TASMANIA will officially bid for one of the two new AFL licences, with Premier Paul Lennon holding talks in Melbourne today with AFL boss Andrew Demetriou.

In a bid that has the cautious support of Hawthorn, the Lennon Government will take its first official stand on the issue, believing that the national competition has shunned the traditional football state by focusing its attention on developing markets in the west of Sydney and the Gold Coast.

Lennon, who brandished his No. 1 Tasmanian Devils ticket at the VFL club's first home game last Saturday and vowed to present a petition to the AFL, has taken his intention one step further and will play an active role in competing with Sydney's west for the 18th licence, or welcoming a relocated Victorian club.

"It's not a shootout between us and the west of Sydney necessarily," said Matthew Rogers, a spokesman for the Premier. "We are not saying they shouldn't get a licence. We are saying that we should.

"I notice Andrew Demetriou has said he would look at doubling the northern markets development money from $20 million to $40 million. Where does Tasmania fit in? We think it's a question of equality."

Rogers said Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett was aware of the Government's proposal and had promised not to stand in its way. Should the AFL reverse its previous stand on Tasmania, the Hawks' deal with the State Government to play four home-and-away games a season in Launceston would not be renewed beyond its contract, which ends in 2011.

Demetriou told The Age he had agreed to a request several days ago to meet Lennon but said he was not aware of the content of the Premier's presentation.

The Lennon Government is weathering a political storm over the controversial recent resignation of the state's Attorney-General, although Lennon's department claimed the AFL proposal had been planned for some time.

Rogers said today's meeting would prove something of a fact-finding mission and that the state would then embark on a detailed presentation based upon economic, commercial, social and cultural considerations.

Demetriou said last night: "I'm looking forward to meeting the Premier and I'm always interested in what he has to say. I'm not aware of any official proposal."

Interviewed in yesterday's Hobart Mercury, which has mounted a strong campaign for a licence and petitioned fans at last Sunday's Hawthorn-Adelaide game at Aurora Stadium, Demetriou said: "Our arguments aren't based on … being disrespectful to those people who would like a team in Tasmania but on all measurements and all our research and the work we have done over a considerable amount of time, we happen to think that the Gold Coast and western Sydney offers us the greatest opportunities going forward."

Of Tasmania's rich Australian football heritage, the AFL boss added: "We take that into account, but the fact of the matter is it doesn't translate into any additional broadcast rights or additional revenue or additional population growth.

"It probably all relates to economics, when it is all said and done, related to population, related to revenue, related to broadcast rights," he said of the decision to deny Tasmania. "It is related to a series of measurements economically and demographically that point us to south-east Queensland and western Sydney as our two key priorities at this point in time."