SYDNEY Swans Academy member Mitch Woods is the latest gun underage athlete to attract attention from multiple sporting codes around Australia. 

The 17-year-old was named in the 2022 under-16 All-Australian team alongside potential top-five picks Levi Ashcroft, Finn O'Sullivan, Jagga Smith and Josh Smillie, but has barely played any football in 2023.

Woods has spent most of this year playing rugby league for the Canterbury Bulldogs in the Harold Matthews Cup – the underage competition for NSW Rugby League – where he has starred at half-back.

It is understood that Canterbury has offered Woods a five-year contract to join the club from next year, with NRL legend and current Bulldogs GM Phil Gould involved in the process to secure his signature.

Woods is also part of the NSW Waratahs underage programs and was included in the Australian under-16 development squad last year, where those at Rugby Australia see him having a bright future in the sport if he heads down that path. 

The forward-midfielder has only played five games of Australian football this year, most recently on the weekend when he played for NSW against Vic Metro in an under-17s game at Avalon Airport Oval.

The squad is yet to be picked, but Woods is expected to play in the Futures game at the MCG on Grand Final day, a week after he plays for the NSW Waratahs against the Queensland Reds. Rugby Australia uses that game to help pick the Australian schoolboys team. 

Sydney lost out to Wests Tigers in the pursuit of Navren Willett earlier this year after the teenager from Taree in northern NSW opted to join the NRL club on a four-year deal, rather than pursue the chance of landing at the Swans, where two-year deals are the first contracts draftees receive. 

Speaking on AFL.com.au's trade and draft show Gettable, veteran Sydney list manager Kinnear Beatson said the challenge for the Swans is the club's inability to guarantee anything to someone like Woods due to the different player recruitment systems between the two sports. 

"Sunday was the first time I'd see him play for a year. The last time I'd seen him play was for the Swans under-16 team on the Gold Coast. He hasn't played a lot of footy. It is hard to assess exactly where he sits. He looks like a good athlete, good pace, great step, but in terms of his footy IQ and knowledge we haven't seen a lot of it yet," Beatson said.

"Mitch has a contract in front of him from a rugby league team. For Mitch, he can just accept the contract and walk to that rugby league team. (There is) no draft (in the NRL), he doesn't have to worry about whether we match the bid or whatever. 

"It [the challenge to compete with the NRL] is real in the New South Wales market. We missed a boy at the start of this year in Navren Willett who went to the Wests Tigers. We thought he had the potential to play key position. He walked straight into the rugby club, no complications, didn't have to go through a draft."

Woods has plenty of options in front of him, but will need to make a decision on what sport to pursue in the coming months. 

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Sydney would like Woods to join the Swans Academy for pre-season under the watch of talent director Leon Cameron and head coach Mark McVeigh, who led the Allies to victory in the under-18s championships last month. 

The Canterbury Bulldogs are also understood to be seeking an answer sooner rather than later.

If it is AFL, Woods will aim to be selected in the 2024 AFL Draft, following in the footsteps of Callum Mills, Isaac Heeney, Nick Blakey, Errol Gulden, Braeden Campbell and Sam Wicks.