Like Andrew Demetriou's recent "everything's OK at Etihad" comments, I'm not sure if the AFL is serious about introducing conferences in 2012, when Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney make it an 18-team league.

AFL COO Gillon McLachlan rolled the story out during the split round, right in the middle of the World Cup, so - as my BPL colleague Ashley Browne pointed out at the time - perhaps it was just a PR distraction of sorts.

After all, the AFL is asking for feedback from fans, and when's the last time anyone listened to fans?

Still, an 18-team league is bordering on English Premier League territory - where supporting teams 11 through 16 is like being stuck in the Horse Latitudes - so it might make sense to consider splitting things up.

Conferences (or "Divisions," please not "Pools") are de rigueur in US sports, but unlike what might happen in the AFL, they were not created just for the hell of it.

Dividing leagues was done for practical reasons; originally it made travel easier, especially in the pre-airplane days. And while travel is still a consideration, a split league also makes scheduling easier, helps sustain rivalries, and in general, makes a big league simpler to follow.

So how will the AFL do it? What justification can they use for placing teams in conferences?

Here are some options:

Geographically-Based Conferences

Admittedly, this is difficult, with nine AFL teams based in the same city, but you could have a "Melbourne" conference and a "Rest of Australia" conference. I'm sure the Melbourne teams would be thrilled, but the travel demands on the non-Victorian conference would be brutal. And how would Geelong feel about being excluded from the Melbourne conference?

Melbourne    Rest of Australia

Carlton               Adelaide

Collingwood      Brisbane

Essendon         Fremantle

Hawthorn          Geelong

Melbourne       Gold Coast

Nth Melbourne   GWS

Richmond       Pt Adelaide

St Kilda             Sydney

W Bulldogs     West Coast

Rivalry-Based Conferences

What about rivalry-based conferences, like the NFL has tried to do? In the NFC East Division, the New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins are all traditional rivals located within 200 miles of each other. Add the Dallas Cowboys - from another time zone, but a traditional rival - and you've got one of the best divisions in all of sport.

If the AFL were to follow suit, you'd think that Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn and Richmond would all have to be in the same conference and play each other twice every year. Again, would that be agreeable to anyone but the Big Six?

East                South          North-West

Carlton          Adelaide        Brisbane

Collingwood  Geelong        Fremantle

Essendon   Nth Melbourne  Gold Coast

Hawthorn    Port Adelaide    GWS

Melbourne     St Kilda         Sydney

Richmond   W Bulldogs     West Coast

Generic Three Conferences

It's more likely that the AFL will try to create conferences that are a little bit of everything. In other words, splitting up the interstate clubs, not loading up with too many big Melbourne teams in one conference and making sure the two new clubs aren't hopelessly overmatched.

Three conference of six teams each would be more appealing to me than two conferences of nine. But keep in mind that as someone raised on US sports, this doesn't bother me as much as it would a Victorian footy fan.

In this scenario, you could keep the 22 rounds by playing each team in your conference twice (ten games) and each team in the other conferences once (12 games).

Conference 1  Conference 2  Conference 3

Carlton               Brisbane         Adelaide

Collingwood      Essendon        Geelong

Nth Melbourne  Fremantle      Gold Coast

Pt Adelaide        GWS              Hawthorn

Sydney             Richmond        Melbourne

West Coast       St Kilda          W Bulldogs

Finals: The top two in each conference plus two "wild card" teams with the next best records.

Generic Two Conferences

I don't like this as much, simply because nine is a strange, uneven number to have in your conference.

There are two options for fixtures: Play each team in your conference twice, and every other team once for 25 rounds. Or play each team in your conference twice, then six games against selected opponents for 22 rounds.

Conference 1   Conference 2

West Coast        Fremantle

Gold Coast         Brisbane

Sydney               GWS

Port Adelaide     Adelaide

Collingwood      Essendon

Carlton              Hawthorn

Melbourne         Richmond

Nth Melbourne  W Bulldogs

St Kilda              Geelong

Finals: The top four in each conference, or top three in each conference with two wild cards (next best records, regardless of conference).

These are just a few ideas. I'm sure longtime footy followers have their own opinions. I'd love to hear some of them!

For what it's worth, here are some American sports and how their "conferences", and playoffs, work:

National Football League

Teams: 32

Conferences: Two (AFC and NFC), with eight divisions of four teams

Playoffs: 12 teams (38% of the league makes playoffs)

National Basketball Assocation

Teams: 30

Conferences: Two (Eastern and Western), with six divisions of five teams

Playoffs: 16 teams (53%)

National Hockey League

Teams: 30

Conferences: Two (Eastern and Western), with six divisions of five teams

Playoffs: 16 teams (53%)

Major League Baseball

Teams: 30

Leagues: Two distinct leagues (American and National), with six divisions of 4-6 teams

Playoffs: 8 teams (27%)

Major League Soccer

Teams: 16

Conferences: Two (Eastern and Western), with eight teams in each

Playoffs: 8 teams (50%)