THE ROOKIE list appears safe for another year and mid-season trading is unlikely to be introduced before 2018, with the AFL reluctant to rush into major changes for next season.
The League recently held brainstorming sessions with list managers canvassing a range of topics, also including list sizes, mid-season drafts, short-term contracts, free agency and compensation.
Some of those issues were discussed further when AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan hosted senior coaches for dinner at his house on Tuesday evening, but it appears doubtful any significant changes will be adopted in time for the 2017 campaign.
"We've had some think tanks with list managers around all sorts of things including list size, rookie list, mid-season drafts, mid-season trade periods, free agency and some of those topics got raised last night," football operations boss Mark Evans told AFL.com.au.
"That workshop that we held two weeks ago with list managers was more exploratory and looking at things that could occur somewhere in the future.
"Particularly as you head into the back half of the year, it would be more likely things wouldn't change for 2017."
The rookie list has been mooted for the scrapheap, with Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge among those in favour of a single list of 44 players to choose from at any stage of the season.
Mid-season trading has been another hot topic recently, however Evans wasn't in favour of player manager Tom Petroro's idea for AFL players to be swapped between clubs on short-term loans.
"I've never been in favour of a loan system, per se. I don't mind the idea of a short-term contract, which is someone coming from outside the (AFL) system for a short period of time," Evans said.
Meanwhile, Evans said the League would take a wait-and-see approach to the "celebration of football" bye introduced after round 23, before bringing back a second weekend-off for teams during the home-and-away season.
Sydney Swans defender Ted Richards said players across the competition were "quietly filthy" they haven't been granted their wish for two byes during the regular season.
"I think that would be difficult with celebration of football on top of that (to have another bye during the season)," Evans said.
"So those discussions still need to play out and we'll review that after the celebration of football."
