AFLX: The game Gen Z will play in heaven

AFLX is a successful concept. There, I said it

AFLX is serving its purpose and once again proving that the AFL Commission, despite all the criticism over its handling of AFLX and AFLW is still the best-run code in Australia, (hold your beers), if not the southern hemisphere.

What the critics seemingly cannot fathom is that AFLX is the footy equivalent of the rugby league Nines from a few seasons back mixed with the Aboriginal/Maori All Stars game — it is not so much the entree to the regular season as the amuse bouche: an initial taste of the footy that promises exciting things to come.

Post-AFLX, the NAB Cup and trials are scheduled and the regular season countdown begins. Furthermore – and importantly – AFLX uses many marketing features of sports with a young and diverse following to expand the already large AFL supporter family.

These points are lost on the older, more traditional footy fans who remember watching their sport on cathode ray tube TVs and the AFLW fanatics who vent from one social media thread to another.

They try to find an audience to capture their outrage over how their promising, but fledgling, competition is not priority number one for the AFL and extensively on free-to-air.

The rage and consternation are bizarre but adds to the amusement over AFLX.

As noted, it is pretty clear to this amateur writer that the AFL is shaking things up in the pre-season to showcase aspects of their sport in a different light, drawing on tournament concepts found in the NBA – the drafting of celebrity teams, the flashy and tacky ‘fashion runway’ entrances, the superhero theme.

As with many things AFL, they are keeping up with the latest trends. The NBA is growing at a rapid rate, and this growth is fuelled by millennial and generation Z interest.

The NBA leverages social media to reach an increasingly young, diverse and multi-national audience, and much of the Instagram, Twitter and YouTube content is complemented by the flashy, ‘tacky’ concepts seen in the pregame segment of Friday night’s AFLX.

By adding new rules, the square field, AFLX is shaking things up in a way that will interest and at worst get the attention of the ignorant fan and get the kids excited.

It was never designed for the 56-year-old male footy fanatic who is salivating for the main meal of Richmond versus Collingwood at a pumping MCG in July.

The notion that the AFL is wasting money on AFLX also bemuses – they are bleeding money propping up GWS and the Suns in two tough markets; millions spent, but not money wasted.

As with these expansion clubs, money spent on AFLX is an investment for the future, and this spending is not a zero-sum game. If the TV and participation pie grows so does the revenue: AFLW and the main game will obviously not go without.

The concept will not set the world on fire, over two years it is already suffering the same problems any unofficial pre-season tournament will endure – players pulling out, rusty skills on display, etc, but as a concept that is based on solid research and international precedent.

For a code concentrated in three or four states of a country of 25 million, taking a calculated punt diversifying and growing the supporter base is a wise move. If the content generated by AFLX reaches new, younger and more diverse eyes it will be a successful investment for the AFL.

(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

In addition, arguments regarding the role the AFLX plays alongside AFLW distracts from the long-term strategic goals of the code and AFL commission.

Other codes have negotiated a men’s and women’s competition in the regular season successfully and I am sure the AFL will sort this out soon. The fact the AFL has been unable to settle the competing demands of AFL and AFLW should not lead to AFLX being criticised out of existence.

Regardless of the bemusing reaction, with the superficial, cloying and slightly overpowering tastes of AFLX in my mouth, I am pumped for the ALF season proper, as I am looking forward to the rugby league season following the Aboriginal/Maori All Stars game.

I will now look with interest for any motorised skateboards being used to enter and exit footy stadiums and am already seeing more fashion shots of AFL players on social media.

Content is king, posts on social media are the lingua franca of the kids and the AFL remains the most ‘with its’ sporting regulatory body in Australia.