Watts to make Port debut in AFLX

Former Melbourne utility Jack Watts will make his competitive debut for Port Adelaide in the AFLX tournament.

Port Adelaide Power players Karl Amon and Sam Gray (R)

Port Adelaide's Sam Gray (R) says Jack Watts will debut for the Power in the AFLX tournament. (AAP)

Recruit Jack Watts will make his competitive debut for Port Adelaide in the AFLX tournament.

Watts is a confirmed starter for the Power when they feature in the first round of the short-format experiment in Adelaide next Thursday.

Port also expect their triple club champion Robbie Gray to feature in AFLX games after making a full recovery from surgery and precautionary chemotherapy for testicular cancer last October.

Watts joined Port at the end of last season after a chequered career at Melbourne.

"Guys like Robbie Gray and Jack Watts will be playing," Port forward Sam Gray told reporters on Thursday.

"It's exciting. We have been doing a fair bit of training over the last three or four weeks and the boys are looking forward to it.

"With no stoppages, it's pretty fast and you do get pretty buggered at times."

Port will be among the first clubs to play in the trial format along with Adelaide, Geelong, Fremantle, West Coast and Collingwood.

Each club will play two AFLX games next Thursday night before what has been dubbed a grand final between the teams with the best records.

The games will be played at Coopers Stadium, the home of A-League club Adelaide United, on a field about 110 metres long.

Other clubs will play in AFLX tournaments in Melbourne next Friday night and Sydney the next night.

Seven players from each club will be on the field at one time, playing 10-minute halves.

AFLX project manager Dave Stevenson said the league would be thrilled if the the tournament's debut attracted 10,000 spectators in Adelaide.

"If we got over 10,000 we would feel really good," Stevenson told reporters on Thursday.

"We have listened to our fans and they're wanting something faster and more high scoring, particularly for those new fans who maybe a three-hour game is a little long for them."


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Source: AAP



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