AFLX: Hated, Succeeded but ultimately Failed

AFLX logo from afl.com


AFLX was an experimental format of AFL that was thought to be able to make the game go international. The product? It didn’t even last 2 years in its own country.


In 2018 AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan and his team decided to shoot for the stars and try and send the AFL global. An idea tried before with little to no success. 


Maybe a topic for another blog.


AFLX was to be played on a rectangular field meaning that if it was successful and took off around the world it would be able to be played on a soccer pitch, which is the most played game in the world, making it easier to play internationally unlike AFL which has field dimensions just bigger than a cricket oval.


It had a different scoring system too with a “Launch Zone” in the centre of the field with players being awarded 10 points if kicking a goal from there.


Reading over the rules I saw 1 that made me think “This isn’t AFL.”


The Gatorade Game Changer...


In the final 5 minutes of a game, a team can pick a Gatorade Game Changer and every score this selected player scores in the last 5 minutes will be doubled. Sounds a bit like a video game.


I wasn’t the only one skeptical about AFLX as many AFL fans didn’t like it at all. The launch photo didn’t sell it for me either. 

Image from afl.com


What are the 2 guys on the left doing?! 


C’mon Gillon.


This event was approaching fast and on the 22nd of February AFLX had a chance to prove me and its critics wrong.


I remember watching live and seeing that the players looked to be loving it and I sort of was too. There was also a really good turnout at Marvel Stadium with over 22,585 people going. More than the AFL expected but still not a lot.


Even with the simplified rules it was hard to wrap my head around them and understand what was happening and it seemed more like a fair than a sporting event.


Plus, AFLX was held during the AFLW season which didn’t sit well with some fans since the AFL was all about giving the women’s competition the attention they deserve.


I thought it was fun and so did a lot of other people, but I don’t quite think it was what the AFL was hoping for and it didn’t really hit the end goal of making the AFL go global and easier to understand to foreigners.


Later that year the AFL announced that they would not continue AFLX in 2020 and that marked the end of AFLX. The final nail in the coffin.

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