AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said he was prepared to double the amount of money being thrown at western Sydney to establish a second successful team in the city, with the more affluent areas of the north-western suburbs firmly in his sights.

As the battle for the hearts and minds of sporting parents in the west intensifies, Demetriou told the ABC Offsiders program yesterday that even the naming of the second AFL team would be in the hands of the Sydney market, to encourage a sense of ownership. But he conceded the next six months was critical to the AFL's plans.

He said the AFL's initial $20 million funding for the expansion from from 16 to 18 teams - by the rapid introduction of a second Sydney team and a Gold Coast franchise would not be enough money and was preparing to inject up to $40 million to make the expansion work.

Demetriou said the AFL would inject "significant" amounts of money into western Sydney to win over the population, but also to placate the Sydney Swans.

"We've committed some $20 million into our new markets fund which is for the Gold Coast and Western Sydney, we're probably going to double that, given that we're now accelerating the push into Western Sydney," Demetriou said.

"But the fact of the matter is that we actually know that we're not on people's minds in western Sydney - we accept that, but we are making inroads into schools, into community football, we're getting facilities built, we've got a relationship with the Blacktown City Council which we're really proud of."

Demetriou said the Swans had not been against a second Sydney team but comments about buying the team's silence was "a bit unfair", especially after he briefed Swans officials last week.

"In all our dealings with the Swans, in fairness, they've never been anti a second team in Sydney," he said.

Demetriou said the second Sydney AFL team was two to three years behind where the code would like it to be in planning terms and was "certainly behind the Gold Coast" preparations but the code wanted to introduce two new teams together.

Demetriou also revealed the AFL was not only targeting the west of Sydney but also the north-west, with the new name to reflect that.