AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou has confirmed that the League will issue licences for teams in the Gold Coast in 2011 and Western Sydney in 2012.

Demetriou said nothing had changed in regard to the start dates after a meeting between the AFL and about 50 club directors, which ranged over topics such as list development and fixturing.

He also dismissed concerns from Collingwood president Eddie McGuire about the wisdom of pressing ahead with the expansion of the League in a climate of economic downturn, saying the League had been preparing for years to deal with such events.

"We don't want to wait, we believe the risk of waiting is far greater than the risk of doing," he said.

"From our view, it's absolutely true that there is a global downturn at the moment.

"We should all be very careful about that, we're actually doing a risk impact around some sensitivities, about what or may not happen, as part of our general business.

"We're very mindful and we're very prepared, we think we're well-positioned to capitalise on the opportunities that are out there."

He added the AFL is debt free, has an $82 million future fund and secure long-term revenues.

The league's commitment to the Gold Coast and western Sydney will further frustrate Tasmania, with the state government strongly backing a local campaign for the island state's own AFL team.

"They probably do deserve a team, we shouldn't dismiss the contribution that Tasmania has made to our game," Demetriou said.

"But the commission has made a decision that the 17th licence will be awarded to the Gold Coast and the 18th licence will be awarded to western Sydney.

"It's not a competition for the 18th licence and as we've repeated to the Tasmanian Government, we welcome their submission.

"They are absolutely entitled to put forward a proposal, but the commission has already decided where the 17th and 18th teams are going."

Demetriou added list development was one key reason why the League would introduce the two expansion teams in separate seasons.

He said the AFL's list development group, which is looking at how to build the two new teams, would probably be ready to make recommendations to the commission next month on issues such as the draft and uncontracted players.

He also announced that as of next year, the rookie list for each club would be expanded by two players.