Steele is guaranteed to be on an AFL list next season, but the Greater Western Sydney academy member said it won't seem real until he knows which club he'll join.

Six AFL clubs visited the 18-year-old at his Nicholls house during the year – Richmond, Fremantle, North Melbourne, Western Bulldogs, Adelaide and Port Adelaide – while Brisbane  and Sydney  came to Canberra  to watch him play.

Most of the other 10 clubs have also shown an interest in the under-18 All-Australian who was named NSW-ACT Rams most valuable player at this year's junior national championships.

But he could have chosen a different path, having played in the same basketball side as emerging tennis star Nick Kyrgios.

Steele played soccer and basketball from a young age, but the former Burgmann Anglican student started playing Australian football when he was eight.

When he was 12 he was forced to choose  between  interstate footy and basketball tournaments and his road to the AFL began.

Giants coach Leon Cameron told Steele on Thursday they were nominating him for the academy bidding process, held on Monday at 10am, which means the 17 other clubs can nominate what draft pick they want to use on him with GWS able to match the highest bid.

If none of the other clubs want him, then the Giants get him with one of their last picks in the November draft.

He will be the first Canberran drafted since the Western Bulldogs took Jason Tutt in 2009.

Steele doesn't mind where he goes, although joining Collingwood – the team he's barracked for since he was six – and being coached by his childhood hero Nathan Buckley would be a dream come true.

"Once I've been listed to a certain club then I s'pose it will be real for me, because I know where I'm moving and I know who I'll be playing for for the next  two years," Steele said on Sunday.

"I think it will hit home when it gets announced tomorrow.

"I feel relieved, but there still is a bit of pressure there for me. Once it does get announced I'm sure there'll be a lot of pressure relieved."

He comes from a grounded, sporting family and that's translated into him becoming a relaxed, but confident, young man.

His mum, Jo, joked Steele was a bit of a boring kid – never in trouble,  good at school and loving all sports.

Both Jo and Steele's sister, Sophie, played basketball as well.

While Jo didn't mind where her son ended up, she thought it would be a great success story for the Giants academy if GWS was to get him.

Jo said growing up, Steele always had  a ball in his hand and there were red cherries on the walls to prove it.

He was forced to watch his mates play last year after a dislocated knee cap ruined his chances of getting drafted.

"I was just really excited for him, you've worked really hard and made you dream come true," Jo said.

"After last year and the disappointment with his knee, he took a minute to feel sorry for himself and then after that he was very focused and very committed.

"He deferred uni this year to concentrate on his footy to give himself the best shot."

His dad, Stuart, travelled down to the MCG for the AFL grand final, where Steele starred in the curtain raiser that started a big week for the 18-year-old.

He tested brilliantly at the draft combine before the Giants told him they were nominating him for the academy bidding.

Stuart sat with the dad of Belconnen key defender Logan Austin, a good mate of Steele.

"We're not that worried about where he goes really, we're just glad he's going to get on a list somewhere and glad he's going to get a crack at it," Stuart said.

"If he goes to the Giants he's closer to home ... it just depends on where they rank him in the scheme of things.

"He's been a bit of an unknown until the national championships."

Canberra's Austin, Liam Griffiths and Tom Faul are all a chance of getting drafted next month and as Giants academy players can be pre-selected as rookies if they're not picked up.

The Adelaide Crows are believed to be interested in Austin.