THE man in charge of preparing the way for a second AFL team in Sydney says his confidence about meeting the proposed 2012 start-up date has not been shaken by the small attendance at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night for the Sydney-North Melbourne elimination final.

Chief executive of the NSW/ACT AFL Dale Holmes claimed there were several factors that meant the paltry attendance of 19,127 — the smallest finals crowd for an AFL/VFL final since 1902 — did "not necessarily reflect where the game is in the Sydney marketplace".

However, Holmes admitted the poor crowd, and the negative perceptions it created, were a "small setback" for the AFL's plans in Sydney and "might have given us a bit of a wake-up call on a few things we need to do" to expand the AFL's presence in the city.

Holmes cited the Swans' relatively poor finish to the season, the tougher economic times (also blamed for the relatively poor crowd of 37,685 for Saturday's elimination final between Adelaide and Collingwood at AAMI Stadium) and the difficulties of promoting what was an unexpected home final on short notice as reasons for the historically low numbers.

Poor pre-sales meant the wet weather in Sydney did not provide a plausible excuse for the attendance, leaving the AFL vowing yesterday to work even more aggressively to push the second-team concept.

"We had a very poor crowd, we are not walking about from that," said the AFL's chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan.

"What we need is more players (in Sydney), more resources, more teams and a rivalry to hopefully maintain our presence and increase it."

The Swans have been unhappy with the AFL's television advertising campaign celebrating the game's 150th anniversary this year, which they felt had failed to resonate in NSW and the club would have been better served with advertisements promoting specific games.

However, with Swans membership dropping slightly this season and crowds for their four home-and-away games at ANZ Stadium this year sharply down from an average of more than 63,000 last year to 45,480 this year, the code has been left with no illusions about the difficulty of attracting sufficient numbers to sustain two teams in a packed football market.

Under AFL plans, the new western Sydney franchise is expected to sign 10,000 members by its debut season and increase that figure to 20,000 over 20 years, a forecast that seemed particularly optimistic with so many seats empty on Saturday night for a final featuring the already established and successful Swans.

At the same time, the Swans, who are facing a significant financial loss this season, are about to begin an aggressive campaign to increase their Sydney membership by 10,000 to about 30,000 over the next three years, before the still optimistic date for the new franchises debut in 2012.

The obvious question is, if the Swans cannot even half-fill ANZ Stadium for a sudden death final, then where will the extra 30,000 paid up members come from?

"It certainly is a great challenge, there is no doubt about that," says Holmes.

"But we have a big prospect pool (of those who have indicated they would take out Swans or western Sydney membership) and we're pretty confident there is still a lot of growth to come out of that."

Holmes said the NSW/ACT AFL was still working with the Swans to improve membership and match promotion — an indication that, despite their recent success, the Swans are considered far from invulnerable to changing trends in a notoriously fickle sporting market.