THE ALTERNATIVE fixture model rejected for 2016 by club CEOs on Thursday remains on the agenda, with clubs asking the AFL to address the challenges of transitioning from the current fixture.



AFL.com.au spoke to several club CEOs after their meeting with the AFL in Melbourne on Thursday, when the clubs supported the retention of the existing fixture in 2016 in preference to a '17-5 model' floated by League chiefs.



The CEOs told AFL.com.au the '17-5 model' concept had merit but there were issues that had to be addressed.

Draw top of the agenda for CEOs



"The question was put at one stage that if we were starting the competition from scratch would the AFL's proposal (the 17-5 system) be a good model and the general consensus was that it was not a bad model," one club CEO said.



"Most clubs could see merit in the concept but the question is ‘how then do you transition from the existing draw to this new model?’



"There's a lot of information to digest and we probably need a long digestion period as we've had with any other major changes to the game."



Under the 17-5 proposal, all clubs would play each other once in their first 17 games before the competition was split into three groups of six according to each club's ladder position – which could be after round 18, depending on byes.



The top six teams would then play each other once in the remaining five rounds for their position in the finals, the middle six teams would compete for seventh and eighth position and the bottom six teams would fight for draft positions.



It is understood clubs expressed concern on Thursday that starting the season with an uncertain fixture beyond the first 17 games would have commercial implications on membership packages and sponsorship contracts given only 10 home games could be guaranteed under the new model.



AFL broadcasting and scheduling manager Simon Lethlean told 3AW radio on Thursday night that under the 17-5 system season would effectively be split into three parts.



The 17-5 fixture could of added a bit of spice I reckon! — Scott Pendlebury (@SP_10) May 14, 2015

"There would be the home and away for the 17 rounds then the second section of those last five games being a qualifier and then a finals series," Lethlean said.



"The really important parts about that are whether the points do carry over from the season or whether we reset and the top couple of teams or top-four teams in each of those groups get a reward for having won the home and away series.



"Team one might get eight points and team two might get six and four and so on.



"If we are going to do this thing then in our view you need some hope of being able to move in your group of six, otherwise why do it?"



Lethlean said when the bottom six teams squared off in their final fives games they would have the incentive of playing for an earlier draft pick, but stressed that system could not "over-reward" the team that won the division.



"We have a draft system based on the lowest-finishing side getting the earliest picks and we don't want to mess with that, so there were a few different concepts thrown about being able to move up or down one pick," Lethlean said.



"If you came 13th, for instance, and won that area you might get pick No.5 rather than pick No.6."



Lethlean said determining draft picks for the bottom six teams by a lottery system like that used in America's NBA had not been discussed.



AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said on Thursday that clubs had expressed the view that the current fixture was working "pretty well".



"I think there was feedback that we have got some work to do for [clubs] to embrace a different fixture to the one they have now," McLachlan said.