Andrew Dillon is reminded often that while his primary focus is the birth of the AFL's 19th team, plenty of others are thinking ahead to the 20th.
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When the Tasmania Devils debut in 2028 - a timeline that Dillon says "absolutely" will happen - it will mean an uneven number of teams. History strongly suggests the league won't let it stay that way for long.
From Perth, south-east WA, Adelaide's eastern suburbs and northern Queensland, there's no shortage of potential suitors.
"We have a power of work still to do on our 19th team and among the main focuses we have, that's the key focus," Dillon told AAP.
"What I will say, is there will be a time where we will expand from 19 teams to 20.
"Whether that's in my time or someone else's, that will certainly happen.
"What I do know also is there's a lot of interest from a lot of different parts of Australia for a place in our competition."
Then there's the Northern Territory - a long shot, but if the NRL can create a team in Papua New Guinea, then why not?
Dillon says NT would be a "romantic" choice. He notes new AFL commissioner Denise Bowden is the first in that role to come from the Top End.
The AFL commission will meet in the NT in May, also for the first time.
But while Dillon says the NT is "super important", with annual games in Darwin and Alice Springs, he does not sound sold on the idea.
"There's an appetite from the Territory for more games and so that's something we'll work with them on," he said.
"What I would love to see more of is more talent coming from the Territory and making it onto AFL lists."
Asked about the PNG rugby league team, Dillon is to the point.
"I look at the funding and try to think about how it's going to work," he said.
Meanwhile, for all the excitement around the Devils, there's a lot of work ahead.
By October, the AFL's aim is that the Tasmanian government will have approved plans for a new Hobart stadium - a major bone of contention with some locals.
Devils chief executive Brendon Gale also wants 2027 to be the last year of Hawthorn having home games in Launceston.
While the Devils want "clear air" for their debut, Dillon said it's to be decided.
"That's something we will work through with Hawthorn, the Devils and the Tasmanian government," he said.
"My view on that is we're not necessarily open to it, but we're not closed to it either. We have work to do with a number of interested parties.
"The Hawks have been in the competition for 100 years and 25 of those, they've been playing in Tasmania - so they have a big history there."
Elsewhere, there are always fires of varying size and intensity for the AFL boss to control.
The league's negotiations with the players' association over changes to the illicit drugs policy have hit rough waters, with Dillon adamant no confidential test results have been leaked to Sport Integrity Australia.
"We are aligned (with the AFLPA) in relation to having a strengthened and revised illicit drugs policy. How that ends up looking is where the gap is," he said.
"Like any negotiation, there are always gaps. We'll find a way through. We always do."
But for all the day-to-day issues, Dillon knows he must keep an eye on what the game might look like a decade or more down the track.
While his job involves a lot of politics, he doesn't have to think in election cycles.
"Ultimately you get judged by the scoreboard. If our scoreboard is people going, people watching, people joining up as members and then people playing, I think we're going OK," he said.
"But that's not being complacent, because I know a lot of that is momentum.
"A lot of the reasons we're in the position we are now is because of decisions made 20-30 years ago.
"Part of the focus is trying to make sure that whatever decisions we're making, they're not just for the short term.
"They're to make sure that whoever is running the AFL in 10, 15, 20 years' time, that they have the platform that this current administration has."
Last month, Dillon spoke about building total AFL/AFLW annual attendance above 10 million - currently it's more than nine million.
Clearly, a pet project for Dillon is what he calls "turning major events into mega events" - building events around the big games that multiply the number of fans they attract.
He notes how Melbourne's spring racing carnival and tennis spectacle the Australian Open are much more than just sporting events.
Dillon also refers to the success of the Village Green area set up outside Adelaide Oval for cricket Tests.
The AFL owns Marvel Stadium, which is idle in grand final week - is there an opportunity?
"We're different to other sports, but there are things we can learn," he said.
"We're not taking our eye off the ball in terms of, we're still playing the games, we're still absolutely focusing on our players and our fans in the stands.
"What we are looking to do is then making sure we can have experiences available for more than just the 95,000 in the ground."
Australian Associated Press