PHILOSOPHY, astrophysics, politics, agriculture and enough business and commerce degrees to make a new Big Four company.

Welcome to the other side of your favourite AFL players.

Over the past 10 years, there's been an increasing focus on equipping players for life outside of football, and while trades are an ever-popular option, many opt to hit the books, one subject per semester at a time.

While the Players' Association does not have a complete number of players studying at university across the board, last year saw 131 men's players apply for an AFLPA education and training grant for an undergraduate degree, while a further 14 applied for a grant for a masters.

The grant can also be accessed by former AFL and AFLW players, and applications last year ranged from masters to certificates and short courses.

AFL.com.au reached out to all 18 clubs to find out who is studying what. Business and commerce degrees were so overwhelmingly popular that they have not been included in the list below (Greater Western Sydney alone has 18 players doing the two degrees), but there are plenty of left-field options too.

Brisbane co-captain Harris Andrews was in the classroom on teaching placement the week following the Lions' premiership win.

A subset of the group of Giants studying fitness – Ryan Angwin, Callum Brown, Aaron Cadman and Leek Aleer – run a 'fit club' group fitness class for GWS staff twice a week.

Adelaide's Billy Dowling had 19 disposals, seven marks and a goal against Essendon on a Friday night last year before flying home the following day and sitting a business/commerce exam that afternoon.

Fremantle's Bailey Banfield is not only just playing football, but completing an MBA and working at the Dockers as the club's sustainability officer.

Angus McLennan is balancing his time at St Kilda with a bachelor of agricultural science, and with the assistance of teammate Max Hall's farming family, has invested in some cattle.

Carlton defender Jordan Boyd is one of at least 50 players studying business or commerce, but his major is in the music industry.

Gold Coast's Alex Davies has studied in a different format, obtaining his private pilot's licence, while mature-age recruit Ben Jepson is already into a master of teaching.

GWS skipper Toby Greene is studying for his MBA, teammate Tom Green has taken up a politics degree, while Carlton's Orazio Fantasia is studying a business law degree.

The most impressive of all may be North Melbourne's Bailey Scott, who is majoring in astrophysics within his bachelor of science, while Adelaide's Reilly O'Brien is closing in on an astonishing four degrees (and has his own sub-heading below) and new Western Bulldog Sam Davidson put his medical degree on hold for one last shot at big-time footy. 

Rising Geelong defender Lawson Humphries is another to follow the road less travelled.

Drafted to the AFL at the age of 20, Humphries had a few years out of school before joining the Cats and spent his team wisely.

A Nyul Nyul, Oomiday and Worrora man who grew up in the Pilbara, Humphries was keen to follow in the footsteps of his father, Ross, who is an Indigenous liaison officer with Rio Tinto, a job that involves plenty of travel and interacting with people, as opposed to a stock-standard desk/computer job.

A bachelor of anthropology and sociology was suggested as a good first step, and Humphries began his study at Curtin University in Perth.

"I started that in 2022, and I'm just over halfway, as I'd already done a few years of full-time uni before I was drafted," Humphries told AFL.com.au.

"It's like a social science. I'm looking into the way people interact, language, different cultural groups and gender, and looking at all of that from a 'people' point of view. Not so much psychology and science, but more of an observational way.

"Cultural norms and social norms and what people consider to be normal, how people from different parts of the world would consider things differently, and having an understanding of that."

Uni is a little different for Humphries these days, dropping down to one or two subjects a semester and completing his course remotely.

"Growing up, I went to an all-boys boarding school, and most of the people I interacted with were men who played sport. Uni was great to interact with people who come from different backgrounds and have different interests.

"It was actually a really good [example] of anthropology, understanding how different people look at life and have their different viewpoints based on their experiences.

"Now it's online, it's all dictated by me, and I'm not going into class and interacting. I go up and down with my motivation, but my (subject) tutor is really good and he keeps me on track with timelines."

Humphries was thrust into the limelight last year, spending the first half of the season in the VFL before playing the last 11 matches, including two finals.

But this year, he's a firmly entrenched member of the backline.

"I think this year, uni has definitely been more important for me. Last year was just a bit of a whirlwind – I just loved footy and was probably still a bit of a fan, and it hadn't sunk in that I was playing. I was just really having fun and wasn't worried about getting the balance.

"But this year, footy is a bit more intense. I'm in the team every week, there's a lot of media and it's good to have something else that's a bit different away from footy.

"I'm not thinking about footy, or worrying about my performance or little errors I might have made the week before. Uni isn't necessarily hard, but it's something I might not want to do all the time, and it's good I have to still do it and force myself to do something I might not want to. We're pretty lucky as AFL players, we have a pretty good run, so it's important to do other things."

While Humphries has plenty of years left in his AFL career, he's got one eye on what's ahead.

"I probably want to work in cultural heritage in WA, that's where home is for me, post-footy. I'd love to be working back home in the Kimberleys as an anthropologist up there, potentially with Native Titles and working with and supporting Indigenous groups in their fights.

"I've been very lucky that my family have that, and I'd love to be able to do it (for others)."

What AFL players are studying

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

• Bailey Banfield (Fremantle)
• Sam Switkowski (Fremantle)
• Tom Berry (Gold Coast)
• Sam Collins (Gold Coast)
• Touk Miller (Gold Coast)
• Zak Evans (Gold Coast)
• Toby Greene (GWS)
• Luke Breust (Hawthorn)

Applied finance (post-graduate degree)

• Lachie Keeffe (GWS)

Accounting

• George Hewett (Carlton)
• Nic Martin (Essendon, also studying finance)

Finance

• Luke Breust (Hawthorn)
• Dylan Moore (Hawthorn)
• Ned Reeves (Hawthorn)
• Jacob Koschitzke (Richmond)
• Rhylee West (Western Bulldogs, also studying banking)

Sports management

• Brodie Kemp (Carlton, also studying business)
• Josh Battle (Hawthorn)
• Thomson Dow (Richmond)
• Hugo Ralphsmith (Richmond, also studying business)
• Corey Warner (Sydney, bachelor of sports business)

Real estate

• Leo Lombard (Gold Coast)
• Ben Long (Gold Coast)
• Josh Fahey (GWS)
• Sam Butler (Hawthorn)

Psychology

• Patrick Cripps (Carlton)
• Charlie Ballard (Gold Coast)
• Charlie Spargo (Melbourne)
• Taj Woewodin (Melbourne, psychological science)

Health science

• Leek Aleer (GWS, also studying fitness)

Fitness

• Ryan Angwin (GWS)
• Callum Brown (GWS)
• Aaron Cadman (GWS)
• Harry Rowston (GWS)

Grad. cert. sports coaching

• Nic Martin (Essendon)
• Mason Redman (Essendon)

Sports/exercise science

• Harry Morrison (Hawthorn)
• Nick Coffield (Western Bulldogs)

Masters of high performance

• Mason Wood (St Kilda)

Osteopathy

• Jarrod Berry (Brisbane)
• James Blanck (Hawthorn)

Chiropractic

• Bodhi Uwland (Gold Coast, bachelor of science)

Nutritional science

• Luke Kennedy (Western Bulldogs)

Medicine

• Sam Davidson (Western Bulldogs)

Science

• Anthony Caminiti (St Kilda, current focus is engineering maths)
• Bailey Scott (North Melb, majoring in astrophysics)

Engineering

• Liam Stocker – (St Kilda, current focus is steel structures and mathematical modelling)

Project management

• Kyle Langford (Essendon)

Construction

• Kieren Briggs (GWS)
• Callan Ward (GWS)
• Hayden McLean (Sydney, construction management)

Agriculture

• Lachie Ash (GWS)
• Angus McLennan (St Kilda)
• Jack Henderson (Melbourne)

Teaching/education

• Harris Andrews (Brisbane)
• Nathan O'Driscoll (Fremantle)
• Elliott Himmelberg (Gold Coast)
• Ben Jepson (Gold Coast)
• Jacob Wehr (GWS)
• Mitch Lewis (Hawthorn)
• Noah Mraz (Hawthorn)
• Harry Cunningham (Sydney)
• Harvey Gallagher (Western Bulldogs)
• Jedd Busslinger (Western Bulldogs)

Law

• Orazio Fantasia (Carlton, focus on business law)
• Finn Maginness (Hawthorn, also studying commerce)
• Josh Ward (Hawthorn, also studying commerce)

International Relations/Politics 

• Tom Green (GWS)

Philosophy

• Tom Barrass (Hawthorn)

Communications

• Tom Doedee (Brisbane)
• George Wardlaw (North Melbourne, majoring in journalism)

Design

• Ryan Gardner (Western Bulldogs)

Reilly O'Brien (Adelaide)

• Bachelor of Medical Science
• MBA
• Master of Public Health
• Master of Neuroscience at King's College, London

The above is a non-exhaustive list