Following another successful tour of South Africa, the 2010 AIS/AFL Academy squad is tipped to have a bright future.

Australian Institute of Sport(AIS)/Australian Football League(AFL) Academy Head Coach, Jason McCartney believes that the depth of this year’s squad is quite promising and at a crucial time for the AFL.

‘We’re in a very unique stage with the Academy when you factor in that the AFL has two new franchises (Gold Coast Football Club & Greater Western Sydney) entering the competition in 2011 and 2012,’ McCartney said.

‘This means that of this year’s current intake, up to thirteen 17 year old players are eligible to be pre selected or zoned to Greater Western Sydney. I believe we will provide around 10 players from our program.’

McCartney, who took charge of the program in June 2009, says several of the youngsters are standing out already.

‘Most notably Curtly Hampton from Alice Springs and Adam Treloar from Dandenong,” McCartney said. “Curtly is an exciting Indigenous player who plays predominately forward and through the midfield with great balance and poise, and Adam who can play back/forward and also through the midfield, reads the play extremely well and is an elite kick.’

And if the previous batch of Academy players is anything to go by, then we can expect to see more exciting football from Australia’s rookie players over the next five years.

It only takes a quick look at previous scholarship holders to see the value of the AIS/AFL Academy program and the opportunity it offers young players to realise their dream of playing in the AFL.

Chris Judd (Carlton), Cameron Ling (Geelong), Daniel Kerr (West Coast), Lance Franklin (Hawthorn), Cyril Rioli (Hawthorn), Adam Cooney (Western Bulldogs), Bryce Gibbs (Carlton), Nick Naitanui (West Coast) and Luke Ball (Collingwood) are just a smattering of current stars to have graduated from the Academy.

Following the recent tour, where the Under 17’s team was defeated by the Swans reserves by 19 points before having comprehensive victories over the South Africa Lions by 149 points and West Perth by 78 points, McCartney was particularly pleased with the development of his squad.

With the expansion of the AFL, he now believes managing the development of these young players is more crucial than ever.

‘It becomes increasingly important that we get their development programs right in the 12 month period they are in the program as AIS/AFL Academy.  “Graduates from the 12th and 13th intakes of our Academy will form the nucleus of both the Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney.’

The AIS Australian Football program was established in 1997 to provide high quality training and education to footballers at the elite junior level. The program aims at preparing scholarship holders for drafting to senior AFL clubs.