FIRST, North Melbourne flirted shamelessly with the Gold Coast. Then, when the AFL came on a bit too strong, the Roos stormed out of the bar. Now they have to creep back in and retrieve their handbag.

That is the bizarre scenario created by North's obligation to play three games on the Gold Coast this year - the first tomorrow night against West Coast - despite having rejected the AFL's one-off package to become North of Melbourne.

Having admitted that the scheduling of a team that had spurned the locals was unfortunate, the AFL's marketing department has had to grind the gears into reverse.

Fresh from enticing almost 70,000 to the MCG for the highly skilful but soulless all-star exhibition between Victoria and the "Dream Team", this week the hope seems to be that everyone will turn their backs and ignore the unfortunate mess created by North's contractual obligation (their Gold Coast games are underwritten by the AFL).

Ticket sales of about 1000 suggest the locals are happy to comply with estimates as few as 4000 will turn up (the Roos averaged 11,319 for three Gold Coast games last season) - most to support the supposed "visitors" West Coast, the rest to heckle the Roos for spurning the Coast.

"If they boo us they boo us, but if they don't they don't," said North captain Adam Simpson, with the indifference you might expect from a man whose years with the Roos have involved expeditions to Sydney, Canberra and the Gold Coast.

But with the Gold Coast gripped with Titans fever - more than 20,000 are expected for tonight's match against the Bulldogs - North Melbourne are more likely to experience sheer indifference rather than any backlash.

Particularly given that a glamorous new model has already strutted into the bar. The announcement that former Brisbane skipper Michael Voss will be involved - almost certainly as coach - with the Gold Coast franchise will help remove the stench Saturday's empty grandstands could have created.

Though in less than ideal circumstances, this weekend will be something of a taste of things to come for the AFL with games on the Gold Coast and in western Sydney - courtesy of the Swans' rare Sunday appearance at ANZ Stadium.

While the Roos' paltry gate will come as no surprise, the anticipated crowd of between 40,000 and 45,000 for the Swans' match is a reminder of the tough task the AFL will face filling the ground for a new western franchise.

As some readers have pointed out since the Herald reported the potential decline in the Swans' ANZ Stadium crowds from an average of more than 63,000 for three games last season to a likely 42,000 for the first two games this season against West Coast and Essendon (on Sunday), the other major codes would love to have "slightly disappointing" crowds of 40,000-plus.

But the fact remains that if even the Swans are not able to add substantially to their supporter base from the two million western Sydney residents the AFL has targeted near Homebush Bay, then how much support can a new franchise expect?

The AFL's answer is that the Swans do not own the west. That the miracle of western Sydney's conversion to the AFL will only take place when the area has a team to call its own. Already nervous commentators south of the border are making allusions to Vietnam and Iraq. To them the western invasion is, at the very best, optimistic.