SOME players will not have to return to pre-season training until December 2 each year under a new AFL deal.

Players with more than four years' experience from clubs that contest the last three weeks of the finals will not begin pre-season training until that date.

Players with one to four years' experience from those clubs not playing finals will be expected to start two weeks earlier on November 18, the same day as the full list of players from clubs eliminated after week one in the finals.

Players will also have a fortnight's leave over the Christmas period.

Clubs who didn't make the finals in 2012 started pre-season in early October last year in preparation for this season. 

Clubs will not be able to monitor players during the break with GPS devices, as some have done in the past, and the distinction between leave and work will be clear.  

But clubs will be given leeway to drive their own standards, and leadership groups will still be able to sanction players who do not return in the required shape.  

Existing arrangements involving pre-season training camps are expected to continue during a transition period.

The guidelines will provide players with a more balanced approach to training pre-Christmas and allow them to explore other interests away from football.

The AFL's football operations manager Mark Evans said the changes met the needs of the players and the clubs.

"We have found a model that provides greater balance for players during the leave period, in the training phase pre-Christmas, and throughout the season as well, but we've still managed to retain a flexible approach for clubs and some ownership for clubs around the structure of their program and the standards they set."

Clubs that do not meet the guidelines will be fined up to $50,000 - and up to $100,000 for a second offence - but the AFL and AFL Players Association hoped the threat of sanctions would be a deterrent.

The AFLPA presented research to club CEOs in May showing fewer players were engaging in professional development opportunities.

Only three of the 130 players who left the game in 2012 did so with university degrees and the number of players taking up education grants was in decline.

Nine clubs were represented on a working party led by Evans to determine how a pre-season training program could be better structured.

Representatives included high performance managers Andrew Russell (Hawthorn), Bill Davoren (St Kilda) and Darren Burgess (Port Adelaide), AFLPA representative Ian Prendergast, players, club CEOs and football managers.

Sports scientists and conditioning experts said 11 or 12 weeks of pre-season training (or a certain number of training units) was needed to achieve the level of fitness required for the pre-season.

All clubs submitted feedback after the initial meeting and the working party met again in mid-August.

They will be able to give further feedback on how the arrangements have worked in 2014.