Youngsters show class that will win them AFL spots
Emma Quayle | July 6, 2008
A LITTLE over a year ago, the 2007 under-18 championships wound up at Casey Fields. Matthew Kreuzer, Trent Cotchin and Callan Ward played against a Vic Country side featuring Ben McEvoy and Lachie Henderson, while Western Australia clinched its first title in eight years by beating a South Australian team captained by Brad Ebert.
More than half of last year's first 20 draftees had debuted in the AFL by the mid-season and the class of 07 has few rivals, at least as far as instant impact goes.
But time moves along, there are more players on the way and as this year's championships come to a close it's already easy to fill the top part of the draft out with some very promising names.
This could turn out a tall draft, at the very top. If Nick Naitanui is not gobbled up in the top two picks then he won't be far behind. The same goes for Jack Watts, who without having an enormous day for Vic Metro in its 51-point win over NSW/ACT yesterday, still managed to kick two goals and get the ball 12 times.
Jackson Trengove didn't play for Metro, and won't play for a while having injured his knee, but is an athletic, aggressive potential key defender, who could also finish up in the ruck.
At the start of the season, Michael Hurley was considered a possible top-three pick and he was excellent for Metro at full-back yesterday.
He will be an interesting one in the next couple of months: he's a natural defender and, more than that, a natural full-back. He reads the game well and can control the space around him really well. And he has a bit of a mean streak.
He could be up for grabs in the latter part of the top 10 now.
Ayce Cordy is pushing 200 centimetres, and would be a top-10 pick if the Bulldogs were not poised to draft him as a father-son selection.
The much younger brother of Corey McKernan, Shaun, was rested yesterday but is starting to shape as a possible first-round pick. So too is Tyrone Vickery, another ruckman.
WA's Daniel Rich hasn't had a brilliant carnival, and got some attention again yesterday, but is still the pick of the midfielders. He worked his way into yesterday's game — a 60-point win over Tasmania — and at his best can run, deliver and dig the ball out of tight spots.
The pick of the Vic Country crop, at this stage, looks like Jack Ziebell, who can play anywhere and impressed with a couple of gutsy marks and a few charges through the midfield yesterday, Country's best player in its 34-point upset loss to South Australia.
Hamish Hartlett played his best game for SA — he's a smooth, skilful midfielder/forward, who just needs to make sure he gets enough of the ball — while Rich's WA teammate, Chris Yarran, a sharp, classy goalkicker, also looms as a top-10 pick.
The championships will finish at Telstra Dome on Wednesday, with Metro to play WA for the title at 2.30pm, following the final games between South Australia and NSW/ACT (10.05am) and Tasmania v Vic Country (12.15pm). The games will be shown live on Fox Sports.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/youngsters-show-class-chasing-afl-spots/2008/07/05/1214951115540.html
