The AFL is reviewing the contentious northern states academies and multicultural and Indigenous academies, seeking club input into how the academies should operate, including the rules for player eligibility and bidding at the draft.

The AFL has appointed former Carlton skipper and ex-Blues football operations chief Andrew McKay to review both the northern states academies and Next Generation Academies (NGA) for multicultural and Indigenous players that were established for the 14 clubs in traditional football states and which have been a source of friction.

Isaac Quaynor. Credit:Wayne Ludbey

The review - which AFL sources said would be "open-ended" - follows concern about how players have been tied to clubs, such as Collingwood gaining Isaac Quaynor and North's access to Tasmanian Tarryn Thomas, when those NGA recruits and others were already highly-accomplished youngsters in the elite squads and touted as certain AFL players when they were allocated via zones.

Aside from eligibility, the other main concern raised about the northern and multicultural and Indigenous academies has been the price that clubs have paid for high-value recruits, such as Sydney's Nick Blakey, Quaynor and Thomas - all of whom attracted bids within the first round of the draft, but whose clubs still traded out their first pick.