The AFL's new Frankenstein game, involving seven-a-side on a soccer pitch, got the tick of approval from at least some of those who saw it played for the first time on the weekend.
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When Fairfax Media on Wednesday revealed the league had been secretly developing a new version of the sport under the working title AFL X, many members of the public reacted with bemusement, and some with horror.
The AFL trialled the game behind closed doors at Etihad Stadium on the weekend using players from VFL teams the Northern Blues and the Coburg Lions.
One person who was at the trial said the AFL had approached the clubs about a month ago and asked them to learn the rules so they could test the game with real players.
Some of the players were sceptical, the source said, but once they played two matches of AFL X they found it a fast-paced, exciting game.
"It was really cool, very high-scoring and free flowing," they said.
"It suited the midfielders in particular, it was demanding, end-to-end football."
Each game comprised four quarters of 10 minutes each, but the teams scored frequently - Coburg won one game by 70 points, the Blues won the other by 90.
There were very few tackles, he said, and even with the short quarters the midfielders found the pace of the game exhausting.
"It just eliminates the slow parts of the games, no time to celebrate, no time to rest," they said.
"It was so smooth and clean and quick, it really suits guys who have great skills and great aerobic ability, that really stood out."
The AFL's general manager of game development Simon Lethlean has stressed that AFL X is only in its infancy, saying its name had not even ben settled upon and calling it an "internal think-tank" project.
The league has no plans to launch an AFL X competition in the near future.
But Lethlean said the new form of the game had the potential fill a gap between a full-scale AFL games and the recreational, non-contact AFL-9s format.
Playing AFL X on a rectangular field rather than a traditional oval and with just seven players from each team on the field at any one time made it much easier to take overseas, so it may one day form a part of the league's international expansion plans.
Lethlean also raised the possibility of one day running an AFL X competition in the off-season with recently retired professional players.
