AFL deputy chief Gillon McLachlan has given the strongest indication yet the League will introduce two byes next season.
Some players, including Sydney Swans defender Ted Richards, have lobbied for the AFL to bring in a second bye next year.
McLachlan said the AFL was "respectful" of the players' push for two byes but acknowledged such a move might prove unpopular for the football public.
In a wide-ranging interview on Channel Seven's AFL Game Day on Sunday, McLachlan also said:
• A fixture in which every team would play each other once before determining the run home would come under "strong consideration".
• The AFL was "entitled" to have a say in the appointment of the next Melbourne coach.
• Any money the AFL puts towards assisting the embattled Demons would come from "some fat" in the League's club future fund.
• There is a "strong argument" for Melbourne to receive a priority draft selection.
• He believed the ASADA investigation into the Essendon supplements scandal would be completed by the first half of August, and needed to be "brought to a head" before the finals.
• Hawthorn superstar Lance Franklin was "an incredibly marketable guy" but was adamant it was "no certainty" he would receive extra marketing money from the AFL if he joined Greater Western Sydney.
• St Kilda made a "sensible, considered" decision to temporarily stand down Stephen Milne after the veteran was charged with four counts of rape.
• The biggest issue facing the game is equalisation, and ensuring there wasn't a "two-tier competition".
• The AFL Grand Final would remain a daytime event for at least the next two or three years.
On whether or not the League planned to introduce a second bye next year, McLachlan said the AFL was open to the idea.
"If we're going to have our best athletes out there playing, I think that we have to push for two byes," he said.
"We're re-jigging our stadium deals to try to be able to bring our season forward to facilitate that. We're working hard to get the MCG, which is a big piece of that … I'm more confident than not that we'll get that up.
"It's a challenge. There's been criticism of the bye this year going over three weeks but what we're able to do with that (is) in every market outside Victoria we can have one of those local teams playing every weekend. So if you go to two (byes), if you have a four-five (game) split over two weekends you can’t get that.
"Another alternative is just to have no football at all (but) I think that's problematic as well."
St Kilda skipper Nick Riewoldt said two byes was a more palatable option for both players and fans.
"I think the thing for the public and supporters to consider is (that) without the bye, players will just be rested. So if you’re an Essendon supporter, Jobe Watson will have a couple of weeks off at some stage, Lance Franklin will have a couple of weeks off … so it's either have the bye scheduled or your favourite players won’t play every game anyway," he said.
McLachlan also said there were also "a few issues" involved in a proposal to formulate the fixture for the final rounds only after each team has played each other.
"If you did that, you can’t actually have certainty that you’re going to deliver on your contractual obligations to venues (and) everything else," he said.
"We have an average of 4000 people who travel with (their) team when they go interstate. People plan to get the cheapest flights, hotels ... it's a big part of the culture of our game."
