One-time Port Adelaide utility Stuart Cochrane has requested the AFL permits his three sons to be allowed to join the Power's academy program under unprecedented circumstances.

Cochrane played 104 matches in an AFL career from 1998 lasting until 2005, but he made 54 appearances for Port Adelaide among his final three seasons.

That came after relocating back to Adelaide following five initial seasons at North Melbourne to account for the rest of his matches.

The split in games across both clubs ensures neither Tom, Doug, nor James Cochrane could be eligible to be selected by either club under the father/son ruling.

But a recent discovery in the family tree of his apparent Aboriginal lineage that still has to be verified has Cochrane believing his sons could join Port Adelaide under the AFL Indigenous criteria of the club's Next Generation academy.

For the time being, the 46-year-old father is still inspecting to confirm his ancestral heritage.

The AFL confirmed Cochrane urgently wrote to AFL football boss Laura Kane recently ahead of this year's recruiting process.

The rush came about as oldest son Tom could possibly be eligible for the draft in November for Port Adelaide to secure the exclusive rights and claim the club's ex-development coach's eldest in the AFL's bidding system.

The 18-year-old is viewed as in contention in the AFL draft, but not an extremely high pick in the first couple of rounds.

Tom, who is "an athletic tall who can play just about anywhere on the field and he has terrific skills" is one of 14 South Australians already invited its AFL's state combine.

Doug, who be in contention for the 2026 AFL draft, has been viewed however as a potential No.1 pick down the track and invaluable for the Power's future should Cochrane be able to prove that the family has First Nations' roots.

The outstanding prospect won the best player medal in the national championships for the under-16s this year.

Their father, in a letter that has been revealed by Nine media, told the AFL he was "exploring (his Indigenous heritage)" for his sons' eligibility.

He told the AFL that recent information has come to light of their Indigenous family heritage from his maternal side and originated somewhere around the Riverina region, indicating that his bloodline may well be Wiradjuri.

The teenage brothers are currently all involved with Central District, the same club that both Stuart and his own father, Richard, ran out for in the SANFL.

Central District has had an alliance with Port in the past, with some of the Power's reserves players joining the Bulldogs until both Port's AFL and SANFL clubs came together under one banner in recent years.

In a further twist to Cochrane's appeal, he would need the AFL to go through and make a change to the zoning around encompassing the metropolitan areas of Adelaide for the Next Generation academy.

The AFL had already been reviewing the zones before Cochrane's request.