The Herald Sun reports that a straw poll of players conducted by the AFL Players' Association on Wednesday suggested that some of sort of representative, or all-star concept be revived.
"Obviously, there are a lot of factors to consider, such as when do you play it - pre-season, mid-season or end of season?" president Luke Ball told the newspaper.
"Maybe it could be played as an alternative to one of the NAB Cup rounds, either replacing or complementing the current schedule.
"Then you have to see if the clubs would agree to it, although if it replaced a NAB [Cup] round, then we are just replacing one game with another."
Ball suggested a number of ways of determining the teams so that every player in the AFL was eligible to play, including East versus West, or even the old school yard system where the captains take turns to pick their squads. The National Hockey League in North America has now adopted this system for its All-Star Game.
One of the biggest hurdles facing representative football in the AFL is the fear of players getting injured and being unavailable for their clubs.
According to Ball, if the game was played before the season and if defensive structures were abandoned, then a high-scoring shootout would be less taxing on the players.
The last 'state' game to be played was in 2008 when Victoria defeated an all-star team by 17 points at the MCG in front of more than 69,000 fans. The match was part of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary Australian football celebrations.
The AFL has indicated it is open to the idea of reviving representative football as long as it does not compromise the home and away season. If the game were to be played before the season, the big issue would be where to play the game. Etihad Stadium would shape as the most likely venue given that the MCG would still be unavailable because of cricket commitments.
