The

AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Bu ...

is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL) for the year. An eligible player is nominated for the award each round during the AFL's

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

, and a panel of experts vote for the winner at the end of the season. During the 2016 season, the award was sponsored by

National Australia Bank National Australia Bank Limited (abbreviated NAB, branded and stylised as nab) is one of the four largest Banking in Australia, financial institutions in Australia (colloquially referred to as "Big Four (banking), The Big Four") in terms of mar ...

. The winner was announced in a presentation held at Crown Palladium on 6 September 2016 and broadcast on

subscription television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

Fox Footy Fox Footy (stylised as FOX FOOTY) is an Australian rules football subscription television channel dedicated to screening Australian rules football matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Australia operated out of its Melbou ...

. The voting panel for the season consisted of ten members, all of whom were AFL officials or former players: Kevin Bartlett,

Luke Darcy Luke Darcy (born 12 July 1975) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL) and now works for the Seven Network and Triple M covering the AFL and the Olympics. Early life L ...

, Mark Evans,

Danny Frawley Daniel Patrick "Spud" Frawley (8 September 1963 – 9 September 2019) was an Australian rules football player, coach, administrator, commentator and media personality. He played 240 games for the St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football ...

Glen Jakovich Glen Darren Jakovich (born 24 March 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Jakovich was recruited from South Fremantle in the West Australian Football Leagu ...

Cameron Ling Cameron Ling (born 27 February 1981) is a former Australian rules footballer and three-time premiership player who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A tagger at and , Ling was also a premiership-win ...

Gillon McLachlan Gillon McLachlan (born 1973) is a former Australian sports administrator and now CEO of a major gambling company. He is the former chief executive officer of the Australian Football League (AFL). He was appointed to the role in 2014, succeeding ...

, Matthew Richardson,

Warren Tredrea Warren Gary Tredrea (born 24 December 1978) is a former Australian Rules Footballer with the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and former Weekday Sports Presenter on ''Nine News Adelaide''. Since his retireme ...

and

Kevin Sheehan Kevin Vincent Sheehan OAM (born 1 August 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer for Geelong and the current Australian Football League (AFL) National Talent and International Manager, a member of the AFL football operations sub-committe ...

. The winner was

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

player

Callum Mills Callum Mills (born 2 April 1997) is a professional Australian rules footballer and current captain of the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He has been a co-captain of the club since 2022 and the sole captain since 2024. Mil ...

, who polled 49 votes. Mills was the third Sydney recipient to win the award, and the first

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

–born winner. The club that garnered the most individual nominations this season was

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

with four players nominated for the award, a record for the club.

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

player

Orazio Fantasia Orazio Maurice Fantasia ( or ; born 14 September 1995) is a professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was recruited by the Essendon Football Club with the 55th ...

, who received a nomination in round 17, was previously nominated for the award in the 2015 season—becoming the tenth player ever to be nominated twice for a Rising Star award.

Nominations

Final voting

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:AFL Rising Star, 2016 Afl Rising Star, 2016 Australian rules football-related lists