SCULLY'S ON FIRST

Our own Whispering Jack has kept his eyes on the draft prospects at the Under 18 national Championships and discusses the players and some of the issues arising from them:

SCULLY'S ON FIRST by Whispering Jack

The future of AFL football has held the stage for several weeks over the course of the national Under 18 championships. Last Wednesday the competition came to an anti-climactic end with Western Australia taking the honours in Division One and New South Wales in Division Two. At week's end, the focus turned to the Under 16's which opened in Sydney amid a barrage of publicity on the topic of the introduction in 2012 of the AFL's 18th club to be centred on West Sydney. That club will apparently receive a similar recruiting package to that given to the Gold Coast team which comes into the competition in 2011. These packages are expected to dominate recruiting over the next few years and seem destined to cause much grief to any AFL club that finds itself bottoming out and in need of replenishment of players during this period.

I have already commented that the football public still does not understand the far-reaching and comprehensive nature of the concessions given to the new clubs. Apart from salary cap benefits and the ability to take one uncontracted player from each club, the rules will give them two grabs at the best 17 year olds in the country.

Firstly, at the end of this year, Gold Coast has the unfettered right to recruit twelve 17 year olds born between 1 January and 30 April and secondly, the lion's share of current 17 year olds left in the pool will be available to them with a large number of first round picks in the 2010 national draft. The following year will see West Sydney taking the current best 16 year olds out of the equation. The old clubs will be able to trade into early selections with the new clubs but, to do that, they will need to give away players of value making it a virtual monopoly for the new and a zero sum game for the old.

The under 18 championships merely underlined the potential of the crop of 17 year olds who seem destined for the Gold Coast but more of that later. The bulk of my observations come from the final day's matches. All four were shown on Foxtel and I managed to see the two Division One games. I though their standard was well below last year's finale involving Victoria Metro and Western Australia but there is still a lot of talent out there.

The first two players drafted in 2008 were talls - Jack Watts and Nick Naitanui who went to Melbourne and West Coast respectively. This year, there does not appear to be a tall player on the horizon who showed out enough at the championships to warrant a place among my top five selections.

The stand out players are all medium sized on ballers, midfielders and flankers led by brilliant left footer Victoria Metro skipper Tom Scully who achieved the rare feat of All Australian honours in consecutive seasons. His professionalism and dedication to hard work sets him apart from the rest of the field. Lock him in for number one pick at season's end.

South Australia's captain Jack Trengove, also a midfielder who has great work ethic, is more inside, has a great engine and delivers the football with precision. He is set to fight out second position with two Western Australian veterans of last year's championships in Anthony Morabito and Kane Lucas. Morabito is tallish at 190cm, dynamic and has good pace which he uses to great effect breaking the lines to set up scoring opportunities. Lucas has poise, runs hard and wins lots of contested possessions. Rounding off my top 5 is Vic Country utility/forward Gary Rohan who emerged this year through the Geelong Falcons after playing at full back with Cobden last year. He has blistering pace and carries with him the X factor. He works hard when he doesn't have the ball, is a strong mark and can take a speccie and seems to always bob up at the right place.

Among the others who challenge the above five are WA's Mitchell Duncan and Vic Country pair Ben Cunnington and Dustin Martin.

Missing from my top 5 is Country's John Butcher who simply didn't step up to the plate in these championships despite the expectations placed on the 197cm key forward. He also failed to make All Australian but this still doesn't rule him out of contention as a high selection at the national draft -he'll need to finish off the 2009 season well with the Gippsland Power and impress at the draft camp to get himself back in the good books.

The championships didn't produce much in the way of outstanding tall draftable talent. The ruckmen were all underwhelming and the most impressive key position prospects were too young. The best of the rest among the keys however, were Matthew Panos (SA) and Vic Metro pair Daniel Talia and Jake Carlisle.

Of course, I left out the 17 year olds like David Swallow, who tied for the Larke Medal for best player in Division One and Jack Darling, Brandon Matera, Blayne Wilson (WA) and Josh Toy (VM) because, one way or another, these players all seem to be headed for the sunny climes of Queensland's Gold Coast along with a number of others – either by invitation later this year or through one of GC17's many early draft picks next year. That Gold Coast team will be tremendous in four or five year's time!

It's difficult to estimate precisely the effect of the rules concerning the introduction of the new clubs but, based on what was on show at the Under 18's it would not be unreasonable to assess that the strength of this year's draft pool at about three quarters the normal strength while next year the figure could fall even further down to one third or a quarter. Whatever the case, the cupboard is going to be decidedly bare for clubs that bottom out in the years immediately after this season.

At this time, it's by no means cut and dried that Melbourne will gain a priority selection in the 2009 national draft. It's draw for the remainder of the season is not as unkind as that of the first half and it's not inconceivable that the Demons will win three games to get themselves off the bottom. If they fail to do so however, the priority pick will prove an excellent consolation with Scully and Trengove the early favourites five months out.

Recruiting has undergone vast changes over the years, many of them for the better. Players are now better equipped to be placed under the microscope than in the good old days when your young country bumpkin star of the future walked onto the set of World of Sport and stammered their way incomprehensibly through an interview with Ron, Jack or Lou.

They are trained for the part these days and I was mightily impressed when I heard some of the prospects interviewed on radio this week.

And they need to be trained well because the media can be cruel as we saw recently with Jack Watts whose early games have shown promise but have not been outstanding (not that you should expect that from an 18 year old 196cm schoolboy on limited training). He did enough in his games to suggest he is going to be an excellent footballer when he matures both physically and emotionally but that didn't stop the frenzy from commentators fresh from devouring Terry Wallace and Dean Laidley and looking for a new target. Last week they were full of praise for Nick Naitanui who will also be a sensation in this game. However, his game at the MCG yesterday was underwhelming. These things happen. Hopefully, he will not become the next target and the young hopefuls from the current crop can avoid this unpleasant aspect of sensationalist journalistic beat ups that has become prevalent in recent years.

This time last year, Watts and Naitanui along with Daniel Rich led the field of draft prospects among the young All Australians. The 2009 NAB AFL Under 18 All-Australian team to be officially announced on Channel 9's TAC Cup: Future Stars programme is -

2009 NAB AFL UNDER 18 ALL-AUSTRALIAN TEAM:

Backs Andrew Hooper (VC) Blayne Wilson (WA) Bradley Sheppard (WA)

Half backs Josh Toy (VM) Daniel Talia (VM) David Swallow (WA)

Centreline Anthony Morabito (WA) Dustin Martin (VC) Mitchell Duncan (WA)

Half forwards Kane Lucas (WA) Jack Darling (WA) Gary Rohan (VC)

Forwards Brandon Matera (WA) Matthew Panos (SA) Ben Cunnington (VC)

Followers James Craig (SA) Jack Trengove (SA) Tom Scully (VM)

Interchange Travis Colyer (WA) Ryan Harwood (TAS) Dylan McNeil (NSW/ACT) Luke Tapscott (SA)

Coach Andrew Lockyer (WA)

Assistant Coach Brenton Phillips (SA)

The 2009 NAB AFL Under-18 All-Australian results round by round

ROUND 1

Queensland 4.5 7.6 10.6 10.9 (69)

NSW/ACT 3.1 7.5 13.6 14.10 (94)

Goals

Queensland Fowler 3 Hutchinson 2 Manzone 2 Dixon Jamieson Thomson

NSW/ACT Emery 3 Sargeant 3 McNeil 2 Sergrave 2 Camilleri Duncan Johns Miles

Best

Queensland Harley Hutchinson Spring Thomas Thompson Jamieson

NSW/ACT Williams McNeill Sargeant Tutt Lawton Johns

Tasmania 4.5 8.6 11.11 14.13 (97)

Northern Territory 4.3 6.7 9.11 15.16 (106)

Goals

Tasmania Archer 3 Boon 2 Crichton 2 Milne 2 Russell 2 Mott Ponsonby Symmons

Northern Territory May 3 T. Taylor 3 Ahmat-Watkins 2 Ah Chee Cox Jones Lawler Smith Staunton Wilson

Best

Tasmania Russell Crichton Harwood Archer Milne Boon

Northern Territory Ah Chee M. Taylor May S. Taylor Johnson Liddle

Western Australia 5.1 8.2 14.6 19.12 (126)

South Australia 1.2 5.6 7.6 12.7 (79)

Goals

WA Matera 4 Darling 4 Duncan 2 Houghton 2 Lucas 2 Morabito 2 Collica Foster Garlett

SA Panos 3 Giddings 2 Lycett 2 Tapscott 2 Carey Silverlock Sumner

Best

WA Swallow Matera Morabito Darling Lucas Collica

SA Trengove Carey Jolly Panos Wanganeen

Vic Country 6.0 10.3 12.3 14.6 (90)

Vic Metro 3.0 6.2 9.3 11.8 (74)

Goals

Vic Country Butcher 3 Cunnington 3 Keath 2 Lehman 2 Christensen Martin Page Priest

Vic Metro Carlisle 2 Fitzpatrick 2 Hoegel 2 Moore 2 Hicks McKenzie Scott

Best

Vic Country Hooper Martin Ko. Stevens Cunnington Christensen Butcher Vardy

Vic Metro Scully Toy Gaff Shaw Hoegel Melksham

LADDER AFTER ROUND 1

West Aust 1-0 159.5%

NSW/ACT 1-0 136.2%

Vic Country 1-0 121.6%

Nth Terri 1-0 109.3%

Tasmania 0-1 91.5%

Vic Metro 0-1 82.2%

Queensland 0-1 73.4%

South Aust 0-1 62.4%

ROUND 2

Northern Territory 1.2 4.6 4.7 6.9 (45)

Western Australia 1.4 5.7 8.11 16.12 (108)

Goals

Northern Territory Gordon 2 Staunton Wilson Cox Taylor

Western Australia Houghton 4 Duncan 3 Fyfe 3 Colyer Matera Swallow Collica Hutchings Winmar

Best

NT Wray Staunton Taylor Jones Liddle Lawler

WA Duncan Hutchings Swallow Luff Cripps

NSW/ACT 2.0 5.0 5.1 8.1 (49)

Vic Metro 6.8 12.10 18.13 24.16 (160)

Goals

NSW/ACT Miles 3 Emery Sargeant Segrave Tutt Williams

Vic Metro Griffiths 5 Gaff 3 Gysberts 3 Hicks 3 Moore 3 Hoegel 2 Ezard Hartigan Jacobs Scott Scully

Best

NSW/ACT Williams Tutt Johnson Miles

Vic Metro Hoegel Toy Purcell Gaff Jacobs MacMillan Griffiths Gysberts Fitzpatrick

Queensland 1.1 4.2 7.3 8.5 (53)

South Australia 4.3 5.5 8.7 12.12 (84)

Goals

Queensland Fowler 2 Bevan Dixon Lock Magin Manzone Rees

South Australia Scott-Collings 2 Silverlock 2 Trengove 2 Craig Giddings Hannath Milera Panos Solly

Best

Queensland Thomas Ramage Magin Lock Grayson Thomson Smith

South Australia Carey Keller Potts Evans Trengove Panos Menzel Tapscott Jolly

Tasmania 3.3 6.4 9.9 10.11 (71)

Vic Country 1.3 4.6 7.7 12.13 (85)

Goals

Tasmania Russell 3 Mott Green Howe Groenewegen Taylor Archer Hardy

Vic Country Astbury Rohan Butcher 2 Priest McMillan-Pittard Lehman Mangan Martin Vardy

Best

Tasmania Russell Harwood Milne Green Rundle Hardy Davies

Vic Country Ko. Stevens Hooper Butcher Bastinac Martin Astbury

LADDER AFTER ROUND 2

West Aust 2-0 188.71%

Vic Country 2-0 120.69%

Vic Metro 1-1 168.35%

South Aust 1-1 91.06%

Nth Terri 1-1 73.66%

NSW/ACT 1-1 62.45%

Tasmania 0-2 87.96%

Queensland 0-2 68.54%

ROUND 3

Western Australia 5.2 8.3 14.5 21.6 (132)

Vic Metro 3.1 6.4 7.5 10.9 (69)

Goals

Western Australia Matera 4 Fyfe 4 Collica 3 Darling 2 Lucas 2 Luff Neates Winmar Houghton Duncan Weedon

Vic Metro Hicks 4 Gysberts 2 Hoegel 2 Carlisle Scully

Best

Western Australia Wilson Morabito Swallow Winmar Darling Donaldson

Vic Metro Scully Toy Talia Gaff Hicks

South Australia 4.1 11.1 12.5 16.9 (105)

Vic Country 1.4 3.6 4.9 7.12 (54)

Goals

South Australia Panos 4 Trengove Silverlock 3 Carey Solly 2 Wilson Tapscott

Vic Country Hooper 3 Cunnington Astbury Cowan Mackenzie

Best

South Australia Trengove Wanganeen Jolly Silverlock Panos Carey Potts Menzel

Vic Country Cunnington Astbury Hooper Rohan Peters

NSW/ACT Rams 2.3 6.6 10.7 12.10 (82)

Northern Territory Thunder 4.2 7.2 8.5 11.8 (74)

Goals

NSW/ACT Emery 4 Sargeant 2 McNeil 2 Bottin-Noonan Stevens Tutt Johnson

Northern Territory Taylor 3 Hale 2 Reid 2 Ah Chee 2 May Kelly

Best

NSW/ACT Johnson Williams Langford Young McNeil Sargeant

Northern Territory Ah Chee Taylor McAdam Wray Reid

Tasmania 6.7 8.10 14.12 16.14 (110)

Queensland 0.0 4.0 4.1 7.6 (48)

Goals

Tasmania Harwood 3 Mott 2 Russell 2 Green 2 Howe 2 Archer 2 Rundle Balcombe Milne

Queensland Daye 2 Stanlake Moss McIvor Moore Hutchinson

Best

Tasmania Harwood Milne Davies Crichton Green Archer

Queensland Rees Steven McIvor Jamieson Milani

LADDER AFTER ROUND 3

West Aust 3-0 189.64%

South Aust 2-1 115.02%

Vic Country 2-1 91.60%

NSW/ACT 2-1 74.26%

Tasmania 1-2 116.32%

Vic Metro 1-2 111.81%

Nth Terri 1-2 78.40%

Queensland 0-3 59.03%

ROUND 4

NSW/ACT 2.5 4.7 5.8 5.9 (39)

South Australia 3.0 5.3 9.9 18.11 (119)

Goals

NSW/ACT Stubbs 2 Johnston McNeil Sargeant

SA Panos 5 Silverlock 3 Tapscott 3 Craig Giddings Goldsworthy Jolly Lycett Scott-Collings Wilson

Best

NSW/ACT Tutt Duncan McNeil Stubbs

SA Tapscott Trengove Panos Jolly Silverlock Goldsworthy Carey Craig

Vic Country 2.0 4.5 8.7 13.10 (88)

Northern Territory 2.2 4.4 5.5 5.6 (36)

Goals

Vic Country Astbury 2 Hooper 2 Butcher 2 Christensen 2 McMillan-Pittard Rohan Martin Cunningham Garbowski

Northern Territory May Staunton T. Taylor Reid Ah Chee

Best

Vic Country Christensen Hooper Butcher Cunningham Astbury Bastinac

Northern Territory Gordon S. Taylor Heenan McAdam Ah Chee Baxter

Vic Metro 2.4 4.5 6.6 8.7 (55)

Queensland 1.1 3.3 4.4 7.7 (49)

Goals

Vic Metro Moore Hicks Toy Kennedy Jones Hoegel Purcell Ezard

Queensland Fowler 2 Thompson 2 McIvor Thomas Daye

Best

Vic Metro Scully Toy Hoegel Melksham Talia Jacobs

Queensland Lock Daye Harley Grayson Fowler Smith

Tasmania 1.2 1.2 2.2 3.2 (20)

Western Australia 5.3 11.6 16.8 23.10 (148)

Goals

Tasmania Howe Archer Green

Western Australia Darling 5 Matera 5 Hayward 2 Lucas 2 Cripps Duncan Swallow Elari Mason Fyfe Neates Houghton Winmar

Best

Tasmania Crichton Green Harwood Milne Gelston Barrett

Western Australia Matera Lucas Darling Duncan Swallow Sheppard

LADDER AFTER ROUND 4

West Aust 4-0 241.31%

South Aust 3-1 142.28%

Vic Country 3-1 110.84%

Vic Metro 2-2 110.84%

NSW/ACT 2-2 62.56%

Tasmania 1-3 77.00%

North Terri 1-3 69.60%

Queensland 0-4 63.85%

ROUND 5

Tasmania 0.4 0.5 3.9 6.11 (47)

NSW/ACT 3.1 6.1 10.5 13.6 (84)

Goals

Tasmania Archer Boon Green Groenewegen Mott Rundle

NSW/ACT McNeil 4 Emery 2 Stubbs 2 Duncan Hancock Langford Sargeant Tutt

Best

Tasmania Green Davies Milne Rundle Crichton Mott

NSW/ACT McNeil Young Stubbs Kirkwood Tutt Lawton Williams

Queensland 2.4 4.6 7.9 8.11 (59)

Northern Territory 3.2 6.3 8.5 9.6 (60)

Goals

Queensland Pirika 3 Hutchinson 2 Fowler Magin Milani

Northern Territory May 3 S. Taylor Ah Chee McAdam Staunton Heenan Lawler

Best

Queensland Fowler Manzone Pirika Lock Magin Holland

Northern Territory Ah Chee S. Taylor Gordon May McAdam Baxter

Vic Country 3.3 6.4 7.5 9.8 (62)

Western Australia 1.4 6.5 11.13 16.14 (110)

Goals

Vic Country Butcher 2 Martin Cunnington Ko. Stevens Bastinac Rohan Peters Vardy

Western Australia Darling 3 Colyer 2 Morabito 2 Neates 2 Matera 2 Duncan Hutchings Cripps Winmar Fyfe

Best

Vic Country Martin Cunnington Rohan Ko. Stevens Bastinac

Western Australia Colyer Swallow Lucas Morabito Darling

Vic Metro 3.2 3.3 5.7 9.7 (61)

South Australia 0.5 5.9 8.11 10.13 (73)

Goals

Vic Metro Carlisle 4 Fitzpatrick Gaff Hoegel Moore Scully

South Australia Tapscott 3 Jolly 2 Silverlock 2 Evans Panos Pitt

Best

Vic Metro Scully Jacobs Talia Carlisle Gaff Toy

South Australia Jolly Carey Tapscott Sumner Trengove Potts Silverlock

FINAL LADDER

WEST AUST 5-0 226.91%

South Aust 4-1 138.14%

Vic Country 3-2 95.71%

NSW/ACT 3-2 74.20%

Vic Metro 2-3 106.62%

North Terri 2-3 73.96%

Tasmania 1-4 73.25%

Queensland 0-5 68.98%

Division One Champions Western Australia (4th Division One title 2nd in last 3 years)

Division Two Champions NSW/ACT (6th Division 2 title 2nd in last 3 years)

Larke Medallists (Best in Division One) David Swallow (WA) and Andrew Hooper (Vic Country)

Harrison Medallist (Best in Division Two) Dylan McNeil (NSW/ACT)