The AFL says the interest level of clubs will determine whether it looks at introducing a substitute system to help cope with injuries during matches.

The push for substitutes - trialled by the league during this year's pre-season competition - gained momentum when North Melbourne were left a player short on the field late in Saturday's loss to St Kilda.

The `Roos led early, but fell away under the weight of their injury toll, eventually going down by 46 points.

Coach Dean Laidley cited the match as a "prime example" of the case for clubs to be allowed injury substitutes in addition to the existing four interchange players.

Brisbane coach Michael Voss has also joined the ranks of coaches seeking change, with calls having previously come from Collingwood's Mick Malthouse, Fremantle's Mark Harvey and Terry Wallace, who has just finished his coaching reign at Richmond.

AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said the league consistently sought the input of clubs on potential rule changes and if there was a widespread push it would be looked at.

"What we really need to do is listen closely to what our clubs and players and all the people who have input into the laws process, what they want to say about this in the first instance," Anderson told SEN radio on Tuesday.

"Let's see whether they really believe this is a topic that is worth examining further and what sort of alternatives they put forward and then we can take it to the laws committee and debate and consider it further."

In the pre-season trial, clubs were allowed two designated substitutes, as well as six interchange players.

Unlike the interchange players, once the substitutes came onto the field, the players they replaced could not return.

Anderson said the trial had received positive feedback and he was confident that a permanent substitute system would not simply provide coaches with one more tool to increase rotations.

The AFL is already concerned that a rapid rise in players rotating off the bench in recent seasons, and resultant increase in the pace of the game, has led to more soft tissue injuries.

"That's something we're continuing to look at closely," he said.

Meanwhile, Anderson said several clubs had raised the prospect of introducing a mid-season draft and of being allowed to temporarily add players to their lists during discussions about free agency.

But he said those ideas had not reached the stage of formal proposals yet.

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