THE INFLUX of young talent in the game made for a difficult task in selecting the '20 in 2020' all stars NAB AFL Academy side, according to former head coach Brad Johnson.
The AFL is celebrating its 20th intake of the NAB AFL Academy by naming two commemorative sides of Academy graduates.
The first – the 20 in 2020 team – has been picked from players who have been drafted in the past four years, with the selectors choosing a team of players they expect to be the best in the AFL in the year 2020.
It will be released on AFL.com.au on Wednesday, with the '20 in 20' side to follow next week, which will be the best team representing the entire history of the NAB AFL Academy.
All past and present head coaches of the Academy, including Western Bulldogs great Johnson, contributed to the team selections, with the majority meeting in Melbourne last month at AFL House.
"It was great to be involved. It was great to be able to be a part of it and listen to everyone in the past who has had an impact on these young men getting into the AFL world. It was tough to pick everyone," Johnson told AFL.com.au.
"That's the way these things unfold. You'd love to squeeze everyone in but you can't, and some really good players do miss out, but it just goes to show that there are guys having a really big impact at the moment."
Johnson was the previous head coach of the Academy, before the role was made full-time at the start of 2015 when Brenton Sanderson was appointed.
Johnson is still heavily involved in the Academy program as a senior assistant, and he has seen more players step out of their draft year and into the AFL system with ease in recent seasons.
Last year, eight of the top-10 draft picks were Academy graduates.
"The last two years has probably been the biggest with players getting drafted and playing right away. Even this year, there's been so many guys who were drafted last year who have come in and played and played really well," he said.
"But they're not just debuting and then being dropped the next week. The majority of them are debuting, playing well and staying in the team and having a significant impact.
"That's always pleasing because we've got a vested interest in how they go and how they handle themselves on and off the field. We're always keenly watching these guys as they are having the time of their life."
The 20th intake of the Academy will come together for the first time in September for a camp in Melbourne.
The level two group, who are eligible for next year's draft, will spend time at various AFL clubs over summer as part of their development programs, before heading to America next January for a high performance training camp in Florida and Los Angeles.
"The Academy goes from strength to strength every year. When I was coaching it was a part-time role and now it's full-time, and it needed to be," Johnson said.
"Everyone has come together across Australia to make sure these kids are looked after really well so they can enter an AFL environment and be successful from day one.
"That goes for us at the AFL Academy and the time we spend, and also that's nationally as well with all the state academies. We're all on the same page."
