THE AFL is set to introduce a "no needles policy" into the competition.

In light of the current investigation into the Essendon Football Club, the AFL will ban all injections for players, outside of painkillers.

In addition to this, the AFL will demand that only the club doctor will be permitted to administer any such injections.

All clubs will be required to register every treatment and provide the AFL an inventory of every substance they hold on their premises.

The move comes as the AFL reinforces to clubs that the game is not a pharmacology race.

Clubs will also be told by the AFL which substances they can, and which substances they can't use.

AFL CEOs were told of the move on Thursday under what will become stringent AFL policing of every club's high performance program.

The AFL also told CEOs that all individuals associated with clubs, including people on the fringe – and even coterie group members – would be subjected to background checks.

It comes in response to the ACC report which found that certain members of crime syndicates had infiltrated some clubs.