Promising young Riverina footballers, Jack Driscoll and Sam Stening, have been granted selection in the national AFL Academy program for next year.
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Driscoll, a ruckman with The Rock-Yerong Creek, and Wagga's Stening, who plays with Hume League club Osborne, are among just 11 players from NSW/ACT in the squads.
Stening was a certainty to gain an academy spot after being named centre-half-forward in the under 16 All Australian team earlier this year, after a superb performance at the under 16 national championships.
Driscoll, 17, was a key first grader for TRYC this season, and played in the Farrer League's senior rep team.
The academy squads take in the pick of the country's under 17 and under 18 players, and offer on and off-field development and assistance including attendance at high performance camps.
The academy program has been running for more than 20 years, and has a success rate of 81 percent of squad members being drafted, although the program was expanded last year and now caters for some 150 players nationwide.
"The new approach to the national NAB AFL Academy, introduced for the first time in 2018, will again ensure more of our most talented players have access to AFL facilities, while receiving the best quality coaching, high performance and well-being services in the country," AFL National Talent Pathways Manager, Marcus Ashcroft, said.
"Importantly these players will spend more time in their home states, with year-round-first-class support that will enhance their opportunity to perform at an elite level.
"I congratulate all players who have been named in their NAB AFL Academy Squads and I look forward to watching their development over the next few years."
Stening and Driscoll have both been in the Greater Western Sydney Giants programs in the Riverina.
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