HAWTHORN has applied to have draft prospect Ollie Greeves be a member of its Next Generation Academy. 

The AFL has been assessing the Hawks' submission for Greeves, who has an Indigenous background, to be a part of their Academy, which would also give the club access to him at this year's Telstra AFL Draft. The Hawks have been working with Greeves over the past 12 months as part of their submission from last year. 

The Eastern Ranges prospect is a tall midfielder and trained with the Hawks over summer as part of the Marsh AFL Academy program.

At 191cm, he has been a dominant midfielder at junior level, including at the under-16 championships in 2023, when he was named an All-Australian. Last season he played seven games for the Ranges.

Oliver Greeves celebrates a goal during the AFL National Development Championships U16 match between Victoria Country and Victoria Metro at Trevor Barker Beach Oval on June 10, 2023. Picture: AFL Photos

The League is going through a wide-scale review of the NGA zones as well as criteria on eligibility for players to join clubs, having last year changed the rules to allow clubs to return being able to match bids from pick No.1 onwards.

That allowed Essendon to match a bid on NGA product Isaac Kako at pick No.13, with the small forward booting four goals on Tuesday night against Geelong in the AAMI Community Series.

Clubs will watch with interest over the AFL's decision on Greeves, with the 2025 crop already stacked with prospects tied to Academies.

Zeke Uwland, Dylan Patterson and Beau Addinsall (Gold Coast), Daniel Annable (Brisbane), Max King, Noah Chamberlain and Lachie Carmichael (Sydney) are among the Northern Academy talents, while Wes Walley is a West Coast Next Generation Academy player. Kalani White will have the choice between Gold Coast or Melbourne as a father-son and Tom McGuane is father-son eligible with Collingwood.