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AFL chief Andrew Demetriou has, for the first time, raised the prospect of a 20-team competition for the AFL at some point in the distant future.
The Gold Coast AFL side will make its long awaited debut in the competition in 2011 with the Greater Western Sydney club to do likewise the following season, bringing the number of teams in the competition to 18.
Tasmania has lobbied, thus far unsuccessfully, for a license and arguably currently has the infrastructure to facilitate a club. It makes sense that they would be granted the next and 19th license to enter the competition whenever that may be – if ever.
Although premature as it may be – as we are yet to welcome teams 17 and 18 to the league – the question looms as to where any potential 20th side would be located.
Canberra, North Queensland, Western Australia and even the Northern Territory all loom as possibly locations for what would surely be the final license for entry into the league.
One does, however, feel that the AFL has missed their opportunity to make their move on the market in the national capital.
Canberra already has successful NRL and Super 14 sides and it is difficult to comprehend that there is room for an AFL side in the small region.
North Queensland, now with an A-League and NRL side, may also be too small to accommodate an AFL side however there is a stable following in the region and the AFL have already shown an interest in expanding to compete with rival codes.
Demetriou did hint at Western Australia being a prime location for the potential 20th side.
Having already seen two clubs reach success – at least off the field – there is a strong case for a third team in the football strong state. There is an enormous array of talent coming out of the state draft after draft and with little competition from other codes West Australia could afford a third side.
The game has a huge following in the Northern Territory and it could be argued that a side could well survive. It would certainly be a struggle financially but with such a strong culture of footy in the region the AFL may be willing to pour millions as they have for Western Sydney.
A twenty team competition does make some sense, in particular in terms of the fixture. It could be an easy 19 week season with every side playing each other on one occasion throughout the season.
This would seem the fairest system of fixturing: you would play every team once home and once away over a two year period.
This would also free up three weeks under the current fixture model which could allow for a state-of-origin contest every season.
A lot comes back to the success of the two teams that will enter the league in 2011 and 2012.
The AFL is already helping numerous clubs in Victoria to survive, and if they need to do the same with the newest clubs in the competition, it may be deemed inappropriate to hand out more licenses.
But then this hasn’t stopped the AFL in launching the eighteen team competition.
One final piece of food for thought: do we dare consider a New Zealand team?
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