WELCOME to the two-time club, Justin McInerney.

While the young Swan's second NAB AFL Rising Star nomination on Monday night was a deserved one for his impressive 22-disposal performance against the Eagles, it shouldn't have been one that was necessary.

In fact, his nomination should have the AFL considering an 'Extended Eligibility' system for the Rising Star in future years.

RISING STARS Who has been nominated in 2021

Here's how it should work: Players nominated in any season would retain their eligibility to win the award the following year, without needing to be nominated again – providing, of course, that they still meet the League's requirements of entering that campaign under the age of 20 and having played fewer than 10 games.

It would come after McInerney became the fifth player this season to earn dual Rising Star nominations, joining Lachie Sholl, Mitch Georgiades, Luke Jackson and Tom Green in being nominated for both the 2020 and 2021 years.

The growing number of two-time nominees is partly down to last year's truncated season, which meant more players entered the 2021 campaign with fewer than 10 senior games under their belt and subsequently retained their eligibility.

But it will also mean that more first-year players will miss out on being crowned a Rising Star nominee altogether this season. Plenty of deserving youngsters will now go without what should be a special week in their burgeoning careers.

With just seven games to go in the year, here are just some of the names still without Rising Star nominations: Matt Rowell, Tom Powell, Logan McDonald, Archie Perkins, Caleb Poulter, Lachie Jones, Josh Treacy, Harry Schoenberg, Will Phillips, Luke Edwards and Jai Newcombe.

All of the aforementioned names have already enjoyed performances this season worthy of being considered a Rising Star nominee. All of them will also probably have more such games in the final seven weeks. But not all of them can be nominated.

Many of them will now also finish the year with more than 10 senior games played, meaning they will not be able to make up for the disappointment of not earning a Rising Star nomination.

So, here is where 'Extended Eligibility' comes into it. It's the perfect opportunity for the AFL to have a larger pool of players able to win the Rising Star award at the end of each season, without costing youngsters the chance to be nominated.

It would mean that Sholl, Georgiades, Jackson, Green and McInerney entered the 2021 campaign not needing to be nominated to be eligible. Their nomination from the 2020 season would have carried into this year.

Perhaps, on the weekend, it would have meant that someone like Miles Bergman could have been nominated for his two-goal performance against Hawthorn, or Ryan Byrnes for his 21-disposal outing against Collingwood.

Now, both players – who have already featured more than 10 times this year and would subsequently be ineligible to be nominated next season – face a nervous wait to see if they're crowned a Rising Star nominee in the final seven weeks.

There's a simple solution to fix this issue: Extended Eligibility.