The AFL has announced a range of innovations for next year's pre-season competition to make the game faster and more exciting.

Five new rules changes will be trialled in the pre-season competition, which in itself resorts back to a knock-out format after three years as a round-robin competition.

In the most notable innovation, players will be awarded nine points for goals kicked outside the 50-metre arc in a move designed to bring the game's longer kickers into play.

The other rules to be trialled are penalising teams three points for rushed behinds instead of one point, umpires calling play-on for players kicking backwards to team-mates and expanding the centre square.

Defenders will also be able to kick out after a behind straight away - rather than wait for the goal umpire to wave his flags - in a move designed to speed up the game.

In other changes, the men in white will instead wear orange, while goal umpires could wave different coloured flags for the different scores.

AFL football operations manager Andrew Demetriou said the innovations were intended to invigorate the competition.

But Demetriou said the footballing community and spectators were content to leave the game's rules as they were for the regular season.

Wizard Home Loans today announced it had signed a deal for competition naming rights for the next three years.

Next year's winner will earn $200,000 and the runner-up $150,000, while first-round losers will get $15,000.

The competition will open with a local derby between West Coast and Fremantle at Subiaco on February 21, with other games to be played in Darwin, Launceston, Cairns and Canberra.

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