With the focus of the
VFL/AFL moving rapidly toward a national competition, the former metropolitan and country
zoning recruitment system for the Victorian VFL/AFL clubs was abolished, and the league's under-19 competition was shut down at the end of 1991. A new competition, administered by the
Victorian State Football League and sponsored by the
Transport Accident Commission, was formed as an avenue for young Victorian under-18 players to make the transition to becoming senior
League players. It commenced play on 10 April 1992, the competition consisted of five metropolitan teams and one country team: the
Northern Knights,
Eastern Ranges,
Southern Stingrays (renamed the Dandenong Stingrays in 1995),
Western Jets,
Central Dragons (renamed the Prahran Dragons in 1995, then the Sandringham Dragons in 2000) and
Geelong Falcons. In 1993 an additional four country teams were included – the
Murray Bushrangers,
Bendigo Pioneers,
Gippsland Power and
Ballarat Rebels (renamed the North Ballarat Rebels in 1996, then the Greater Western Victoria Rebels in 2017). In 1995 two additional metropolitan regions were established, with the
Oakleigh Chargers and
Calder Cannons teams included in the competition. In 1995, a Tasmanian-based team, the
Tassie Mariners, commenced in the competition, becoming the league's first non-Victorian side. The following year, the
NSW/ACT Rams were admitted. The Mariners and Rams both exited the competition as full-time members at the end of the 2002, returning the competition to twelve teams. The
Gold Coast Football Club recruited several under-18s players in the 2008/09 summer, and participated in the TAC Cup in 2009 (before playing in the
VFL in 2010 and the AFL from 2011). Similarly, the
Greater Western Sydney Giants fielded a TAC Cup team in 2010, two seasons prior to its introduction to the AFL in 2012. Four interstate teams — the Tassie Mariners, NSW/ACT Rams, Queensland Scorpions and the Northern Territory Thunder — each play a handful of games each year against TAC Cup teams, particularly in the lead-up to the annual
AFL Under 18 Championships; these games are counted as part of the TAC Cup premiership season, but the interstate clubs are not eligible for the premiership. Between 1995 and 2008, the finals system was in a knock-out format. This reverted to a traditional finals system in 2009 with the introduction of the Gold Coast team. In 2010, this was extended to include 12 of the 13 clubs participating that season, with the extra matches forming an extended knockout format. In 2011 the finals system was reverted to the traditional eight-team AFL finals series. Prior to the 2014 season, the
NSW/ACT Rams was reestablished as a TAC Cup team, with players from the
Sydney Swans and
Greater Western Sydney Giants young academy sides being picked for the NSW/ACT team. From 2019, the newly named NAB League introduced six new teams: the AFL Academy sides of
Gold Coast,
GWS Giants,
Sydney Swans,
Brisbane Lions; the
Northern Territory; and the returning Tassie Mariners, who were later renamed the
Tasmania Devils. Additionally, teams were able to include more 19-year-olds – previously only three could be selected. The 2020 season was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2021 the competition fully transitioned from under-18s to under-19s – although the draft age to senior football remained at 18. Since 2023 the league has been primarily by under-18 players, with a selection of under-19 players also listed. == Age eligibility ==