Supporter frustration with the rule – particularly the illegal disposal aspect – was made clear in a fan survey conducted by AFL Media and published on AFL.com.au and in the AFL Record.
Asked what, if anything, they would change about the game, 25 per cent said they would tweak the disposal rule.
Fans' survey: check out your answers to footy's big issues
Twenty per cent said they would stop rule changes, while another 20 per cent said they would allow fewer interchange rotations.
The AFL has invited coaches to a summit at the end of the season to debate the holding the ball rule with umpires and the Laws of the Game Committee.
AFL football operations manager Mark Evans recently said the rule was not well understood and clarity was needed on prior opportunity and illegal disposal aspects.
"We think it’s a really difficult rule to adjudicate on … there are three or four parts to it, and some of those parts aren’t well understood publicly," he said.
Congestion around the ball is the biggest bugbear for supporters in 2014, with 32 per cent of those surveyed nominating it as the aspect of the game they most dislike.
Rule changes (28 per cent) and the interpretation of rules (16 per cent) also rated highly, with inconsistent Match Review Panel and Tribunal decisions (8 per cent) less prominent.
Asked which rule needed to removed from the game, 32.3 per cent said the sub rule, ahead of the sliding rule (26.5 per cent), deliberate out of bounds (17.6 per cent) and hands in the back (11.8 per cent).
More than 23,000 supporters took part in the survey, with more than 54 per cent of them club members.
Almost 28 per cent said they were general admission patrons, with 10.7 per cent declaring they were fans who didn't attend games.
The fans' preferred method of accessing footy news was online (51.4 per cent), with mobile devices also popular (24.6 per cent). Television (12.1 per cent) and newspapers (7.3 per cent) rated lower.
