary," he said.

"Today in the AFL it remains a key with an additional post who has to be a top operator and that is the football manager.

"Geelong should have won premierships before they did and when they got Neil Balme as the football manager that was the icing on the cake.

"Country clubs don't necessarily need one of them, but the three in the coach, president and secretary are vital.

"Management and administration is what you have got to get first, and it sounds like Horsham has all those bases covered."

Barassi said he was impressed with the passion shown at the Wimmera league match and threw his support behind an AFL practice match coming to the region.

"I think that is something the AFL leaders are keen to do, to get footy out to the grassroots because they know if they can help amateur, suburban or country footy they are helping themselves," he said.

Barassi said the Eagles and Burras match was great to watch as the Burras scraped home by five points.

He addressed a luncheon and gave his ideas on the future of the game.

Barassi's ideas included a centre bounce revamp to keep players from clagging up the midfield, making the game 16-a-side for more space, eliminating marks if the ball is kicked backwards, more points for long goals to bring back spectacular goalkicking including the torpedo, and play on after the ball hits the post.

Barassi is one of the most successful players and coaches in the AFL's history, having been involved in 10 premierships.