AFL chief Gillon McLachlan says there is scope to increase funding towards marketing Australian rules in the NRL stronghold of Sydney, but is satisfied with the sport's recent growth in NSW.
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The Sydney Swans and GWS Giants feel the league isn't fully capitalising on the clubs' recent success, and both are preparing formal submissions to the league in a bid to improve the game's promotion in NSW.
Sydney have missed just one finals series since 2002, winning two premierships in that stretch, while the Giants enter Thursday's qualifying final against the Crows in Adelaide after a second successive fourth-placed finish, only six seasons into their AFL existence.
Both clubs have smashed their membership records this season but still believe there is work to be done by the AFL around improved fixtures, and an injection of funding into grassroots facilities.
"NSW and Queensland are the only states with specific marketing funds – we're working closely with the clubs, we invest strongly here across the market," McLachlan said in Sydney on Wednesday.
"Whether it's the exact amount of money they'd like, that's always up for debate. We'll keep working with them, they always want more money. We're always in conversation with them about that.
"Swans have got almost their all-time overall aggregate attendance record, near 60,000 members, the Giants have had their attendance record.
"You've got, in the end, finite resources and we've got to make decisions about priorities across different areas. This is a priority market, we're investing strongly and we'll keep talking to them about the exact mix of that all the time."
The premiership cup was in Sydney with McLachlan on Wednesday, where it was confirmed The Killers would headline grand final entertainment, and Mike Brady would perform his classic Aussie rules song Up There Cazaly. Dami Im will perform the national anthem.
The AFL could be faced with an all-Sydney grand final if the Giants lose to Adelaide on Thursday, and end up on the opposite side of the draw to the Swans.
Otherwise the two clubs could square off in a preliminary final, which McLachlan hoped would be played at ANZ Stadium.
"If it is an all-Sydney prelim, that's a 70-plus thousand crowd and we need to have it at ANZ and we can make the turf work so that's what we do," McLachlan said.
"I want the best two teams to make it [the grand final]. If it's two Sydney teams, two Adelaide teams, two Melbourne teams, great, as long as the best two teams get there.
"I reckon we've got a finals series where that can happen, I think for an all-Sydney grand final the Giants have to lose the first week. We'll see how that goes."
