FFA Chairman Lowy, addressing a Melbourne Victory business luncheon on Wednesday, said that while FFA was mindful of the precarious state of some of the current A-League clubs, it would continue its expansion push and, in the medium-term future, wanted to introduce a second division in order to ensure a truly national competition.

"We need to support teams by developing a second division which can allow for promotion and relegation, which is the lifeblood of national football competitions around the world," Lowy told the gathering.

That got a rapturous response when Rudan was asked to comment on the plan. "It's a sensational idea, fantastic," he told au.fourfourtwo.com. "I'm all for it.

"In Australia, they play with a different type of pressure. I'm not saying going through the motions but you can play a season and sit back at the end whether you made the finals or not and think, 'well, we've got next season to go'.

"In Europe, three points is so important every game and you go on a losing streak and suddenly you're in a relegation battle. In the EPL and other leagues, you see it becomes just as important as the race for the championship or top three or four.

"It's two different types of pressures."

Rudan, 34, added that while the idea itself was a good one, the actual mechanics and financial structures needed are another matter. But he has confidence in the Lowy-led national body.

"Will it work? It's a tough one," he said. "What goes against us is that our country is so big. There'd be a lot of travelling involved. And we only have 20 million people.

"There are countries in Europe with smaller populations but we're talking about football being the number one code in most European countries.

"So there will be problems, but there seems to be a lot of good people around the Federation right now. Hopefully if those great minds come together, they can work something out."

Rudan's call for more pressure to be applied to our local players via relegation battles echoes recent calls by former NSL championship winning and former Newcastle Jets coach Nick Theodorakopoulos.

"Fox Sports would absolutely love having relegation battles in the A-League," he told au.fourfourtwo.com. "There'd be nothing worse over the next few years having six games on the weekend, and three of them meaning very little.

"It doesn't matter how much you pump it up. You'd have play-offs - possibly the bottom two of A1 versus the top two of A2. Imagine the TV ratings for that? How big would that be? It would be mind-boggling."

Rudan, a former Sydney FC favourite, who's had club spells in Germany, Switzerland, Japan, China and Malaysia as well as the old NSL with Sydney United and Northern Spirit, added that the current A-League's top six format may be breeding the inconsistent results this season.  

After 11 rounds, the league's top spot has already been occupied by three different teams - Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne - with no side across the competition being able to establish a consistent winning pattern.

He added: "I think it's a mindset thing. More than half the teams can qualify for the finals... if you have an average season, you can still make the finals as opposed to previous seasons.

"So maybe some clubs win a game then tend to take their foot off a little bit. Time will tell whether it's [a top six] is going to be better or worse.

'I would've thought it would be better if it was still a top four - if you make it [in the four], you definitely deserve to be there."