THE AFL is set to crack down on poor player behaviour and will take over the power to punish footballers for off-field transgressions from the 16 clubs.

In a move forced by incidents involving players from a number of clubs, the competition's governing body has recommended a historically significant rewriting of the player rules.

The new heavy-handed approach put forward and passed three days ago by the AFL Commission under the guidance of new chairman Mike Fitzpatrick, would change the "conduct unbecoming" rule and increase the AFL's disciplinary powers to fine, suspend and deregister footballers for antisocial and criminal behaviour.

The AFL has lost faith in the clubs penalising players guilty of such behaviour. Although the move will cause concern among some clubs and the players' union, the power to change the rules rests with the AFL.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said last night the move had been largely encouraged by the clubs who recently admitted as a group that they did not believe they were capable of sanctioning the players appropriately.

Demetriou said that while the AFL always held the ultimate disciplinary power, this new move put the league's disciplinary position beyond doubt.

"In one sense we didn't need to bring in a new rule, but in doing so we have given our position clarity," he said. "Most of the clubs have admitted to us they would rather it this way."

The AFL will later this week take its recommendations to the AFL Players Association, which last year threatened to legally challenge radical changes to the conduct unbecoming rule involving sexual assault.

With the off-field image of AFL players plummeting, the competition has come under scrutiny and heavy criticism for its laissez faire attitude to the Eagles crisis, its testing regime for illegal drugs and the three strikes policy.

However, the proposed rule change has been precipitated not specifically by the Eagles but a number of off-field incidents and the subsequent failure of clubs to appropriately punish players.

The commission's eyes were raised by Port Adelaide's failure to suspend Dean Brogan after he attacked an abusive football fan at Adelaide airport last season and Collingwood was similarly lenient towards Chris Tarrant — like Brogan a repeat offender — following a late-night bender with teammate Ben Johnson.

Demetriou approved last week's significant decision to overrule West Coast and fine footballer Michael Braun $5000 for swearing in an acceptance speech. West Coast had proposed to fine Braun $500.

The AFL's Respect and Responsibility policy was launched in November 2005 and focused on sexual assault, discrimination and harassment.

But with radical changes proposed to the conduct unbecoming rule, both the players' association and the commission reconsidered elements of the policy.

Since then a working party including commissioners Bill Kelty and Sam Mostyn has widened its boundaries to include other criminal offences and forms of assault.

The AFL Commission, which will later this week confront the captain, coach, president and key executives from West Coast over that club's problems with drug and alcohol abuse and other antisocial and criminal behaviour, on Friday accepted the working party's new recommendation to take disciplinary control for certain misdemeanors from the clubs.