AFL club Melbourne should relocate to the Gold Coast to become financially successful, Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says.

With the Hawks and Melbourne to play against each other on Sunday, former Victorian Premier Kennett used a speech at a charity dinner in Melbourne Thursday night to tip a bucket on the Demons, the Herald Sun newspaper said Friday.

The two teams were touted as merger partners in the 1990s, with Melbourne in a dominant role, until the Hawks withdrew at the 11th hour.

The Demons are set to lose more than $1 million this year and are at the bottom of the AFL ladder.

Before a large crowd, which included AFL boss Andrew Demetriou, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire and Bulldogs president David Smorgon, Kennett said any belief among the Demons that the club could survive in Melbourne was "fools gold", the newspaper said.

Asked his advice to Demons legend Jim Stynes, a possible contender to take over from incumbent Paul Gardner as the Demons' president, Kennett urged Stynes to look north.

"If Jimmy Stynes wants to stand for the presidency at Melbourne, like any young person I encourage him to give it a go, but my advice to him would be to bite the bullet and establish the Gold Coast Demons because I don't think Melbourne, as it is at the moment, has a long-term future in this code," he said.

"It needs to do something dramatic if it is to get the financial support and the consumer and sponsorship support.

"For the teams in the last four positions (on the ladder) at the end of this year, it is going to be very, very hard to rebuild within the next 10 years.

"There is no way Andrew (Demetriou) is going to allow any of the weaker clubs to rebuild through the drafting process through the next 10 years. It's almost going to be impossible with what is proposed, so that makes it hard."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP