lists are broken up age wise the following way by most clubs. some have slight variations.
when working out the average age of club lists nearly everyone works it out from the opening game of the yr so this yr its taken from 14/3/14
i apply the simple formula of
smls by 20. mediums by 22, and talls by 24 to the below and you have an idea of where players should be at. to see how a player has progressed look at games played games played also gives a players experience at afl level.
juniors - 18 - 21 = 12. first three yr makes sense they are treated as juniors at clubs. we have 12 juniors with many moving into the development category if they dont get cut.
development 22 - 24 = 14. this caters mainly for talls as they still have a lot of development to go thru, it caters for real skinny players as well and just plain old immature. usually smls and mediums have done most of their development by age 22 and could be classified as mature players. we have a fair few development players moving into the mature category.
mature - 25 - 28 = 14 this is where players should be both physically and mentally at their best. we have 3 or 4 mature players who will become vets next yr
vets - 29 + = 4 obviously this category is about players whos best maybe behind them and its down hill from here.