The Galaxy missed out on a place in the national competition for season four in a shock decision handed down by Football Federation Australia six weeks ago, partly because of their inability to nail down a long-term leasing agreement with the State government-owned Skilled Park.

But that final hurdle looks set to tumble with three-way negotiations between the government, the Galaxy and the FFA close to sealing a five-year lease on what will be the club’s home.

Property baron and Galaxy franchise figurehead Fred Taplin told goldcoast.com.au: “We’re getting close, all the parties are working together and we hope to have a final and positive decision from the FFA in three or four weeks.”

While the Gold Coast Titans have no binding lease on the 27,000-seat stadium, the FFA insist the Galaxy must have a long-term arrangement.

“The NRL is happy to permit the Titans to play there on a casual basis but we are not in that position,” added Taplin, who is itching to get the go-ahead to begin front office appointments as the national competition gears for a possible jump from eight to 12 teams, with bidders from Western Sydney, Townsville, Wollongong, Canberra and even Tasmania.

“We’ll get there, but it’s been a time-consuming process. However, our commitment to being a part of the national competition is as strong as ever.

"There’s a lot of work to do. We need to appoint a commercial manager, a press officer, accountants and the rest.

“We aim to come in as well prepared as any team that has come before us,” said Taplin.

FFA chief executive Ben Buckley recently stressed that expansion was very much desired but only when all the boxes had been ticked, double checked and checked again.

He told au.fourfourtwo.com: “We have to grow but we have to grow in a well-managed and well-coordinated manner. We can’t undo the hard work that’s been done already in our growth ambitions.

“When we make decisions to expand they have to be made after a lot of due diligence has been done and that we are confident that any new teams have the capacity to add to the existing competition and not be a burden on it.”

Buckley accepts new teams would offer supporters and the game with an initial buzz but he isn’t interested in short-termism.

He said: “It (new teams) would have created an important bang but you have to look beyond the initial excitement. That’s what we had to do and we felt both Townsville and Gold Coast could benefit with a longer lead in period.”