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.

As no other country could assemble a senior Australian rules team of the same quality, the All-Australian team never plays a game. From 1998-2004, the Australian international rules team was mainly composed of All-Australians, though from 2005-2013 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 only players who have been selected at least once in any All-Australian team being eligible for selection.

Sporting Life magazine invented the concept of an All-Australian Team 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 Adelaide on that occasion, an official All-Australian team was selected by representatives of the various state and territorial teams. This tradition continued until the 1988 carnival.