MELBOURNE Football Club is doomed in Melbourne and ought to seize the chance to secure its future as the Gold Coast Demons, Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett said last night.

At a fund-raiser for the Sony Foundation at the MCG, Kennett said teams finishing in the bottom four this year would find it "very, very hard" to rebuild, and that in an evermore stressed Victorian market, the Demons would find it hard to survive.

"Melbourne cannot support 10 clubs 10 years from now, probably not 10 clubs five years from now, unless there is substantial support from the AFL," he said.

"The first club that takes the tough decision and puts its membership first and the club first will benefit."

Kennett was addressing reports that Brownlow medallist Jim Stynes would be co-opted to become president of Melbourne and lead the fight to preserve the club's future in its namesake city.