All Australian Team

The All-Australian Team is an all star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including interchange players and a coach, of the best performed during the season.

Related Topics:
All star - Australian rules football

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As no other country could assemble an Australian rules team of the same quality, the All-Australian team never plays a game. (The team for the annual International rules series is selected according to the quite different requirements of that code.)

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Sporting Life magazine invented the concept in 1947. A squad was selected from players in various leagues in October each year by a panel chosen by the magazine. In 1953, immediately after the Australian Football Carnival, which was held in Brisbane on that occasion, an official All-Australian team was selected by representatives from the state and territorial teams. This tradition continued until the 1988 carnival.

Related Topics:
1947 - 1953 - Australian Football Carnival - Brisbane - State and territorial - 1988

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Concurrently, from 1982, the Victorian Football League (VFL) began to announce its own team of the year. In 1991, following the VFL's conversion to a national competition and its renaming as the Australian Football League (AFL), the two concepts were merged.

Related Topics:
1982 - Victorian Football League - 1991

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Since 1999, the All-Australian coach is the coach of the premiership-winning side that year.

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