Hawthorn president Andrew Newbold says there would need to be a "compelling reason" for the AFL to consider breaking away from the World Anti-Doping Agency code.
The AFL has said it will remain WADA compliant but, as a result of the Essendon case, is seeking feedback from all major Australian sports into how the code can be more applicable to team-based competitions.
However, lawyer Graham Smith, a former adviser to the AFL Players Association, has said the AFL should consider quitting the code, while there have been rumblings from others in the industry suggesting it's time for the league to go it alone. A decision of this magnitude would mean the AFL would lose government funding.
"The thing I would say about it, if we are going to break away from it, for what purpose are we going to break away," Newbold said.
"Most of the international sports, as I understand it, are signatories to WADA. If we are saying we are just a parochial, localised game and we are going to look after ourselves and we might not adhere to whatever standards, I don't reckon that is the right justification for breaking away."
WADA's move to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the AFL anti-doping tribunal's decision on the Essendon case, dragging the saga deep into a third year, sparked renewed talk about whether the AFL should go it alone in terms of an anti-doping code.
"I reckon it's a vexed question and it's not my area of expertise but the thing I would say is, there better be a compelling reason why we are doing it, not just because we don't like the process or the outcome or whatever," Newbold said.
"[But] the whole thing is being reviewed in how the AFL behaved and conducted themselves and whether the AFL needs to have more powers of compulsion and those sorts of things."
The AFL, players and clubs also continue to debate tightening the illicit drugs code, with the merits of welfare and education balanced by the desire to potentially cut the number of strikes allowed from three to two while introducing hair testing throughout the year.
"I think you can still have welfare and education without allowing the loopholes that seem to be prevalent at the moment," Newbold said.
"I said this a couple of weeks ago at a presidents lunch - Hawthorn is all for welfare and education and I would like to think we have a track record in that.
"I just don't think the current policy is working because it allows too many outs. There are a lot of players who I have spoken to who say: 'Yeah, make it tighter. We don't want people exploiting it'."
Newbold said he would support a two-strikes policy.
"I am for a hardline ... my view is, if you signing up to play AFL, you have got to make some lifestyle choices," he said.
"I am not in the 'first strike and you are out' [way of thinking] - it can be graded. I just don't think the current system is working."
AFL chief Gillon McLachlan said earlier this month the number of positive tests had increased in the past year but denied the drug "ice" was an issue in the AFL. The AFL typically releases its results mid-year.
