The AFL have called on Etihad Stadium to put football before music in a bid to improve the ground's much-maligned playing surface.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou wants the ground to be free of concerts and dance parties between Christmas and the start of the season to prevent damage to the surface and to let the turf improve.

Demetriou was angry earlier this year when Etihad Stadium management booked in three AC/DC concerts in five days at the ground, which forced the AFL to re-schedule a pre-season game.

The ground's heavy schedule - it also hosts A-League soccer games and on Saturday night will host a rugby Test between Australia and New Zealand - has been criticised in the past as a contributing factor to its poor playing surface given the turf also gets little natural light.

Last Friday night's game between Hawthorn and St Kilda, where players constantly slipped over, prompted a crisis meeting on Monday between the AFL Players' Association, the league and Etihad Stadium management.

Stadium management will implement more measures, including adding top soil and aerating the turf, in a bid to provide players with more traction.

On Tuesday, Demetriou was confident the surface would improve over the remainder of the season, but called for a long-term solution to the ongoing problem.

"Our request is that the stadium (management) leaves the stadium free of major events before the season," Demetriou said.

"I think they are open to that suggestion. In fact I'm confident that is the suggestion they will take up.

"I think they acknowledge that the preparation for this year's football was hindered by a number of events that happened before the season."

An Etihad Stadium spokesman said stadium management would "seriously consider" the AFL's request.

"It's something we feel we might be able to do unless the event is of the magnitude that it can't be ignored," the spokesman said.

Such is the concern over the surface, the AFLPA has called for the relocation of games to be considered if there is no improvement.

The AFLPA has also warned the condition of the ground could prompt legal action if a player suffers a serious injury.

But Demetriou said the league was not planning to relocate games and there was no evidence the surface was unsafe.

Richmond veteran Ben Cousins said he would hate to see a side's premiership aspirations de-railed because of an injury at the ground.

"I'd hate to see one of the finals contenders have their chances deep in September diminished because one of their key players goes down with an unnecessary injury at Etihad," he told radio station Nova.

"If that happens there'll be huge concerns, massive dramas."

Of the main premiership contenders, St Kilda play another four games at Etihad Stadium over the remaining five home and away rounds, the Western Bulldogs play three, Geelong two, but Collingwood and Hawthorn no more.

Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade said the surface was not too bad when the Dogs played Fremantle last Sunday.

But there might be an issue when they play North Melbourne this Sunday, given the Wallabies and All Blacks play the night before.

"If it is new turf shifting, when they pack down, those forwards, those big guys, will actually move the turf," Eade said.

"Hopefully the ground has taken a bit, that that doesn't happen, that would be my only concern that they'll move a lot of turf and shift it when they get into their rucks."

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