OUTGOING Fremantle chief executive Cameron Schwab may not be out of a job for long. The AFL has unofficially placed Schwab at the top of its list for a new executive position demanding extensive club experience.

Schwab, a veteran of three AFL clubs, spoke to league boss Andrew Demetriou several days ago and later held talks with Demetriou's No. 2 Gillon McLachlan.

Demetriou yesterday confirmed his meeting with Schwab and stressed an executive at head office with genuine club experience could prove crucial in the establishment of new clubs in Queensland and NSW over the next three years.

"I think as a general principle, a person with a lot of experience with clubs would have a lot to offer our team," Demetriou said. "It's probably one area we don't have covered and if you can see over a football club, you are talking about football, sponsorship, business plans, the whole operation.

"With the setting up of two new clubs from scratch, Cameron believes he has a lot to offer and he is right about that. I would expect his name to be at the forefront of our thinking."

Schwab will return to Melbourne at the end of this, his seventh season at the helm of the Dockers, having overseen the eradication of the club's debt and the building of a multimillion-dollar bank account but without an elusive premiership cup to show for his time in Perth.

While Schwab, 44, has indicated a desire to remain in football, he has ruled out working for one of the 16 clubs in the short to medium term and wants to live in Melbourne, the home of his 10-year-old son.

He told The Age yesterday that he had a professional preference to work at AFL level and described his conversation with Demetriou and his return to Melbourne for family reasons as a matter of good timing.

"My talk to Andrew was about how the AFL can help clubs at many levels and not only the two new clubs but how the creation of two new clubs will affect the other 16 clubs," Schwab said.

"This is an exciting time for the game and the success of these clubs is crucial to the future of the competition.

"The AFL recently put forward eight priorities and four of those involved clubs, priorities like creating new business, creating opportunities in the community and working extensively in the community, which we have done a lot of work on at Fremantle. It's also about experience, handling the tough times as well as success. All clubs have tough times."

The son of legendary club and AFL administrator Alan and the first cousin of Hawthorn premiership player and AFL Victoria chief executive Peter, Schwab has spent most of the past 26 years at the coalface of club administration, starting as an 18-year-old with a traineeship at Melbourne and becoming general manager of Richmond at 24.

Schwab returned to the Demons as chief executive in 1997.

It is no secret that his once testy relationship with Demetriou has improved significantly since his prudent handling of Fremantle's finances, turning the club into one of the wealthiest in the AFL.

"Cameron has two or three career opportunities but I think his preference would be to stay in football," Demetriou said. "He's done his time for now at football club level but he certainly is someone we would welcome to stay involved."

In recent years, the AFL has approached or interviewed club chief executives, including Geelong's Brian Cook, West Coast's Trevor Nisbett, former Port Adelaide boss Brian Cunningham and Carlton's Greg Swann, for top jobs in the competition's administration but no member of the AFL executive has held a position at one of the 16 clubs.

Schwab has insisted he would see out his contract until the end of this season, returning to Melbourne in October.