AFL North East Border boss John O'Donohue says a salary cap may not be enforceable in the Ovens and Murray Football League next season.

While AFL Victoria is pressing ahead with its implementation, North East Border general manager John O’Donohue said “there’s a bit of work still to be done” before the final salary cap policy is released.

A draft policy was released late last month with 12-month suspensions for players, heavy fines and stripping clubs of up to 20 premiership points among the penalties for those who breach the salary cap.

Ovens and Murray clubs are set to be able to spend up to $180,000 a season under the impending cap. The league will have a salary cap of $160,000 but playing coaches will receive a 50 per cent discount of up to $20,000, meaning clubs can spend up to $180,000.

O’Donohue said it was important for the policy to be water-tight before it was released and if that meant it wasn’t enforceable until the 2018 season, “then so be it”.

“It’s definitely behind where we’d like it to be as far as implementation goes for next year, that would be fair to say,” he said.

“There’s a bit of work still to be done.

“There’s a fair appetite for it to come in – we just need to make sure it’s manageable at club level and it’s manageable at our level and then enforceable. From our point of view, we need to make sure the policy is one that is sound and has no holes in it.

“Until we get to that stage, it won’t be enforceable.

“It just depends how quickly we can tick all those processes off.”