Newly appointed Greater Western Sydney chief executive officer Dale Holmes expects to have the home venue for the AFL's 18th franchise locked in by August, after becoming the latest piece of their recruiting puzzle.

Holmes, 42, has been involved in establishing GWS in his previous position as the AFL's (NSW/ACT) general manager, a position he has occupied since 2004.

He joins an impressive looking off-field team which includes coach Kevin Sheedy, Graeme Allen (football manager) and recent players Tom Harley and Paul Kelly.

Holmes expects to deliver a financial plan to the AFL commission by the end of June and aims to have the issue of a home venue finalised by August.

The two options are Blacktown Olympic Park and the Sydney Showgrounds, both of which would require re-development in order to boost their seating capacity.

"We would prefer to play our games in a boutique stadium for want of a better word, something around 25,000 seats," Holmes told reporters on Wednesday.

"It makes sense to us to use existing infrastructure, we don't think it makes a lot of sense to build a new stadium. There is already existing infrastructure in Western Sydney.

"We will work with the stakeholders to make sure we come up with a solution.

"Blacktown Olympic Park is an option, Sydney Showground is an option, ANZ Stadium, obviously for the larger games."

Holmes said upgrading of any current venues needed to start by the end of this year.

GWS chairman Tony Shepherd stressed he only visualised on-field competition between the Sydney Swans and his team and downplayed the off-field rivalry seemingly developing between the neighbouring clubs.

"The on-field competition will be really tough, I can assure you of that, but off-field, both clubs are dedicated to growing the game in NSW and the ACT," Shepherd said.

"We should co-operate and work together to achieve that, so I'm really not that particularly interested in this alleged conflict."

Holmes, who was attracted by the challenge of building a franchise from the ground up, said he decided to nominate for the position after attending the sold-out first NAB Cup match at Blacktown Olympic Park in late February between the Swans and Carlton.

His input in helping establish GWS reportedly ruffled a few feathers in the Swans' nest while he was still in his previous position, but Shepherd leapt to his new CEO's defence.

"He's been very careful in his dealings to ensure that he's never shown any bias, or excluded himself from any situation where he would appear to be biased," Shepherd said.

Holmes said some of his early priorities included finalising the training and administrative base for the franchise and other executive positions, with an "amazing" amount of people already indicating their desire to be on the fledgling club's board.

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