{"id":271861,"date":"2025-11-08T21:24:47","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T21:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/271861\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T21:24:47","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T21:24:47","slug":"seven-club-tied-prospects-named-in-2026-afl-academy-squad-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/271861\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven club-tied prospects named in 2026 AFL Academy squad – AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Seven AFL<\/a> club-tied prospects headline the 2026 AFL<\/a> Academy, announced on Friday.<\/p>\n

After a 2025 season anticipated to be the most compromised intake in history, Carlton father-son prospect Cody Walker will headline a stronger 2026 cohort of players.<\/p>\n

Walker and South Australian Dougie Cochrane are viewed as two standout early contenders for the No.1 pick.<\/p>\n

Cochrane, a 197cm Central Districts forward, is currently openly available, but Port Adelaide are awaiting AFL<\/a> approval to have him added to its Next Generation Academy.<\/p>\n

Richmond Next Generation Academy prospect Tanner Armstrong, Brisbane Academy prospect Caylen Murray, Gold Coast Academy half-back Archie Hill, West Coast-tied Garrison Kenh, GWS Academy’s Ethan Matthews and Aidan McCartney, tied to Sydney’s Academy and North Melbourne as a father-son, are the other club-tied prospects.<\/p>\n

Matthews, Arki Butler, Jack Gordon, Wil Malady, Harry Van Hattum, Jack Pickett, Darcy Szerszyn, Benji Van Rooyen, Walker and Noah Williams all featured at the U18s National Championships in 2025.<\/p>\n

The Anthony Rocca-coached Northern Knights are the most represented talent pathway clubs in the squad with three players each.<\/p>\n

Key-position trio Van Hattum, Tate Hodgson and Lewis Houndsome made the squad from the Knights.<\/p>\n

Tarkyn Lockyer will coach the squad.<\/p>\n

The AFL<\/a> Academy squad takes part in training sessions and matches against state league opponents, providing the best players in the draft crop to develop as people and as footballers.<\/p>\n

Of the 28 players in the 2025 AFL<\/a> Academy squad, 24 received National Combine invites, indicating strong AFL<\/a> interest, while all but one player from the 2024 AFL<\/a> Academy was drafted.<\/p>\n

The AFL<\/a> yesterday announced the return of international high-performance trips for the Academy, with both the boys and girls squads to spend four days in Wellington, New Zealand, throughout December.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

2026 AFL Academy squad<\/p>\n

PLAYER
\nSTATE
\nSTATE LEAGUE CLUB
\nCOMMUNITY CLUB<\/p>\n

Tanner Armstrong
\nVIC C
\nMurray Bushrangers
\nShepparton United<\/p>\n

Arki Butler
\nVIC M
\nSandringham Dragons<\/a>
\nBeaumaris<\/p>\n

Harrison Chapman
\nVIC M
\nEastern Ranges
\nBoronia<\/p>\n

Dougie Cochrane
\nSA
\nCentral District
\nPort District<\/p>\n

Kodah Edwards
\nSA
\nSouth Adelaide
\nWillunga<\/p>\n

Jack Gordon
\nSA
\nCentral District
\nPort District<\/p>\n

Ethan Herbert
\nSA
\nNorth Adelaide
\nWalkerville<\/p>\n

Archie Hill
\nQLD
\nGold Coast Suns<\/a> Academy
\nBroadbeach<\/p>\n

Tate Hodgson
\nVIC M
\nNorthern Knights
\nPark Orchards NRP<\/p>\n

Lewis Houndsome
\nVIC M
\nNorthern Knights
\nYarrambat<\/p>\n

Garrison Kenh
\nWA
\nEast Perth
\nEllenbrook<\/p>\n

Xavier Ladbrook
\nVIC C
\nGippsland Power
\nNar Nar Goon<\/p>\n

Koby LeCras
\nWA
\nWest Perth
\nManning<\/p>\n

Wil Malady
\nVIC C
\nGippsland Power
\nBairnsdale<\/p>\n

Ethan Matthews
\nNSW\/ACT
\nGWS GIANTS Academy
\nIngleburn<\/p>\n

Aidan McCartney
\nNSW\/ACT
\nSydney Swans<\/a> Academy
\nWilloughby<\/p>\n

Heath Mellody
\nWA
\nClaremont
\nWembley Downs<\/p>\n

Caylen Murray
\nQLD
\nBrisbane Lions<\/a> Academy
\nMaroochydore<\/p>\n

Gabriel Patterson
\nSA
\nGlenelg
\nPlympton<\/p>\n

Jack Pickett
\nVIC C
\nGeelong Falcons
\nTorquay<\/p>\n

Darcy Szerszyn
\nVIC C
\nDandenong Stingrays
\nSeaford<\/p>\n

Harry Van Hattum
\nVIC M
\nNorthern Knights
\nSt Mary’s<\/p>\n

Benji van Rooyen
\nWA
\nClaremont
\nWembley Downs<\/p>\n

Cody Walker
\nVIC C
\nBendigo Pioneers<\/a>
\nEchuca<\/p>\n

Noah Williams
\nVIC C
\nGeelong Falcons
\nSt Joseph’s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seven AFL club-tied prospects headline the 2026 AFL Academy, announced on Friday. After a 2025 season anticipated to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-271861","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}