QBE Sydney Swans Academy players Lloyd Perris and Isaac Heeney have been identified as two of the best young footballers in the country.

The pair has been selected in this year’s AIS-AFL Academy program, which takes in 62 of Australia’s best young football talent and prepares them for the elite level.

Perris, who was the inaugural member of the Swans Academy in 2010, has earned selection in the AIS-AFL Academy for the second consecutive year.

The 17-year-old has been named in the Level Two squad, for players who are eligible to be drafted in 2013, and will be managed by AIS-AFL Academy High Performance Coach, Michael O’Loughlin.

Perris’ selection caps off a terrific year for the teenager who also collected the inaugural peer-voted Cameron Ling Medal following the 2011-2012 AIS-AFL Academy squad’s tour of New Zealand.

The Cronulla teenager told sydneyswans.com.au he is pleased to earn a second year of selection with the program.

“It’s awesome and is another great opportunity, and one that I had last year as well, so I’m just really looking forward to it,” Perris said.

“Just the exposure to the group of guys and the Victorian players, it’s just exposure that we don’t get in New South Wales and it is something I’m really looking forward to.”

According to Perris, the best part of being selected for the AIS-AFL program was the personalised training for each athlete.

He said the program was particularly beneficial last year after he suffered a knee injury in a basketball game, which required a reconstruction at the end of 2011.

“Being involved really helped me through this year with my injury with access to physios and doctors and just elite nutrition,” he said.

“It was all individualised to my program and my circumstances, so that was also really beneficial for me going through that this year.

“I also got a lot of footy knowledge out of the program as well as a lot of knowledge about how to be a better person and how to improve myself as a person.”

Unlike Perris, this year will be the first time 16-year-old Isaac Heeney will get a taste of national-level high performance training.

The Newcastle teenager caught the attention of Academy selectors after starring in the recent AFL Under-16 Championships in Sydney, where Heeney was named best on ground in all three matches.

The Cardiff Hawks midfielder told sydneyswans.com.au he couldn’t wait to get involved in this year’s AIS-AFL Academy.

“I’m so pumped, and am extremely excited,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to getting to know the boys from Victoria and just set my standards pretty high because Victoria is the state to compete with.

“I just want to get as much out of it as I can, and I don’t really know what to expect at the moment.”

Both boys credit the QBE Sydney Swans Academy for their individual journeys to success.

Heeney said the Academy allowed him to train at a higher level than what was available in his home town.

“I’m the only one in our school who plays AFL,” Heeney said.

“Up our way in Newcastle, the standard of footy isn’t as high as down in Sydney.

“Just the level of training at the Swans Academy and being able to train with a really good bunch of blokes was great.

“Also, you can’t go wrong with Paul Roos as your coach.”

For Perris, it was about the Academy’s ability to lift the level of AFL in New South Wales to the standard of the traditional football states.

“The Swans Academy and the Swans Scholarship has been a huge benefit for me,” he said.

“I’ve been involved in (the Swans Academy) since I was 15 and it’s a similar sort of exposure just to that higher level of training and just doing a lot of kicking and working on my skills a lot more.

“There haven’t been too many New South Welshmen who have made the AFL, so the challenges were there for me and everyone else but it’s definitely achievable, especially now.

“It’s really been beneficial and it has been great being a part of it.”

Both boys will take part in their first AIS-AFL camp in Melbourne during AFL Grand Final Week.