History has shown that more than two thirds of Academy players go on to professional careers at senior level in the Australian Football League.

High-profile representatives include AFL Brownlow medallists Chris Judd, Patrick Dangerfield, Adam Cooney, several AFL club captains including Luke Hodge, Travis Boak, Trent Cotchin, Jack Viney, Jarryd Roughead, Shannon Hurn, Jarrad McVeigh, Marc Murphy, Joel Selwood, Steven May, Jack Ziebell, other AFL greats including Cyril Rioli, Brett Deledio and numerous All-Australian players.

Though it was given permission to send a side to the 1908 Melbourne Carnival (which defeated Queensland and New South Wales) the AFC never fielded a national team against them.

Subsequent calls from overseas for Australia to send teams to the United States (1909), New Zealand (1910),[7][8] Japan (1910) and Canada (1912) were all rejected by the AFC.

In contrast, the top leagues in Australia were going professional and a widening gap in interstate representative matches would make it almost impossible for other countries to compete.

Ireland would maintain the VFL's primary international focus (especially given its ongoing Irish Experiment recruiting initiative) through to the 21st century.

Papua New Guinea however with tens of thousands of players to draw from, had a fast moving and hard hitting side that was competitive against some of the VFL's strongest clubs, and was extremely determined to compete against Australia.

However the Australian National Football Council withdrew its promise to admit PNG as a voting member, along with senior funding and plans to tour Papua New Guinea and the local competitions soon collapsed.

The initial proposal was for similar eligibility criteria to other football codes which would mean that it could draw the significant pool of Australians born overseas or with a parent or grandparent from the country they chose to represent.

In 1999 a proposal was received from the New Zealand Australian Football League (NZAFL), suggesting that the World Cup be brought forward to 2002.

In 2004, the AFL formed its own International Policy,[10] pushed for the dissolution of the IAFC to became formally recognised as the world governing body for the sport.

[2] However, with the GAA cancelling both the senior and junior series in 2006, the AFL had to find another opponent in order to continue to receive national sports funding.

Following some highly unevenly matched contests, the gap between the two countries drew comments from AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou the South Africans would be better suited to playing a game with a round ball (referring to International Rules but possibly also soccer).

[14] The National Australia Bank extended its Australian Football sponsorship to the AFL Academy to fill the gap left by the AIS.

The AFL's partnership in New Zealand with Wellington Regional Stadium helped fill the gap left by the AIS and it began playing its development team against an open aged NZ sides in 2012.

[40] Taj Schofield; Nathan O'Driscoll; Brandon Walker; Zane Trew; Logan McDonald; Denver Grainger-Barras; Will Phillips; Connor Downie; Campbell Edwardes; Nikolas Cox; Tanner Bruhn; Oliver Henry; Elijah Hollands; Ethan Baxter; Jamarra Ugle-Hagan; Oliver Davis; Sam Collins; Jackson Callow; Corey Durdin; Zachary Dumesny; Jye Sinderberry; Luke Edwards; Kaine Baldwin; Riley Thilthorpe; Alex Davies; Errol Gulden; Braeden Campbell [41] Kysaiah Pickett; Rhai Arn Cox; Connor Budarick; Caleb Serong; Jack Mohony; Matthew Rowell; Hewago Paul-Oea; Deven Robertson; Cameron Taheny; Dylan Stephens; Sam Flanders; Hayden Young; Dylan Williams; Cooper Stephens; Noah Anderson; Joshua Rayner; Jamieson Rossiter; Brodie Kemp; Liam Delahunty; Fischer McAsey; Emerson Jeka; Mitch O'Neill; Anthony Davis; Jack Buller; Andrew Courtney [42] Ruben Flinn, Jackson Hately, Jack Lukosius, Hugo Munn, Izak Rankine, Connor Rozee, Luke Valente, Jack Bytel, Max King, Ben King, Rhylee West, Buku Khamis, Zane Barzen, Jye Caldwell, Sam Fletcher, Hudson Garoni, Sam Walsh, Ajak Dang, Jason Carter, Ian Hill, Tom Joyce, Sydney Stack, Chayce Jones, Tarryn Thomas, Nick Blakey, Matthew Walker, Bailey Scott, Michael Mummery [43] Zachary Sproule, Kobe Mutch, Will Setterfield, Harrison Macreadie, Matthew Scharenberg, Jack Graham, Steven Slimming, Jack Bowes, Brad Scheer, Jacob Allison, Curtis Marsden, Jarrod Berry, Will Brodie, Ben Ainsworth, Jarrod Korewha, Jordan Galluci, Jack Scrimshaw, Noah Hura, Sam Petrevski-Seton, Sam Powell-Pepper, Jeremy Goddard, Luke Strnadica, Joshua Rotham, Ben McGuinness, Brandon Parfitt [44] Isaac Heeney, Sam Durdin, Lachlan Weller, Liam Dawson, Matthew Hammelmann, Jaden McGrath, Tom Lamb, Hugh Goddard, Liam Duggan, Angus Brayshaw, Jake Lever, Darcy Moore, Peter Wright, Jarrod Pickett, Clem Smith, Bradley Walsh, Nakia Cockatoo, Duom Dawam, Liam Griffiths, Nicholas Coughlan, Jack Donkersley, Mac Bower, Bohdi Walker, Daniel Caprion, Jesse Watchman, Peter Spurling, Ryan Lim, Jermaine Miller-Lewis, Matthew Ah Siu, Warrick Wilson Jack Billings, Luke McDonald, Billy Hartung, Jesse Hogan, James Aish, Ben Lennon, Luke Dunstan, Matt Scharenberg, Jack Martin, Dallas Willsmore Clayton McCartney, Dylan Loo, Cain Tickner, Sam Garstone Tom Mitchell, Daniel Gorringe, Adam Treloar, Michael Bussey, Piers Flanagan, Sam Gordon, Chad Wingard, Jonathon Patton