The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year.

[2] During the 2017 season, the award was sponsored by National Australia Bank, and the winner announced in a presentation held on 1 September 2017 and broadcast on subscription television by Fox Footy.

[3][4] The voting panel for this season consisted of eleven members, all of whom were AFL officials or former players: Kevin Bartlett, Luke Darcy, Andrew Dillon, Danny Frawley, Glen Jakovich, Chris Johnson, Cameron Ling, Gillon McLachlan, Matthew Richardson, Warren Tredrea and Kevin Sheehan.

[5] The winner was Essendon player Andrew McGrath, who polled 51 votes.

[1] McGrath became only the third number-one draft pick to win the award, and the second Essendon recipient.