The AFL season will need to run for at least eight more rounds for many players' trigger clauses to come into effect.

It is common for players to have games triggers in their contracts, meaning that they get extra money or an extra year on their club's list if they play a specified amount of games for the season.

With the season being reduced from its normal 22 matches per team to a planned 17 because of the coronavirus pandemic, players had been informed that trigger clauses will remain on a pro-rata basis, meaning for example that a player with an 18-game trigger in a 22-round season would only need to play 14 matches to reach that trigger in a 17-round season.

However player agents were told at a teleconference on Tuesday that the season would need to run for at least nine rounds in order for any of these trigger clauses to come into effect. The AFL Players' Association confirmed the move on Wednesday.