THREE of AFL North Coast’s brightest young prospects have caught the attention of the Sydney Swans.

Beau Guthrie (Coffs Harbour Breakers), Amaia Wain (Bellingen Bulldogs), and Will Kelly (Port Macquarie Magpies) have been included in the Sydney Swans summer Benchmarking program.

This gives them the opportunity to be selected into the Swans underage teams.

The three top AFL North Coast juniors have been included in their respective age group programs, putting them within the top 40 to 60 prospects from across the Swans Academy zone that includes eastern Sydney, Illawarra, Hunter, and Central Coast.

The Benchmark program runs until the end of the year before the Swans Academy selects male and female teams at both the Under 16 and Under 18 age groups to compete in the prestigious NAB League competitions.

The NAB League has traditionally been the pinnacle underage competition that AFL and AFLW recruiters tap into to identify potential draft selections, so the local juniors will be pushing hard to gain selection within the Swans teams.

Should the three AFL North Coast players gain selection in their NAB League teams, they’ll be in line to play between six and nine matches in Sydney and interstate next season.

The AFL North Coast juniors have impressed the Swans Academy Coaching Director, Leon Cameron.

“The regional players make a huge weekly effort to come to Sydney on a week night for a period of at least four consecutive weeks,” he said.

“We know they have the commitment to succeed, and they wouldn’t be here if they didn’t have the talent, so I’m looking forward to watching them progress throughout this program.”

The three are the latest top AFL North Coast juniors to have an involvement with the Swans feeder programs.

Sawtell/Toormina Saints players Hamish Anderson, Lilli-Yana Moody, and Angus Anderson have been a part of the Swans system this year.

Hamish Anderson was a member of the Sydney Swans NAB League team during the year and played two matches in the nation’s premier Under 18 competition.

Moody represented the Sydney Swans Red team in the Summer Series involving Swans and Giants at the start of the season.

And Angus Anderson played for both the Sydney Swans NAB League and VFL teams this season.

By Aiden BURGESS