COLLINGWOOD president Eddie McGuire has questioned the wisdom of a new AFL team in Western Sydney and called for a rethink of the proposed Gold Coast team given Australia's slowing economy.

McGuire said the economic forecast had nosedived since clubs and the AFL Commission unanimously endorsed the $100 million expansion plans.

He was particularly concerned about the Herald's report on Saturday that the league was considering launching the Sydney Celtics, a team with strong Irish connections.

"It made me spit my cornflakes and hit the back of the wall," he told SEN radio. "Now is the time for cautious steps in the economy and footy, I reckon."

Swans coach Paul Roos made light of the Celtics idea yesterday.

"It's an interesting concept isn't it, the Sydney Celtics?" Roos said. "The Boston Celtics won the NBA so maybe they can bring over [players] Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, they're all about six-foot-six, six-foot-seven so they'd have a good ruck division anyway."

Asked if he thought the concept had merit, he replied: "I didn't read too much about it to be honest, so I wouldn't like to comment on something I really don't know too much of."

McGuire's comments are the first sign some clubs are reconsidering plans to back a team on the Gold Coast in 2011 and another in western Sydney the following year, expanding the league to 18 clubs.

He said although the AFL was cashed up from selling its television rights, clubs were now feeling the pinch.

"Every club in football at the moment, their sponsors are putting the squeeze on," he said. 'There's a bit of a feel that when the AFL pitched to the presidents the idea of the 17th and 18th teams, that was in November-December and the world markets were at a high … The words 'sub-prime', no one knew what they were. Now we know. Having just come back from America, it is absolutely horrendous over there, we haven't even got the chill … there's a lot more to come."

McGuire said the AFL franchise was the strongest in Australian sport but the whole industry was under pressure. He said television ratings for AFL in Sydney and Brisbane were lower than a children's movie and the AFL could not count on another rights windfall.

"We've seen the sharemarket price of all the television stations go down, we've seen advertising expenditure go down, so all the portents are quite the opposite of what we might have thought in November," he said.

An AFL spokesman said the expansion had wide support. He said: "We've already started signings for the Gold Coast."

McGuire pondered: "Are we prepared to put a $100 million gamble on the table for an expansion? I don't see anyone marching in the streets for Western Sydney."

The Sydney Celtics idea was first put to AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou 18 months ago by Gaelic Players Association executive Donal O'Neill.