The AFL's recent expansion plans have been driven solely by the NRL.

It seems someone must have turned on a light at AFL headquarters recently - or they have been reading internet boards - revealing 58% of the Australian population lives in QLD, NSW and the ACT.

Their panic to get into the western Sydney and Gold Coast markets is palpable.

if brisbane gets another team theres a very good chance AFLs expansion into queensland will go broke and they end up with zero clubs there

Not really they have had their eye on the GC and Tassie for a number of years and have been playing games and investing money in both areas for at least the last 5 years. They have also put aside money over the last two TV deals to be in a position to expand. West Sydney is purely a TV deal driven decision imo.

As said does the NRL even know where it wants to go as they seem to be doing NOTHING proactively in priming those places and certainly not talking about definates like all the other codes are doing.

Only advantage we have is that places like Perth, Wellington, CC etc actually are crying out for a team where as the AFL areas are being driven by the AFL, not by demand in those areas.

What exactly are you basing that on? The AFL couldn't give a crap about the Gold Coast until the GC started pestering the NRL for a team. Even then the AFL only actually said they were expanding to the GC after the A-League had announced that they were expanding there.

The whole thing has been a reactionary mess, the original GC AFL team was supposed to start playing in 2009 iirc but it keeps getting pushed back because the support isn't there.

This shouldn't surprise anyone as this is how the AFL usually expands. Look at the last 15 years.
- The ARL add the Reds so the AFL add the Dockers.
- SL add the Rams so the AFL add the Power.
- The NRL add the Titans and the A-League bring in United so the AFL is trying to start up the Gazzas.
- The A-League says they want to have a Western Sydney team and suddenly the AFL wants to establish a team there.