"One team needs it right now and the other team's looking at the future,'' said the North Melbourne coach.

"For a team that can't make the finals, who's offered a really good deal, then the blow outs occur later in the season.''

The AFL argues that mid-season trading, in particular, would allow lower-placed teams to rebuild and move up the ladder faster, by giving them more "leverage,'' because clubs in the premiership window would offer more than they would at season's end.

Scott agreed with the AFL that mid-season trading might help the lower-placed sides to rebuild quicker, but the downside might be that it "exacerbates losses'' during that season - a scenario that had not been raised until Scott put it on the agenda.

Despite the misgivings he expressed to McLachlan and Hocking - the key drivers of mid-season player movement - Scott said he still favoured mid-season trading. "I am, on balance. We have to look at freeing up player movement.''

It is possible that the AFL could limit the number of players that a club could trade out, to limit a mid-season fire sale or even to mitigate against teams engineering a higher draft position, or what has become known as "tanking.''

North Melbourne is viewed as a club that, given that it is rebuilding its playing list, might have gained from a mid-season trading system in 2018.

While there have been reservations about mid-season trading and drafting, there is more acceptance among clubs that one or both of these measures will eventually be introduced.

While mid-season trading would be the more radical and eventful outcome, it also would offer greater rewards to clubs at either end of the ladder and arguably fulfil McLachlan's wish for expediting a team's rise up the ladder.

List managers have noted that players drafted from second-tier competitions mid-season might lack the fitness and training base to succeed in playing AFL in the second half of a season.