The AFL has partnered with tertiary education provider Deakin University in an effort to better understand how to support young athletes that play the code.

Surveyed research is set to be conducted by Deakin's Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development, with answers being sought by footballers aged between 16 and 25-years-of-age.

As stated by the institute, participating footballers of any skillset will be asked to complete a series of questions online across a three-year period.

Said survey will take approximately 20-30 minutes per sitting and will be required to be undertaken once every three months during the window.

Participants can expect to be queried on subjects such as mental health, relationships, profession, as well as drug and alcohol intake.

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Given the broad spectrum of questions, Doctors George Youssef, Kate Hall, Lisa Olive and Simon Rice, plus PhD researcher Liam Graeme are seeking to find conclusive manners to "maximise the wellbeing and healthy development of young people at all levels of Australian Rules Football participation, and sport participation generally."

While aged outside of the bracket for data collection, Collingwood ruckman Brodie Grundy took to Twitter on Thursday night in an effort to spread the importance of the project.

The importance of probing into this sphere was tragically highlighted earlier this week following the untimely death of former Docker and Demon, Harley Balic.ย 

In the wake of the 25-year-old's passing, ex-Bulldog Jamason Daniels spoke openly about the "dark days" he had lived through since departing the Kennel at the cessation of the 2010 season.

RELATED: โ€œThere have been some really dark daysโ€ Former Bulldog opens up on post-AFL life following passing of Harley Balic

Should you wish to aid the Melbourne-based research team by completing their survey, you can by clicking the link here.

Should you wish to find out more about the project, you can do so by clicking through to the team's website.