Adelaide wins first ever AFLX tournament as youngsters and new recruits impress

ADELAIDE has won the first ever AFLX tournament, defeating Geelong in the grand final of group 1 that featured Collingwood, Port Adelaide, West Coast and Fremantle as youngsters and new recruits stole the show.

Adelaide won the first AFLX tournament on Friday night.

THE Crows have tuned up for the 2018 season by winning the inaugural AFLX Adelaide tournament at Hindmarsh Stadium on Thursday night.

Fielding just two players from last year’s losing AFL grand final team — Jake Kelly and Andy Otten — Adelaide beat Collingwood and West Coast in its two Pool B matches before upsetting a strong Geelong side in the grand final of the six-team tournament by eight points.

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The win — albeit in a mini pre-season tournament that is the AFL’s answer to cricket’s T20 Big Bash League — produced plenty of positives for coach Don Pyke’s team.

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Youngster Tom Doedee — a contender to fill the defensive void left by the loss of Jake Lever to Melbourne — was impressive, while Cam Ellis-Yolmen returned from a year on the sidelines following reconstructive knee surgery to shine.

The speedy Curtly Hampton also displayed some good signs while rookie-listed Sturt premiership player Patrick Wilson used his raking right-foot kick to great effect.

Adelaide won the first AFLX tournament on Friday night.

“We’re really happy,’’ said Adelaide assistant coach Scott Camporeale.

“Clearly going in our focus is still round one but it was a great opportunity to see some guys that didn’t get a lot of game time last year and to show where they are at.’’

The Crows had the grand final virtually won in the opening minute of the 20-minute match when Wilson and Doedee booted super goals (worth 10 points each) within 30 seconds of each other, putting the team 20 points up.

The Cats, who fielded stars Tom Hawkins, Mitch Duncan, Mark Blicavs and Daniel Menzel against Adelaide, fought back early in the second half but two regulation goals from Harry Dear sealed the deal for the home side.

The Crows’ historic AFLX win — in front of a healthy crowd of 10,253 — comes after they last year won the inaugural AFLW premiership.

With smoke machines behind the goals, fireworks on the wings, flashing goalposts and silver footballs adding to the night’s entertainment, the crowd appeared to enjoy the seven matches on offer.

With just seven players from each side on the field at any one time, the ball raced from end to end throughout the night.

Adelaide's Tom Doedee and Matthew Signorello both impressed.

Adelaide won its way into the grand final by thumping Collingwood by 28 points, 65-37, in its first round robin match and edging West Coast by seven points, 53-46, in its second.

Ellis-Yolmen was the Crows’ standout against the Eagles with 11 disposals, six marks, one super goal and oa goal.

Hampton also played well with seven disposals, one super goal, a goal and two score assists.

He stood out with his pace and run, using the open space he could find with great effect.

Tall defender Alex Keath kicked two goals in an uncustomary role as a forward while third-year backman Doedee was clean with the ball and intercepted well in the back half.

Kyle Cheney, who didn’t play an AFL game last year and captained the Crows in the AFLX grand final, also had some nice touches in defence.

While the Crows walked away with some historic silverware, their hometown rival Port Adelaide went winless, losing to Geelong by 12 points, 72-60, and Fremantle by 17 points, 54-37.

Curtly Hampton was damaging with his pace and long kicking.

But there were a few positives for the Power.

Exciting half-back Riley Bonner etched his name in the history books — and into Port’s best 22 calculations — with a standout display in the opening match of AFLX.

Bonner stood out with an equal team-high 13 disposals and nine marks against Geelong.

While boom recruit Jack Watts (from Melbourne) and another former Demon, Dom Barry, were impressive, Bonner kicked the tournament’s first-ever super goal with his shot from outside 40 metres.

The left-footed defender, who has played just four AFL games in two seasons, was dynamic in the electrifyingly-quick game, which was played on a shortened 110m rectangular ground.

Jack Watts played his first competitive match in Port Adelaide colours. Picture: Calum Robertson

With live commentary blaring over the speakers at Hindmarsh to keep the public informed of the host of young players on show, Watts (13 disposals and two goals) and Barry (10 and one) also performed strongly against the Cats.

Watts captained Port following the late withdrawal of superstar Robbie Gray (adductor) and showed just what a good pick-up he should be.

He displayed great vision while using the ball with his trademark precision.

Injury-riddled former Demon Jack Trengove played in the Power’s second match against the Dockers and had six disposals in a reasonable effort.

“Even though we didn’t win a game I thought we played some really good footy,’’ Port assistant coach Matthew Nicks said.

“We got to see some new talent and the pressure in games like that was really on so we learned a lot about guys and what they will bring when the pressure comes, so from our point of view it was a great coaching tool.’’

The Eagles were the only other winless team, losing to the Crows and Collingwood.

The Magpies and Fremantle won one match each.

The other two AFLX tournaments, featuring the other 12 clubs, will be staged at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium on Friday night and Sydney’s Allianz Stadium on Saturday.