THE AFL has begun planning for a 'ruck academy' for taller prospects who have been overlooked by clubs at the draft.

In a bid to push more ruck options through the system, the League informed clubs this week of its plans to build an AFL national academy ruck program.

Although still in the planning phase, the program will identify a group of 19-year-old ruckmen who were not taken by clubs at last year's national and rookie draft.

South Australian Jordan Sweet, Northern Territory's Tony Olango and West Australian Jeremy Goddard were three ruckmen in last year's national academy to not find a place on an AFL list last season.

The League will engage the national academy coaches for additional ruck craft sessions as well as more placements at AFL clubs for members of the ruck academy.

Clubs have shown a reluctance in recent years to use early draft picks on ruckmen, with talented West Australian big man Tim English slipping to the Bulldogs' pick No.19 last year.

However, in the rookie draft the following week, seven of the first-round picks were used on ruckmen.

Ruckmen have also become highly sought after during the trade and free agency periods as clubs look to cash in on big men who have developed elsewhere.

The AFL's talent update to clubs also included a new element of its next generation academy system, with five clubs now able to access eligible multicultural talent from Darwin.

The city's multicultural and indigenous talent was originally not allocated to any club due to its history of producing AFL players.

But from 2017 the five existing clubs with next generation academy zones in the Northern Territory (Essendon, Collingwood, Hawthorn, Geelong and Melbourne) will be able to nominate multicultural players residing in Darwin.