COLLINGWOOD coach Mick Malthouse understands why the AFL will look at reducing the involvement of runners at the end of the season after the Western Bulldogs were hit with a $5000 fine for Rohan Smith's actions last week against Adelaide.

Smith and the Dogs incurred the fine - $2500 of which was suspended - after he was captured spending excessive time on the field by Channel Seven cameras during last Friday night's telecast.

Smith was wearing a microphone as part of the coverage and was seen to deliver messages that could have been construed as coaching.

On Thursday, it was reported AFL general manager of football operations Adrian Anderson would review the role of runners at the end of the season, and would potentially look to reduce their involvement or ban them.

While Brad Scott, Alastair Clarkson and Brett Ratten were quick to express their disapproval of any change to current proceedings, Malthouse said he understood why it needed to be reviewed.

"On the back of that evidence of Smith at Footscray, so they should," he said on Friday.

"We've been warned about runners coaching for years and we're not allowed to have coaches as runners, and I can understand that.

"I totally understand where they're coming from with people staying on the ground and coaching from that position, because they end up getting in the road and almost being an extra player.

"I'm not saying we're lily white, but one thing is absolutely sure - our runners are instructed to simply know where I am, or our bench is, so they can keep an eye on the bench and keep an eye on what they have to do, get in there, give the message and come back."

Malthouse agreed with Scott in that he didn't believe runners detracted from the spectacle of the game.

However, he expected a change to occur in the way they're managed after the issue shot to prominence this week.

"I don't go to the football and come away thinking, 'The runners were good' or what they wore. I couldn't even tell you what colour they wear," he said.

"I don't go to the football to watch that but clearly someone from the AFL does.

"If they're not happy with it, the AFL's history is this; if they're not happy with something, something will happen."

On One HD's The Game Plan on Thursday night, Malthouse said the AFL would need to introduce time outs if it was to remove runners from play - a suggestion also rejected by Scott earlier that day.

He said on Friday the clubs would get used to whatever change was brought in - if any - for next season and beyond, but was not a fan of the idea of breaks in play.

"It would be disappointing [if runners were removed] because it's part of our game and it's one methodology coaches have got of staying on top of the game and making the changes," he said.

"If that's the situation, we'll all come up with something that's going to work legally and it may well be as the last player on has to give a message. It sounds a bit crazy.

"We can't afford some clubs, and I'm not saying this is all Footscray's doing, but if it gets wrecked because of certain incidents, we got to pull it back and make sure it doesn't happen again."