The AFL announced a raft of changes to its pathways on Monday, including a major revamp of the NAB League.

From 2021 the NAB League will be an under-19 competition instead of its traditional under-18 age group.

The under-16 development stage will change to under-17s.

The changes apply to the boys and girls competitions. Despite the switch from under-18s to under-19s, the AFL draft age for boys and girls will remain 18.

"Following a review undertaken over the past few months, the AFL Talent Pathway Programs have been remodelled to further align and simplify the talent pathway calendar, to provide boys' and girls' programs with the same opportunities for elite development while also increasing their connection to community football,'' an AFL statement said.

"The talent programs will continue to focus on identifying and developing players from across Australia and best preparing them for AFL and AFLW competition with the age groups for all AFL Talent Pathway Programs, including the NAB League Girls and Boys and the NAB AFL / AFLW National Championships, to be re-focussed from under-16 and under-18 levels to under-17 and under-19 in 2021."

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The AFL also announced a major shake-up of the VFL.

The NEAFL will be amalgamated into the VFL and AFL clubs based in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria will be provided with flexibility to determine the form of their involvement in the second-tier competition.

The clubs have three options - field a standalone team, align with an existing second-tier club or spread their AFL-listed players across multiple second-tier clubs.

"The AFL will continue to work towards ensuring greater alignment across all second-tier competitions across the country and also increase the alignment with Talent Programs in each State and Territory,'' the AFL stated.

"Second-tier football in 2021 will be a year of transition that will see the AFL take into consideration the impact of a reduced AFL soft cap, the level of AFL club investment and resource allocation across men's and women's football programs, any player CBA revisions and any associated impact on player list sizes.

"The model for second-tier women's football in Victoria is currently still under review with the AFL to finalise this model in due course."

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