Growing up, all Jack Ison wanted to do was play Aussie rules. Now, the Yorta Yorta and Wiradjuri rising AFL star is fulfilling his childhood dream by playing for the Carlton Football Club.

It all began at the Carlton Football Club’s Next Generation Academy (NGA). The Next Generation Academies, an initiative seeded in 2016, were formed to promote the growth of First Nations and multicultural players across the league and to increase opportunities to educate young players who may lack the resources and opportunities to access the AFL in specific regions.

In his time at the Carlton academy, Ison was squeezing all his opportunities, so much that his academy head Chris Dixon labelled him a “lemon”, while also saying he was “driving everyone mad” with how eager he was to improve himself in the academy.

Next Generation Academies allow players from ages 11 to 18 to participate in activities such as fitness and training programs, skill sessions, leadership and teamwork sessions and educational programs. NGA zones are spread throughout the 18 AFL clubs across Australia.

Ison is now 19 years old and in his first season. The forward has played eight games after debuting in Sir Doug Nicholls round, where he took part in a pregame cultural dancing ceremony. As the first graduate from the Carlton academy, Ison felt he has been able to pave the way for future First Nations players.

“I want to be a role model for the future Indigenous kids,” he tells upstart.

Now more than ever, the role of NGAs remain significant due to a declining number of Indigenous players across the league. In 2020, the AFL had listed 87 Indigenous players. In 2026, the number had decreased to 62.

In an effort to counter dwindling participation, the AFL recently announced the First Nations Impact Fund, a financial investment created to grow representation across the league. Approximately $300,000 will be invested annually in partnership with the clubs. The AFL has also bought in a dedicated draft list spot for Indigenous players. This list spot will allow clubs to sign on an Indigenous player beyond the 2027 season.

AFL CEO Andrew Dillon told media he hoped the fund would help ensure that First Nations AFL players “are staying in the game for as long as others”.

Deakin University professor Chris Hickey, whose research examines the pathways of athletes towards professionalisation, tells upstart that, even for Indigenous players who do make the league, career durability has been a concern. This is backed by The Age’s reporting that the AFL’s First Nations Strategy blueprint stated that, on average, the career length of a non-First Nations AFL player is one year longer than an Indigenous player.

“We know the average career band [for an Indigenous player] is about four years … so there’s a lot of players that get spat out of the system,” Hickey says. “The AFL is acutely aware of that.”

Hickey says Next generation Academies have played a vital role in ensuring that the players are trained to flourish in the AFL.

“There is more emphasis going into their education and training programs to make sure that they’re building the capacity of the person within the system,” he says.

Head of the Carlton Academy, Chris Dixon, says that preparing players for sustainable careers in the AFL means they can then inspire future generations.

“The more role models we can get to come in and get into the system and stay into the system, that’s only going to help and can hopefully inspire that next generation,” he tells upstart.

However, before players can attain long and sustainable careers, they must first get drafted. There are a number of established barriers draftees can face, and Hickey says many can be overlooked by recruiters due to their socioeconomic status. Character profiling processes can play a big role in determining whether players can get drafted, including factors like education.

“What school have they gone to, have they been successful at school?” Hickey says that these are the kind of questions they consider. “It’s getting a sense of what sort of person they are and what has been their upbringing.”

Data already tells us that schooling plays a big part of draft selection for any AFL player. In his 2019 story on how “private schools have taken over the AFL”, reporter Jake Niall cited results from a study by Professor John Funder AO that players who come from an independent school have a nearly four times higher chance of being drafted. In 2024, Sydney Morning Herald national sports editor Neil Breen also noted that 24 of the top 30 AFL draft picks in that year were from private schools.

This poses an even greater barrier for First Nations players, given that a 2025 Productivity Commission report found that only 3.5 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students attended non-government schools.

Regional prospects face even further barriers. This is one issue that the Carlton academy is trying to address. While it previously only worked in metropolitan Melbourne, new academy zones have been added, and they are now able to reach wider areas.

“We’re working with a lot of kids in Shepparton, Wangaratta, Yarrawonga … to really put some good foundations in there,” Dixon says.

Another important aspect of the academies is to enhance player experience and focus on mental health. Dixon says they prioritise making the players “a better player and a better person”.

“We do a lot of work on the mental side of the game,” he says.

Hickey has observed how this has become a league-wide priority.

“I think there’s a lot of emphasis in clubs now is try to make sure they’re developing the person as well,” he says.

For Ison, his academy experience allowed him to better himself not only as a footballer but as a person too.

“I really learnt that giving-back nature … they [coaches] really regard me as a player and a person,” he says.

The academy encouraged him to become a leader and someone to look up, so much so that he has set his sights on “helping coach the academy” or even run his own academy in the future.

Ison’s message to younger players reflects the importance that he believes NGAs can have on young Indigenous athletes who are aiming to get their names called on draft night.

“[There are] so many opportunities and resources at your disposal once you are in the NGA,” he says.

“It’s the future that the NGA can hold for you.”

Article: Samira Khoder is a second year Bachelor of Laws and Media and Communication student majoring in Sport Media at La Trobe University. You can follow her on X @SamiraKhoder.

Photo: Carlton’s Next Generation Academy training, supplied by the Carlton Football Club