Last August thirty of our best young footballers were nominated to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) to be offered prestigious Academy scholarships into the seventh intake of the AIS/AFL Academy. An additional 8 athletes were offered part-time scholarships based upon recommendations from their states.

Please click onto each athlete for an updated profile:

No Athlete
1 Ryan Jackson
2 Leon Noel
3 Adam Hall
4 Jarryd Roughead
5 Cameron Heise
6 Brett Deledio
7 Mitchell Morton
8 Chad Gibson
9 Beau Dowler
10 Mark Dolling
11 Mark Lynch
12 Patrick Garner
13 Toby Stribling
14 Mitchell Clark
15 Shannon Hurn
16 Alan Toovey
17 Josh Kennedy
18 Marcus Drum
19 Angus Monfries
20 Brennen Mills
21 James Kendall
22 Nick Salter
23 Jordyn Burke
24 Sam Robertson
25 Fabian Deluca
26 Cameron Wood
27 Andrew Swallow
28 Andre Gianfagna
29 Lance Franklin
30 Justin Sherman
Additional Part-time Athletes
31 Daniel Batson
32 Ivan Maric
33 Matthew Ferber
34 Tom Williams
35 Dwayne Thompson
36 Daniel Ford
37 Earl Shaw
38 Jesse Wells



The players, all whom played in the recent National AFL Under 16 Championships in Adelaide, will receive expert personal and skill development over the next 12-months under the guidance of AIS/AFL Academy coach, Terry Wheeler.

AFL Manager of Game Development Ross Smith, welcomed the seventh intake into the Academy.

“The AIS/AFL Academy scholarships will give another group of talented young players the chance to develop their abilities under Australian Football’s and the AIS’s leading educators,” Smith said. “We welcome these young athletes into this prestigious program and look forward to seeing the next generation of AFL footballers coming through”.

The Director of the Australian Institute of Sport, Mr Michael Scott added,

"By accessing the sports science and sports medicine expertise of the AIS, the young players are given a great opportunity to fast track their development to senior AFL level".

Squad members will remain in their home states during the year but will gather together for training programs and competition at various times throughout the course of their scholarship.

The squad will assemble in Adelaide for the first of four camps early in October and begin an exciting induction into the requirements of becoming an AFL player of the future.

Sessions will include fitness evaluations, skill improvement, analysis of team plays and tactics along with nutrition, injury prevention, study skills, time management, public speaking and career planning.

Squad members will also be given the opportunity to represent Australia at a youth level next April against Ireland here in Australia.

The squad’s selectors were AFL recruiting managers Shane O’Sullivan (Carlton), Wayne Hughes (Fremantle), Noel Judkins (Collingwood), Rick Barham (Sydney) and AFL National Talent Manager Kevin Sheehan, under the chairmanship of Terry Wheeler.