The AFL's pre-season competition is set for a major shake-up to accommodate the introduction of the league's hybrid game AFLX.
While an official announcement won't be made until later this month, new AFL football boss Steve Hocking has revealed the pre-season competition will almost certainly be cut from three rounds to two from next year.
Under the spare weekend created, all 18 clubs will compete in a round-robin tournament of the shortened game that has been dubbed the AFL's answer to cricket's Twenty20 format.
"Certainly (the pre-season competition) will look different," Hocking told AFL Trade Radio on Tuesday.
"We need to accommodate the AFLW season as well, to make sure both those parts of the business are working well together and the women are getting their time in the sun but, at the same time, that the men are able to prepare for the season.
"That's something we're working through."
The league has already extensively trialled AFLX, which is played on a soccer-sized field, between two teams of seven and features 10-minute quarters with no centre bounces.
"It will certainly give all the fans something different, and also the young kids coming through as well," Hocking said.
"It's a different vehicle, so I'm looking forward to seeing that at the appropriate time and seeing the players involved in it."
Hocking said most of the logistical aspects required to host the tournament had already been taken care of.
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