Illegal gambling in Asia is worth billions of dollars a year, and fixers can be prepared to go any lengths to secure information in the hope of influencing a result. Intelligence also shows a massive increase in Asian betting on Australian sporting events.

Power players understand the AFL's anti-gambling protocols but, ahead of their staggered departures for China on Tuesday and Wednesday, club chief executive Keith Thomas said they had been reminded to be wary of any unsolicited approaches in the world's most populous city.

"Betting is big (in Asia). They (Port players) are very well drilled on gambling per se. They (players) are all very professional ... but you just have to enforce it," he said.

Thomas said a club "travel seminar" had focused on "safety, security, communication, gambling, all those issues".

According to a report in the South China Morning Post last year, the International Centre for Sports Security estimated China's illegal gambling market was worth $800 billion a year, or 3.9 trillion yuan.

Gambling in China is illegal except for sports lotteries and in special administrative regions Macau and Hong Kong.

Syndicates can be prepared to do whatever it takes to win - even bribing security guards to cut the lights by remote control at an English Premier League clash in 1997 when the side they had backed was ahead, meaning the score stood as it was. The syndicate was believed to have collected hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Power have prepared their players for what will be an unusual week with premiership points up for grabs for the first time in a country outside of Australia and New Zealand.

This has included advice in how to handle the long-haul flights and, when in China, how to tackle local customs through cultural-awareness classes.

An initial batch of players, including skipper Travis Boak, Jasper Pittard, Robbie Gray, Charlie Dixon, Hamish Hartlett, Jarman Impey, Jackson Trengove, Tom Jonas and Patrick Ryder, left on Tuesday with stops in Melbourne and Hong Kong. The remaining 16 players were due to leave on Wednesday morning. The Suns were also slated to leave on Wednesday.

AFL greats Wayne Carey and Paul Roos have questioned why a home-and-away clash is being held in China, raising concerns about the air quality and distance of the trip. But Power fitness chief Darren Burgess has prepared meticulously, with even Australian food available to players at the team hotel.

"The challenges are fairly minor in the scheme of things and we're pretty comfortable with the preparation we have had. It is only 30 degrees Celsius, so it is not that hot. The smog, it is an issue but it is the same for both teams so it will even itself out," he said.

"Unless it's really, really heavy smog, it won't make a massive difference The sandstorms - let's see if that happens. All in all, it is pretty minor."