THE AFL has ruled out a Good Friday fixture for season 2009, with the league deciding to continue with the current Easter schedule despite a call for the round to be spread across five days.

AFL boss Andrew Demetriou said on Monday the League would not consider a Good Friday match, maintaining that a match on Easter Thursday, combined with games on Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, worked "extremely well for the competition".

North Melbourne was one club that floated the idea of playing a showcase match on the religious holiday earlier this season, while the NRL and ARU have featured Good Friday matches for a number of years.

The League also clarified the current rules surrounding special assistance picks at the NAB AFL Draft, with the legislation remaining unchanged from last season.  

Clubs may qualify for a pick after round one and before round two of the Draft under the rule if it has a single season where it records 16 premiership points or less.

And, clubs may only qualify for a special assistance pick before round one of selections if it has two consecutive seasons of 16 points or less.

Currently, there are five clubs on 16 or less premiership points with Port Adelaide, Essendon, Fremantle, West Coast and Melbourne taking up positions 12 to 16 on the ladder.

While all five presently qualify for a special assistance pick between rounds one and two, none of them are eligible for a selection before round one owing to last year's results – Melbourne being the closest, having claimed the lowest tally of 20 points in 2007.

With young guns such as Nick Naitanui, Daniel Rich and Michael Hurley already attracting the attention of recruiters as emerging talents, high draft selections will once again be in demand come November.