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AFL consider return of Under - 19s
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From The Age

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The AFL is considering a major change to the pathway into the game that would impact heavily on teenage Victorian footballers, their studies and the passage into the AFL.

The AFL is contemplating changing the elite junior competition that provides about half their players – the NAB League – from an under-18 to an under-19 competition, but still favours keeping the minimum draft age at 18.

In a potential reform that is gaining some momentum within the AFL and which also would please Victorian private schools with strong football programs, the elite NAB League, long known as the TAC Cup, would become an under-19 competition next year.

Carlton's Sam Walsh.

Photo: Morgan Hancock

But regardless of whether the feeder competition is under-19 or under-18, the AFL would almost certainly keep the draft age at 18, allowing clubs to draft stand-out youngsters of that age such as Carlton’s Sam Walsh and Gold Coast’s Matt Rowell. There would be significantly fewer 18-year-olds drafted, though, when clubs have smaller lists.

The expected reduction in club list sizes from 44 (including rookies) to as few as 35 over time would reduce the numbers of 18 year olds selected in the draft, because clubs would have fewer spots available for raw youngsters and would be less inclined to pick speculative teenagers in the hope they will develop.

As a consequence, AFL sources said, many fewer players would be drafted in year 12, when they were sitting VCE, with a significant number able to continue playing as 19-year-olds in the elite NAB League if that league allows 19-year-olds. NAB League teams are already permitted to play a handful of 19-year-olds each year.

The AFL had under 19s within their Victorian clubs for decades until the early 1990s, when the under-18 competition was established.

The AFL has long had an issue with – and faced criticism for – the fact that their draft heavily disrupts the year 12 studies of teenagers in Victoria, the state that provides more than half the players.

The situation is somewhat different in Western Australia, where the under-18 colts are a little older, since they are able to play until they are 18-and-a-half.

The AFL’s potential revamp of the pathway into the highest level of the game has been hastened by the financial crisis that has encouraged the league to reduce list sizes and also to make changes to second-tier senior competitions, such as the VFL and NEAFL.

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It is unclear whether there will be AFL reserves teams fielded in the VFL next year, which would require a large number of additional players – top-up players – if the AFL senior lists are cut back to as few as 35 or 36.

If the NAB League becomes the under 19s – featuring the same clubs such as the Northern Knights, Geelong Falcons, Oakleigh Chargers, Sandringham Dragons, Murray Bushrangers and several other metropolitan and country teams – the view is that those players who play as 19-year-olds and who do not get drafted will drift into the state leagues, hopefully strengthening those competitions.

Conversely, some recruiters and officials do not want the feeder competition to become the under 19s, since they are concerned that the large number of older players would reduce the overall talent level of the NAB League.