Adelaide win inaugural AFLX grand final

Adelaide have defeated Geelong by eight points in the inaugural AFLX grand final in Adelaide on Thursday night.

The Adelaide Crows pose for photographs

Adelaide have defeated Geelong by 10 points in the inaugural AFLX grand final in Adelaide. (AAP)

Adelaide have downed Geelong by eight points to win the inaugural AFLX grand final.

The Crows won 55-47 in the decider of Thursday night's debut of the short-format in Adelaide.

A crowd of 10,253 witnessed the initial AFLX experiment at Coopers Stadium, the home ground of A-League club Adelaide United,.

The fans initially thought the Crows won by 10 points, only for the ground scoreboard to be incorrect in the only problem to mar the format's debut.

Both Adelaide and Geelong went through the group stage of the round-robin tournament undefeated before meeting in the finale.

The Crows then claimed the inaugural AFLX trophy, kicking away late in the 20-minute long fixture.

Adelaide assistant coach Scott Camporeale said he expected AFLX to continue into future seasons.

"I don't see why not," he said.

"It was pretty exciting. The crowd, the players, they enjoyed the build up to it and playing it.

"I guess if it gets momentum and the people come, then it will stay."

Geelong coach Chris Scott also backed the concept.

"We took it relatively serious, we're not in the business of just going mucking around when we play against opposition teams," he said.

"Tactically, I don't think we're at the stage yet where we're going to take things from AFLX into the main game but that's not to say there's not a good deal of hope for the success of this game long-term."

Scott's Cats earnt a slice of history by winning the first AFLX game, beating Port Adelaide 72-60.

Adelaide then defeated Collingwood 65-37 before the Cats returned for their last group game to down Fremantle 57-40.

The Crows secured their spot in what was dubbed the grand final with a 53-46 win against West Coast.

In other games, Collingwood beat the Eagles 52-37 and Fremantle eclipsed Port 54-37.

With each team allowed just seven players on-field, matches were largely bruise-free encounters with few contested possessions - there were no apparent injuries to any club.

Players valued finding space and aimed to kick goals from outside the 40m attacking arc worth 10 points.

Another six clubs will contest the same AFLX schedule on Friday night in Melbourne, with the remaining six playing AFLX on Saturday night in Sydney.


Share

3 min read

Published

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world