North Melbourne young gun Harry Sheezel has been recognised for his stellar first season with selection in the AFL Players’ Association 22under22 team.

The 22under22 team is a fan-voted concept that recognises the best 22 players aged 22 and under for the entirety of the season. For a player to be eligible for selection in the team they must have played a minimum of 12 games throughout the 2023 season.

Sheezel was selected in the 44-man squad earlier this month, before fans had their say on the best young talent in the competition to narrow it down the final 22.

Named at half-back, the 18-year-old was the third most selected player in fans’ teams (86 per cent of teams), behind Collingwood’s Nick Daicos (95 per cent) and the Western Bulldogs’ Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (88 per cent).

The third pick in the 2022 AFL Draft, Sheezel has been a welcome addition to North Melbourne’s line up in 2023 with an average of 27 disposals, 5.5 marks and 440 metres gained per game.

His selection in the 22under22 team comes just days after he broke the all-time record for most disposals in a debut V/AFL home and away season, notching up 593 disposals across his first 22 AFL games.

The previous record-holder was Scott Russell who had 574 disposals in his first year playing for Collingwood in 1990.

Sheezel is also right in the mix to claim this year’s AFL Rising Star Award, after being nominated in Round 1. If he wins, he will be the first North Melbourne player to take out the award since Byron Pickett in 1998.