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 an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, traditionally led by that season's premiership coach.
Despite the name's implication, the All-Australian team is usually ceremonial in modern times. Though the AFL played an All-Star match in 2020, it was the first in 12 years, and the difference in skill level between the All-Australian team and the nearest international competitor is currently too large for any contest to be competitive.[citation needed] Despite this, some of these players have represented Australia in AFL Academy junior teams up to the age of 18, as more than two-thirds of all AFL Academy representatives have gone on to play at senior AFL level.[1]
From 1998 to 2004, the Australian international rules team was mainly composed of All-Australians, and from 2005 to 2013 the team for the annual International Rules Series was selected according to the quite different requirements of International rules football.
This change was reverted ahead of the 2014 series, with any player who had been selected at least once in any All-Australian team being eligible for selection.