IT IS two months since Andrew Demetriou and Brendon Gale sat in an Albert Part cafe run by Gale's sister and, according to a website report that was widely followed up, predicted the imminent death of the North Melbourne Football Club.

Demetriou later denied that he said anything of the sort and the AFL Commission backed him. Gale was furious at being linked to what was presented as a plot to destroy a football club while the journalist who wrote the story said his source was impeccable.

This column was not there and will never know for certain what was said. What is known, however, is that it was over that same cup of coffee that Demetriou outlined to the chief of the AFL Players Association the competition's plan to bring forward its national expansion, move on from relocation and introduce two new clubs in time for the next round of broadcast negotiations.

It is a bold plan — one that the AFL has implemented because it believes it has no choice. As chairman Mike Fitzpatrick said yesterday, if the Kangaroos would not move with the offer that was placed on the table, then no club is ever likely to do so.

Fitzpatrick claims the emphasis on the multi-layered drugs problem during his first year in the job was media-driven and that by all realistic measurements the AFL had a successful season.

It is true that the figures were good. But it is also true that when a champion falls as Ben Cousins did and a premiership cup is as tainted as the West Coast silverware of 2006, then the game has a problem. The dithering by North Melbourne and its divided board did not help.

The AFL — and by extension Fitzpatrick — was criticised for lack of leadership but Fitzpatrick has made a good case for governance and why he acted when and how he did. And apart from wrongly giving the green light to the Cousins' comeback game in which he was hailed like a messiah — a comeback granted by the AFL executive — it is difficult to know what else the AFL could have done with him any better.

Tomorrow, the commission should put the West Coast story to bed, and it is difficult in this positive pre-season frame of mind to imagine the club being stripped of premiership points or draft picks, although the club's behaviour over the Chad Fletcher incident and Fletcher's subsequent response surely still deserves scrutiny.

Fitzpatrick was right about Cousins when he said in The Age yesterday: "End of story." Cousins is now a circus sideshow and his football career looks finished. In terms of future offenders, the commission will soon approve a new players' code of conduct defining a new separation of powers between the footballer, his club and the competition.

The Kangaroos insist they are going places by staying in Melbourne. New chief executive Eugene Arocca convinced the unofficial North powerbrokers Peter Scanlon and Trevor O'Hoy that he could resurrect the club's business and has already convinced several key shareholders to hand Arden Street back to its members.

Clearly, the AFL is still concerned about the Kangaroos and appears seriously concerned about Melbourne. The Western Bulldogs, despite internal satisfaction after a disappointing 2007 football season, continue to find new ways to fight for their future. But the fact that Fitzpatrick and Demetriou have already begun selling the 18-team competition to the networks is a positive sign for all of the above.

In less than one official year in the job Fitzpatrick has made it clear he will not be hamstrung by tradition. He has placed a second woman on the AFL commission and embarked upon a program of improving facilities for clubs going hand in hand with governments. Already the program has had major results, although a stadium deal on the Gold Coast must be a priority.

The AFL has signalled its intention to move into Sydney and the Gold Coast by 2012. It is a brave declaration given the scrutiny it has invited and the deadline it has set itself. The Sydney media have labelled the national game arrogant and described Fitzpatrick's plan as "declaring war". It seems that suddenly and finally Australia's most powerful code is setting the agenda and demonstrating leadership.