AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou has not ruled out the new Gold Coast franchise taking part in the 2008 NAB AFL Draft, as it prepares to join the national competition.

Demetriou said discussions were already underway with the club, which is expected to enter the league for the 2011 season.

"A lot of it is still to be decided, and it needs to be canvassed with the clubs," Demetriou told the Herald Sun.

"What draft, pre-season and/or national, what years, will there be priority picks, will there be a roped-off zone area?

"It is all being discussed, nothing has been decided."

The existing 16 clubs are expected to meet with AFL executives next week.

Demetriou also said the Gold Coast team may not be required to pay a licence fee, and will be up and running in an alternative competition as early as next season.

He said the Gold Coast and proposed western Sydney franchise were inevitable inclusions to the national competition.

"I have got no doubt whatsoever that there will be 17 and 18 teams, we like 17 and 18 teams," he said.

"The fact of the matter is no (current) club wants to relocate. No club wants to merge."

Demetriou said the league has experimented with how the fixture could unfold with one or two new teams in the competition, with a Monday night and Saturday twilight timeslot possibilities.

"We have done a fixture that shows a 17-team competition with 22 weeks and 24 weeks and it works," he said in The Age.

"We have done a fixture that has an 18-team competition with 22 weeks and 24 weeks. It has nine games in a round, it has a game at 5 o'clock on a Saturday or it has a game on a Monday night. And they all work and they … preserve the six-day break.

"We have physically got a fixture, a mock fixture of nine games a round over 22 and 24 weeks.

"So have we finalised anything? No, but we have done the work."