Greater Western Sydney (GWS) loom as the AFL's big risk in the radical new format for round one of the pre-season competition.

The league's 18th team will effectively field a team of kids in the NAB Cup early next year, plus they are among six teams who must cope with the long break between their two opening-round matches.

GWS and fellow expansion club Gold Coast will make their debuts in the AFL during the February-March NAB Cup so there are an even number of teams.

But GWS do not join the regular season until 2012 and early next year they will only be halfway through developing their list.

High-profile rugby league convert Israel Folau is likely to play in a side otherwise made up of juniors and rookie-listed players.

The last thing that GWS would want is to start their AFL life on the wrong end of two thrashings, even if it is only in the pre-season.

"They will be young, but it will be a great challenge and they'll be led by the fearless Kevin Sheedy - it will be a real point of interest to see how they bear up," said AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan.

"If it was round one of the home and away (season), you'd be very sceptical.

"They're going to find it tough, but they will be competitive.

"It's unlikely they'll be able to win ... we obviously wouldn't like them being belted, but everyone will be realistic about where they're at."

GWS will have Gold Coast and Sydney in their pool.

The new-look format for round one has the 18 teams divided into six pools.

The three teams play each other once over a three-and-a-half hour period, with each game consisting of two 20-minute halves.

GWS, Adelaide, Carlton, West Coast, Essendon and Geelong have to wait in between their two games.

Crows football manager Phil Harper admits the long break will be challenging.

"We like the innovation as a whole, to try something different," he said.

"It is going to be a bit of a test for those clubswho have the split," Harper said.

"It will be interesting to see if it favours the side having the break or not.

"The good thing is we're playing at home, we have a $20 million facility that we operate out of - if we can't find something for them to do to alleviate injuries in our $20 million facility, it probably wasn't worth the money we spent on it."

McLachlan said the long "split" was the biggest concern from clubs about the new round-one format.

He said the league is developing team selection rules that will cater to the unique challenges of the new setup.

The top side in each pool and the next two best teams will progress to the quarter-finals, which will return to a knockout format.

Round one will run from February 11-20 and the grand final will be on March 11.

Other features of round one include:

* New Essendon coach James Hird going up against fellow 1996 Brownlow Medallist Michael Voss when the Bombers meet Brisbane.

* New Geelong coach Chris Scott makes his debut against his twin brother Brad, who is in his second season at North Melbourne.

* Folau is likely to play against fellow league convert Karmichael Hunt (Gold Coast).

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