THE AFL has moved a step closer to year-round binding hair tests after players agreed to a trial of in-season testing on Friday.

The six-month trial to run until November is for statistical purposes only but will hand the AFL’s illicit drugs working party evidence about in-season drug use.

Many clubs want the kind of year-round hair testing recently introduced in Australian cricket.

Cricket Australia last month introduced a system where a second positive hair test triggers a 40-day ban and a fine of 15 per cent of a player’s contract retainer.

The Herald Sun this week forecast the year-round testing after revealing about 10 per cent of off-season hair tests came up positive.

But the AFL last night refused to say how many tests would be involved.

The league had hoped to release a revised illicit drugs code in time for this year’s off-season but the six-month trial might push some of those changes back until the 2016 season.

AFL players Jimmy Bartel and Chris Judd addressed the illicit drugs working party on Thursday.

The league said in a statement: “Clubs, medical experts and the players are equally committed to further improving the policy and explored a number of areas, as well as reviewing the approaches used by those other sports that have an Illicit Drug Policy of their own in place.”

AFLPA executive Ian Prendergast said it was committed to a policy review as long as player welfare remained at its heart.