Both boys and girls Marsh AFL National Academy squads will travel to New Zealand in December for high-performance camps.
2018 was the last time the boys academy ventured to New Zealand and was also the last year the academy had an international component. This year is first time the girls academy will hold a camp in New Zealand.
The AFL has partnered with the New Zealand campus of innovation and sport in Wellington for both of the training camps, which will be without competitive games but serve as high-performance pre-season blocks for the groups of 25 prospects eligible for the 2026 drafts.
The boys camp took place between December 10 – 14, with a group of New Zealand based coaches being fortunate enough to sit in on one of the groups training sessions and observe and learn from experienced coaches to further their own coaching development. The girls camp will head to Wellington between December 17 – 21 before heading into their summer break.
The Marsh AFL Academies return to New Zealand looks to have been a success, with discussions to make the trip part of the regular calendar, it opens up the possibility for AFL New Zealand to hold continuous coach development and growth with High performance coaches, as well as opportunities to reintroduce national combine events and relationship building with AFL scouts.
As well as the overseas training camp’s return, the Academy structure for next year will see the squads play two games across a week, allowing them to work within the type of play, review, prepare and then play again structure of an AFL club.
