MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 12: Christian Petracca of the Demons celebrates during the 2017 AFL round 12 match between the Melbourne Demons and the Collingwood Magpies at Melbourne Cricket Ground on June 12, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images)

The AFL is set to launch a new format of Aussie Rules later this year, with the introduction of AFLX in September.

Damian Barrett broke the news on The Footy Show on Wednesday night, and said the league would implement the AFLX competition in the bye week between round 23 and the first week of the finals, with every team that didn't finish inside the top eight set to feature.

AFLX would be played on soccer-sized pitches, and teams would have seven players on the field with at least three players on the bench. Quarters would also run for no more than 10 minutes.

AFL football operations manager Simon Lethlean confirmed the news to Channel Nine, and said the league were very excited about the new competition.

"We are currently investigating the opportunity of using the Saturday of the bye round to showcase AFLX via the best players from teams which have missed the finals," Lethlean told The Footy Show.

"We are exploring this with the clubs, and have contemplated incentives to play and prize money.

"We are very excited about AFLX.

"It’s a fast-paced, high octane version of our game and it will be a new way to view AFL."

Barrett also said the AFLX format would only have one umpire, and there would be no centre bounces, with kick-ins from full-back following each goal.