Powell has been working with Matt Beckenham, the coach of Australia's fastest man and woman, to complete a series of drills a the AIS in the hope of "taking me to the next level".

The Ainslie midfielder has been invited to the draft combine in Melbourne from October 3-6 as 83 players fight for a chance to earn a professional deal.

That's why Powell is searching for every advantage possible, and he hopes Beckenham can help him shave milliseconds off his 20-metre sprint time to give him an early jump.

"I only need that extra 0.1 or 0.2 seconds to get a personal best score," Powell said.

"I feel like there's a lot more improvement here and those small margins can be a massive difference.

"Over the past few years I've been doing 3.09 seconds or 3.1 seconds for the 20-metre sprint and I really want to get under that three-second mark.

"So Matty has been really great for me ... we're a week and a bit away from the combine. Everyone is chasing the same thing, so you need to work hard to get the best out of yourself."

Beckenham, a former Olympic Games hurdler, has built an impressive career as a coach and is working with 100-metre stars Melissa Breen and Josh Clarke as well as hurdler Lauren Wells.

"They just wanted to do some speed and agility stuff with Jack to help him get through the combine," Beckenham said.

Coach Matt Beckenham, middle, is working with Jack Powell to boost his AFL chances. Photo: Graham Tidy

"I was more than happy to help out. We've done four sessions so far and we'll do some more over the next couple of weeks.

"He's a talented boy and very good at listening. He was a bit flat-footed and sat a bit when he ran, so we've just been making some small changes to try to increase his speed in the first three or four steps.

"Your ability to get away from the pack and attack a ball ... speed is everything. You can't beat speed."

Powell has been a part of the AFL Academy and the GWS Giants Academy, as well as playing for the Australian under-17s team against New Zealand last year.

He is hoping to get as much as possible out of Beckenham's tutelage before facing recruiters for 18 AFL clubs and the pressure of trying to perform in a series of combine drills.

"I know I'm not the quickest bloke going around," Powell said.

"So I'm working on my speed and if I can just add that extra pace to my game then I feel like I can end up going to a whole new level."