A national second-division will work with and not against the A-League Men (ALM), claims Association of Australian Football Clubs (AAFC) chairman Nick Galatas.
Concerns have been raised recently about whether the new competition, which could kick-off in 2023, would undermine the ALM.
Galatas, who has been at the heart of plans for it, is adamant the two divisions together will only serve to benefit Australian football in the long run with any promotion-relegation between the two still a long way off.
"It's a reasonbable concern but we aren't setting up in opposition. The APL (Australian Professional Leagues) is looking forward to where we have a viable second-division which is a natural second-division rather than a separate division from the A-League," Galatas told SEN's The Global Game.
"Rather than sitting side by side, the idea is that they will link up but that can't happen until we start and build the bridge.
"We aren't fighting each other, we're actually building the game and competing with other sports.
"The issue of pro-rel is one everyone jumps to and says it can't happen tomorrow...there's no question we can't have pro-rel now as there's no proper second-division and that's what we're about.
"If we start having stronger, more sustainable clubs in this country than the pro-rel issue will arise and we'll have more than enough clubs."
James Johnson says Football Australia is committed to having a National Second Tier up and running in 2023. pic.twitter.com/mdGZDSoUh0
— The Global Game (@GlobalGameSEN) March 2, 2022
Football Australia (FA) have voiced their support for a new second-division with Galatas confirming there are plenty of clubs ready to join once it gets the green light.
"We've got a bunch of clubs who are ready to go in a new national competition. They've been ready for a while," he said.
"We can introduce a national competition sitting atop the NPL, effectively a real National Premier League rather than having a bunch of National Premier Leagues across each member federation.
"We believe we can start with 12, 14 or 16 teams - we've got enough clubs.
"We reckon we can introduce at least 300 new playing positions nationally, many of which will be filled by young players.
"We have support from Football Australia now. They want to introduce a new competition. I've had great discussions with other stakeholders who are supportive."
While momentum is building for a new second-division, it won't provide all players with full-time jobs from the outset as it takes things one step at a time.
"In order to start sustainably we will not be starting with a competition where every player will be full-time from day dot," Galatas said.
"If we start from there we'll launch and crash and we won't get to where we want to be. It's not about where we start, it's about where we finish.
"We want to introduce a national competition that will be far more professional at the NPL level than it is now and having what we hope will be a full-time professional football environment in a few years time."