It would see free agency eligibility changed to include players who accrue, at more than one club, the necessary years of service to qualify as a free agent.
To qualify as a free agent under existing rules a player must be out of contract and have served at least eight consecutive years at the one club.
But under a plan being discussed, players who have swapped clubs in their first eight years would still be eligible to become free agents as long as they have played four years at their current club.
It would mean Gibson, Hawthorn's best and fairest winner last season, who played with North Melbourne from 2006-2009 and has been at Hawthorn since 2010, would be a free agent when he next comes out of contract.
Whether or not Gibson was a restricted or unrestricted agent would depend, as it does under current arrangements, whether he was in the top 25 percent of players paid at the Hawks.
Other players in that position include Collingwood's Luke Ball, Carlton's Chris Judd, the Brisbane Lions' Andrew Raines, West Coast's Josh Kennedy as well as Gold Coast's Ablett.
The AFL Players' Association legal counsel Brett Murphy said that the idea had been raised with the AFL during the mid-term review of the collective bargaining agreement.
"One of the issues currently being discussed is the potential for players who have transitioned clubs to access Free Agency earlier than the current rules allow," Murphy said.
"This would enable a player to access Free Agency if he has the requisite number of years of service in the AFL, provided that he has had at least four years of service with his current club."
The AFLPA had already flagged the prospect of shrinking the number of years it takes for a player to be eligible for free agency.
If changes were agreed to, most observers expect a period of time would pass before they were implemented in order for the industry to adjust.
There is still much discussion at club level about the effect of free agency and whether or not it gives stronger clubs an advantage.
A working party to examine the future shape of free agency might be one method for determining what changes are implemented.
