AFL Chairman Mike Fitzpatrick has gone beyond reaffirming the League's commitment to a 17th side on the Gold Coast, adding that an 18th team based in Sydney is right on the agenda.

In a wide-ranging interview with Caroline Wilson, chief football writer of The Age, Fitzpatrick said the AFL had "no choice" but to push ahead with the expansion of the competition to 18 teams in time for the next TV rights agreement in 2012.

This comes after North Melbourne knocked back the AFL's $100million package to relocate from Melbourne to the Gold Coast.

In his interview with Wilson, Fitzpatrick reportedly agrees rugby league has stolen a march on the AFL but said: "I'm not sure it was a failure of our intelligence. It took place for them (the NRL) in a very short space of time and they were lucky the way that the stars — the government, the region and various other crucial aspects — suddenly aligned.

"I don’t believe we’ve got any choice now," said Fitzpatrick. "If you can’t get a team to relocate on the basis that North was offered, then I don’t think it's ever going to happen.

"In a sense it has solved a problem for us because had North gone — and we were disappointed they didn't — there was always the question of introducing a 17th team into western Sydney."