JUNE could become 'transfer month' in the AFL, with one leading player agent suggesting a 28-day window is the best option for mid-season trading.
League chief executive Gillon McLachlan has put mid-season player movement on the agenda in the midst of ongoing collective bargaining negotiations with the AFL Players' Association.
"I think if we opened it up for a month, I don't think it'd be as intense a period as trade period is now," Stride Sports Management's Tom Petroro told AFL.com.au's Footy Feed.
"I think it'd be something that clubs would plan towards from round four or five onwards.
"I don't see there being movement like trade period, where I think over the last couple of years we've done 20 to 30 trades during that period.
"I would see it as probably no more than a handful.
"I would say maybe run it like they do in European football.
"It might be the month of June, month of July for argument sake, and say this is the window of which you can transfer players."
There are a number of scenarios on the table, but if a mid-season window is to be opened in 2017 key parties will need to act quickly.
Petroro doesn't think the mid-season trade window could see power swing back towards the clubs when it comes to player movement.
"I don't think we're going to see big name players traded mid-season. I think we're going to see more of a needs type scenario, and that being the case I don't think it's about who has the power, it's about who has the need," he said.
Petroro, who manages some of the games biggest names including Fremantle superstar Nat Fyfe, St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt and Power star Chad Wingard, believes the ability to trade draft picks will be critical to any new mechanism.
"There'd be a potential for (swapping) players, but I also think that in the middle of the season for both of those needs to marry up so that one club gets a key defender and one gets a ruckman, that's not always going to work."