St Kilda will have the chance to secure the services of one of Australia’s best young athletes in the future with Jack Peris joining the club’s Next Generation Academy (NGA).

The 15-year-old has elite sport in his blood; his mother, Nova, became the first indigenous Australian to win an Olympic gold medal when she helped the Hockeyroos to Olympic glory at the 1996 Games.

Four years later, she returned to the Olympic stage in Sydney, this time reaching the semi-final in the 400m.

It’s been a life-long dream of Jack’s to follow in his mother’s footsteps and represent his country in the Olympics, and the young sprinter already boasts two national records at just 15 years of age.

READ: Saints Next Generation Academy

But the gifted runner also harbours another dream: AFL football, and through a new draft concession system introduced by the AFL, he could one day run out in the red, white and black.

“Jack is a talented medium-distance runner, so 400m is his specialty, and he’s also a really talented footballer,” NGA Manager Jack Henty told saints.com.au.

“One of Jack’s life ambitions is to compete at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. It’s probably going to depend on how his athletics form goes in the next six months, which will sort of dictate where he sits with that, and that’s something that we’re really supportive of.

“He’s got a dual dream of being an Olympian and pursuing AFL as well, and we’re pretty keen to support him with both of those pursuits and see what happens at the end of it.”

Jack's mum Nova Peris competing in the 2000 Olympics 400m relay. Picture: The Australian

Peris relocated from the Northern Territory to Melbourne to complete his high school studies at Melbourne Grammar, and the young athlete could viably compete in the 2020 Olympics, then be drafted to the Saints the following year.

“Probably over the course of the last 12 months, football’s taken a little bit of a back seat for Jack as he focusses on his athletics,” Henty said.

“But as we build a relationship with the Peris family and with Melbourne Grammar as well, we’ve been able to support him with his athletics as well as his football ambitions, so Jack’s a pretty exciting prospect for us.”

The Saints could secure Peris’s services through a new AFL initiative to incentivise clubs to diversify the AFL talent pool through indigenous and multicultural players.

“So as part of the Next Generation Academy program, they’ve provided AFL clubs with draft concessions for players that reside in our zone who are from a specific multicultural or indigenous background,” Henty explained.

“It essentially works the same as the father-son rule, so we get first access to those players in the draft.

“We call that program our Elite Talent Academy – those players are aged from 16-18 years old and the majority are involved in TAC Cup programs.

“We work in collaboration with their clubs around their development plans, providing them access to our coaches, facilities, high-performance and medical resources as well.”

To be eligible for an NGA draft concession, players must either be of indigenous heritage; born in an Asian or African country; or have at least one parent born in an Asian or African country.

The Saints put in 19 applications for talent concessions prior to the 31 July deadline, and now a total of 24 players’ applications have been approved, varying in age from 14-18 years old.

“We’ve got a couple of other exciting prospects. ‘Biggy’ Nyuon is a bottom-age player at the Dandenong Stingrays and played for the Victorian Futures squad a few weekends ago and was really impressive,” Henty said.

READ: No small feat for 'Biggy'

“Then there’s Alec and Declan McComb, who are the same age as Jack Peris. Alec actually represented the World XVIII side in the under-16 nationals earlier this year, so both of those boys are tracking really well as well.

“Because we’ve now taken over junior talent programs in the region, so that’s from the ages of 11-15 – prior to TAC Cup – we’re starting to unearth these kids a lot earlier.”

As well as the Elite Talent Pool, the NGA also fosters St Kilda’s father-son and father-daughter prospects, with both Tyson Milne and Jackson Voss eligible for selection in 2019 under the father-son rule.

Jack Peris will continue training with the Next Generation Academy’s Elite Talent Pool until his draft year in 2021, when the Saints will have first access to selecting him.