THE HOLDING the ball rule was one of the hot items on the agenda when club football managers met on Wednesday.

Football managers were shown about 16 clips of potential holding the ball decisions and asked for their interpretation, a process which facilitated discussion and highlighted the difficulty of decision making in that area regardless of the interpretation.

About 1600 holding and throwing the ball decisions have been paid this season, with holding the ball making up about 75 per cent of the decisions.

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan told a media briefing pre-season he would like to see the tackler rewarded and the rule has attracted external commentary throughout the season.

However, clubs generally accept the umpires have done a good job in applying the rule and acknowledge there are positives and negatives of any interpretation.

The future of the bounce was barely touched on at the meeting.

AFL.com.au understands the general view is that it is a decision for the AFL Commission based on any Laws of the Game committee recommendation.

Club football managers were also told that umpires benefit from the balance having a job away from football provides in a presentation from former umpire Jordan Bannister.

Bannister, who umpired 97 AFL games after a 64-game playing career with Essendon and Carlton, retired from umpiring at the start of this season due to work commitments.

In his presentation to football managers about the realities of life as an umpire, Bannister warned against the AFL employing umpires full-time as he said the mental break full-time work provided was necessary to help umpires deal with the demands of being an AFL umpire.

Bannister wrote in Fairfax in April this year about the pressures that come with umpiring and explained that "retiring from umpiring two months ago has left me with a sense of calm I have not felt in years."

Sydney Swans coach John Longmire said during pre-season the AFL should consider employing full-time umpires arguing that logic would suggest such a move would improve umpiring.

The AFL umpires had also flagged the idea after a study tour to Europe in December however the general feeling has been the umpires would be better served if alterations were made to the time they could dedicate to football rather than giving up their career.

The AFL has not pushed for umpires to become full-time.

Although the Sydney Swans were on the receiving end of some incorrect decisions during the 2016 AFL Grand Final, Longmire has not been critical of umpires, reinforcing on several occasions the difficulty of their job.

Several AFL coaches including Fremantle's Ross Lyon and Richmond's Damien Hardwick have also been strong in support of umpires in post-match media conferences this season.

Clubs have been more inclined to question the rules umpires are being asked to implement than the way the umpires do their job.

Clubs were also informed about the impact of the CBA on the TPP and player development initiatives.