Northern Territory government and football administrators are ready to push ahead for possibly the AFL's 20th team, but the bid's entry should come later than they think, according to a former premiership star from Darwin.

While Tasmania Devils are set to enter the competition in four years' time, Matthew Stokes says backers for a club in the Top End "should not think this is going to be happening in five years".

"In saying all that, I do believe the NT deserve it," Stokes recently told the Real Footy podcast.

"I think they have the possibilities of being able to run it themselves in the sense of being able to own something just like Tassie.

"But I do think we need a runway where we have to be pretty open where we think the talent comes from, with obviously Tassie coming in and later then bringing in NT.

"I think it's more a 10 to 15-year runway."

Relying on producing much of its own talent from the aspiring Indigenous communities, Stokes said the casual style of football that is played in the Territory would have to be tightened up sooner rather than later.

That would be a generational change of some magnitude and will take time, though time could also cost the Territory the spot, which the AFL has not confirmed, to either Canberra or a third team out of Western Australia or South Australia.

The Larrakia man, who was Darwin-born and bred, experienced a real culture shock himself once he first arrived at SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens from NTFL club Palmerston before Geelong drafted Stokes late in the 2005 AFL draft at No.61.

"I genuinely feel across the board that the right talent isn't there for this industry," he said.

"We need to do something better to make sure that the talent's coming through.

"We need to pay our assistant coaches a little bit more to be able to teach our players how to play the right way in the fundamentals of AFL football."

Stokes said consideration should be given to playing conditions and the time of year games were played in the Northern Territory, including splitting matches between Darwin and Alice Springs to not negatively impact the look of the game.

Already the NT government has commissioned plans for a roofed stadium in Darwin against the humidity that was quite apparent in the slippery clash between Gold Coast and North Melbourne recently.

"Whether that is Alice Springs for part of the year and then the rest it's for Darwin, or whether it's a Northern Australian team, I'm not too sure," Stokes said, that could also suggest the bid may work best to include Cairns and Townsville home games.

"The game looked very sloppy watching it up there on Saturday and that is just not a spectacle that we want to be able to showcase.

"We want to show the skill of the players and the grit that came with Saturday night was great."

Sean Bowden, the boss of the game in the Territory, is driving the bid in partnership with the government.

Bowden like his football siblings, Joel and Rhett, were born in Mildura on the tip of the outback, but their future would be tied to the red dirt that surrounds most of the Northern Territory.

All three reached the AFL level in the footsteps of their 1969 Richmond premiership father, Michael, the one-time priest turned school teacher around Alice Springs, who went on to educate Aboriginal communities.

While Joel had a superb career of 265 games for the Tigers, and Patrick was solid over 75 appearances at the Western Bulldogs and later with Richmond, Sean's AFL career at the top level lasted just six senior matches at Richmond many years before all of four younger brothers including ex-Port Melbourne stars, Rhett and Kane, had ever first played senior football.

Post-football though, Sean became a lawyer and was a founding partner of his NT law firm, Bowden McCormack Lawyers and Advisers, ahead of becoming the chairman of AFL Northern Territory one day.

But rather than be some stiff in a suit representing the top end of town, he has got closer to most grassroots Aboriginal groups and the stakeholders of communities in the Top End than most white fellas ever do.

The lawyer has been an advisor to mobs and the remote communities have trusted him representing their concerns over economic development fighting against mining companies and government authorities.

But the driving force of the proposed Northern Territory AFL team dating back to 2020 is being a passionate advocate of footy in those communities, much like his late Dad, who before his death in 2020 looked over plenty of games filled with ochre.

In the latest pitch to the media ahead of the backdrop of back-to-back AFL fixtures, Bowden has set an objective to be playing a wealth of Indigenous talent in a Territory lineup within the next seven to 10 years.

But he also predicted the Darwin-based club will produce more Indigenous stars from the Territory than ever seen in the AFL to inspire an entire new generation to have greater pride in their roots.

"I think we're a critical part of the solution," Bowden said.

"The talent that is just imbued in the Northern Territory among so many of our young people has to have that opportunity to play in the Northern Territory – and if not, to transition through.

"The talent pathways are just critical.

"We want to see a dozen new Cyril Riolis; we want to see a half a dozen new Andrew McLeods.

"Young Territory men that have had to travel elsewhere, still shining on the national stage."

McLeod, the two-time Norm Smith in Adelaide's 1997-98 premiership wins, is set to join the Territory's AFL Taskforce that will include ex-Territorian and Collingwood legend, Nathan Buckley, and past AFL boss Andrew Demetriou.

Bowden said that a Northern Territory team "would give our young people not just a team to follow, but a dream to aspire to".

The Territory has produced more elite level players per capita than any of the states, statistics reveal.

"The AFL has a proven track record of positively influencing community outcomes in relation to education attendance, mental and physical health, crime and anti-social behaviour and equality," Bowden said.

While much relies on its business case model to break the walls down that promises to employ 160 staff and contribute more than $100 million each year to the Territory economy, Bowden feels the AFL owe Indigenous football culture a debt of gratitude to add an extra element to the game that ensures the AFL becomes an iconic trailblazer.

"This will complete the AFL – it will make the AFL a truly national competition," he said.

"Ultimately, the biggest challenges for us are going to be … making sure that our talent pathways are strong, the conditioning of players, and just winning the belief of the national competition that this is the right place and that we can take our rightful place in that competition."