CLUB CEOs want to be free to recruit senior coaches without being bound by AFL-enforced anti-tampering rules.

A discussion paper put to club CEOs at Thursday's meeting of club chiefs suggested that clubs should be banned from poaching coaches in-season and that appointments should not be made until after a candidate's team's season was over.

The paper also wants to introduce rules that confined the times when clubs could speak to candidates.

However club CEOs are understood to believe there is little problem with the current system and that any attempt to regulate it would create more difficulties than it would solve. 


AFL.com.au understands club CEOs thought observing normal recruitment protocols such as contacting clubs to inform them they were interested in one of their assistant coaches was enough to ensure the system ran effectively.

Introducing anti-tampering rules could lead to more red tape and extra resources potentially being spent on investigating club approaches.  

The AFL Coaches Association had endorsed making the proposal at its annual general meeting, suggesting clubs should be confined to speaking to potential candidates in the newly introduced bye round and to not appoint candidates until the clubs they worked at had ended their season.

There was some concern at football departments of clubs who lost assistant coaches before entering a finals series in the past that it had a negative effect on the team's preparations and it also put candidates in a difficult position.

Carlton's Brendon Bolton, North Melbourne's Brad Scott and Hawthorn's Alastair Clarkson were forced to end their roles as assistant coaches before finals after being appointed as a senior coach.