After a hiatus of two years the NAB AFL National Championships are back in full flight. 

2022 NAB AFL National Championships: U16, U18 Boys fixture released

This means that for the first time since 2019, recruiters and the public in general will have the opportunity to gauge prospective draftees throughout the country at the highest level of competition. 

This thread will follow the games as much as possible in the hope of unearthing some Demon stars of the future. 

(fully aware that, as the reigning premiers and a front runner for high honours again as well as currently not holding a first round selection, we’re somewhat behind the 8 ball but … have faith!!!)

Something we used to be really interested in and desperate to find future stars for the Dees to draft.  

But now we leave it to the Kangas, Hawks, Bombers and Pies supporters to worry about.  Now it’s merely a passing interest for the Dees. We have our stars and can look to JT to weave more magic.  Hallelujah!!! 

  On 21/04/2022 at 10:02, spirit of norm smith said:

Something we used to be really interested in and desperate to find future stars for the Dees to draft.  

But now we leave it to the Kangas, Hawks, Bombers and Pies supporters to worry about.  Now it’s merely a passing interest for the Dees. We have our stars and can look to JT to weave more magic.  Hallelujah!!! 

Disagree.

We might not need a rebuild but it’s still important for us to keep improving by restocking with future players.

We have the advantage of being able to take our time with player development because of our current depth.

Still a massive interest for me. Would just about be my dream job to work in recruiting/scouting. And you never known where our picks will be after our wheelin and dealin in trade period 

The AFL National Championships are almost upon us and the two Victorian squads have been announced.

Victorian squads selected for 2022 NAB AFL National Championships - U18 Boys

Champs started today with South Australia vs. Allies.

Here’s a preview. 

Preview | AFL U18 National Championships – South Australia vs. Allies

Here’s a report on South Australia’s win.

Father-son prospect on fire in SA's win over Allies

SOUTH AUSTRALIA 4.3 7.5 12.8 14.9 (93)


ALLIES 1.2 6.3 6.5 8.8 (56)

GOALS


South Australia: Keeler 3, Lovelock 2, Magor 2, Phillipou 2, Delean, Rypstra, Lemmey, Foster, Walker


Allies: Rowston 3, Campbell 2, Walter 2, Fletcher

BEST


South Australia: Michalanney, Dowling, Foster, Magor, Rypstra, Phillipou


Allies: Cowan, Gillbee, Rowston, Fletcher, Anderson, Walter

Tom Scully mrk 2

Will Ashcroft and Harry Sheezel starred in Victoria Metro’s 16 point victory over the Allies.

Ashcroft, Sheezel sizzle in Metro's win over Allies

Allies 4.0 7.2 10.3 14.6 (90)


Vic Metro 2.4 7.6 14.9 16.10 (106)

Goals


Allies: Walter 4, Anderson 2, Lawrence 2, Brain, Campbell, Corbett, Grace, Sanders, Stevens


Vic Metro: Sheezel 4, Clarke 2, Davey 2, Hotton 2, Jefferson 2, Drury, Edmends, Petric, Watson

Metro kicks away to claim win over accurate Allies

 

Sheezel is going to be a star, there's talk of him challenging for top 3 this year.

Walter is a 17yr old 198cm Key Forward eligible for the 2023 draft. Unfortunatley he is part of Gold Coasts Academy where they will get first rights to him. Can someone remind me if they are still able to pre-list their academy players without using draft picks? Becuase that would be a massive coup for them. If not, I'm fairly certain they can match bids anywhere in the draft compared to Victorian clubs that can't match within the first 40 selections. Either way, massive win for Gold Coast.

  On 26/06/2022 at 03:02, Nascent said:

Sheezel is going to be a star, there's talk of him challenging for top 3 this year.

Walter is a 17yr old 198cm Key Forward eligible for the 2023 draft. Unfortunatley he is part of Gold Coasts Academy where they will get first rights to him. Can someone remind me if they are still able to pre-list their academy players without using draft picks? Becuase that would be a massive coup for them. If not, I'm fairly certain they can match bids anywhere in the draft compared to Victorian clubs that can't match within the first 40 selections. Either way, massive win for Gold Coast.

as of right now i believe they can but i think this year that'll change and they'll go back to having the same number of list spots as the rest of us

  On 26/06/2022 at 03:02, Nascent said:

Sheezel is going to be a star, there's talk of him challenging for top 3 this year.

Walter is a 17yr old 198cm Key Forward eligible for the 2023 draft. Unfortunatley he is part of Gold Coasts Academy where they will get first rights to him. Can someone remind me if they are still able to pre-list their academy players without using draft picks? Becuase that would be a massive coup for them. If not, I'm fairly certain they can match bids anywhere in the draft compared to Victorian clubs that can't match within the first 40 selections. Either way, massive win for Gold Coast.

i think it's perma-freebies for gc17, gw$, swans, and i think the bears for their academy selections

completely different for every other club, of course

bears getting a gift with ashcroft

  On 22/04/2022 at 06:42, Elwood 3184 said:

Disagree.

We might not need a rebuild but it’s still important for us to keep improving by restocking with future players.

We have the advantage of being able to take our time with player development because of our current depth.

I think you misunderstood his post.

I just watched the dying moments of the SA v VIc Country game and it was a real thriller with VC’s Harley Reid taking a couple of strong game-saving marks.

And yes juniormac, I understood those comments.

Edited June 26, 20222 yr by Elwood 3184

  On 26/06/2022 at 06:22, Elwood 3184 said:

I just watched the dying moments of the SA v VIc Country game and it was a real thriller with VC’s Harley Reid taking a couple of strong game-saving marks.

And yes juniormac, I understood those comments.

Very good grabs by young Reid there. Think he is in the 2023 draft class. Didn't spot our NGA prospect in Finn Emile-Brennan who was supposed to be wearing 13. I wonder if he was donning number 30 for the game today?

Vic Country holds on against wasteful South Australia

Draft gun fires in Vic Country win over SA

SOUTH AUSTRALIA 2.0 6.3 8.5 8.12 (60)


VIC COUNTRY 3.3 4.6  8.8 9.8 (62)

GOALS


South Australia: D'Aloia, Delean, Keeler, Michalanney, K.Ryan, Rypstra, Sadler, Walker


Vic Country: Cadman 2, Duursma 2, McMullin 2, Binns, Clark, Hollands

  On 26/06/2022 at 06:29, Nascent said:

Very good grabs by young Reid there. Think he is in the 2023 draft class. Didn't spot our NGA prospect in Finn Emile-Brennan who was supposed to be wearing 13. I wonder if he was donning number 30 for the game today?

Reid was terrific all game, definitely one for next year and imagine he’ll go quite high. Def didn’t see 13 on the coverage, so think you’re right on no. 30. Was a good contest, think the quality in the top 30 this year will be quite good.

Intriguing to see if Ashcroft nominates Brisbane under f/s, there’s a genuine contest for pick 1 between he, Wardlaw and Tsatas. Sheezel not too far behind based on his season so far and Philipou is jumping right up into the conversation (only flashes from him today).

  On 26/06/2022 at 03:29, whatwhat say what said:

i think it's perma-freebies for gc17, gw$, swans, and i think the bears for their academy selections

completely different for every other club, of course

bears getting a gift with ashcroft

This bugs me big time. The last two years we have had compromised drafts with JUH and Daicos. 
 

I get the romance and all, but if you want true equalisation of Comp, you have to scrap the FS.

I can just see this getting introduced the year before Viney Mk3 or Brayshaw-Frawley (granted decades away) are likely 😃

  On 26/06/2022 at 12:50, CYB said:

This bugs me big time. The last two years we have had compromised drafts with JUH and Daicos. 
 

I get the romance and all, but if you want true equalisation of Comp, you have to scrap the FS.

I can just see this getting introduced the year before Viney Mk3 or Brayshaw-Frawley (granted decades away) are likely 😃

the phrase "scrap the FS" should be permanently muted/banned on all forums, it ain't happening and it won't ever happen. just enjoy the romance and move on. No one ever praises when it works against a club. Noah Anderson went pick 2, dad played 97 games for the hawks, stiff [censored], bet they were wishing they just put him in their for 3 more before the end but thats football. the rule is 100 games and there's plenty of 'sons of' running around in the league for different sides to their fathers because of that. 

also, i think with our future 2023 first round pick, the likelihood is that we'll be looking to 'shuffle' that into 2022 so we don't 'waste' points in the - fairly strong? - likelihood that dogga brown's boy goes in the first round

similarly, i don't see us wanting future 1st round picks in exchange for dogga jackson or gus brayshaw - any we acquire for 2023 will likely be swallowed by a bid for brown

How are the high end tall forward stocks in this upcoming draft?
We may wind up with a high pick from Jackson leaving, and an elite tall forward is our number 1 need. BBrown and TMac are both nearing retirement, Weid hasn’t come on and JVR is young but promising. Need to add depth to this area of our list.

Would also be keen to hear about the tall forward potentials to look out for. 

  On 29/06/2022 at 00:36, layzie said:

Would also be keen to hear about the tall forward potentials to look out for. 

I started a thread on Aaron Cadman as a Key Forward prospect to keep an eye on.

Other key forwards to look out for are South Australian trio Isaac Keeler, Harry Lemmey and Tom Scully.

 

  On 29/06/2022 at 02:58, Nascent said:

I started a thread on Aaron Cadman as a Key Forward prospect to keep an eye on.

Other key forwards to look out for are South Australian trio Isaac Keeler, Harry Lemmey and Tom Scully.

 

Literally just opened that thread now Nascent, good stuff!

  On 29/06/2022 at 00:15, Lord Travis said:

How are the high end tall forward stocks in this upcoming draft?
We may wind up with a high pick from Jackson leaving, and an elite tall forward is our number 1 need. BBrown and TMac are both nearing retirement, Weid hasn’t come on and JVR is young but promising. Need to add depth to this area of our list.

Think we'll get a better idea of the Key Forwards at the end of the champs. Aaron Cadman has entered round 1 calculations recently while highly discussed players Harry Lemmey hasn't been in great form it seems and Tom Scully at the moment seems to be playing school footy instead of state league games. Scully kicked 37 goals in 7 games at U18 level but at 201cm, there has been doubt about how he would match up to quality defenders that aren't giving so much height away. Keeler probably rising as SAs best key forward prospect at this stage.

https://central.rookieme.com/afl/2022/06/28/scouting-notes-2022-afl-u18s-south-australia-vs-vic-country/

#38 Isaac Keeler (North Adelaide)
23/04/2004 | 198cm | 88kg | Key Forward

North Adelaide star, Keeler produced another strong performance to solidify his first round hopes. Stationed primarily up forward with Foster and Barnett handling the bulk of the ruck duties, Keeler looked threatening in the air from the get-go. Although he will always have a relaxed style, he looked to play with real intensity against Vic Country – an area of his game which has been critiqued at times with North Adelaide. Clearly enjoying the bigger occasion, Keeler’s second term was vital in SA entering the main change with a slight advantage. He finished with one goal, but should have had as many as three or four if he had converted some gettable set shots.

#25 Aaron Cadman (GWV Rebels)
3/03/2004 | 194cm | 88kg | Key Forward

Arguably now the form key forward of this year’s draft crop, Cadman made good of the limited opportunities which came his way. Country was incredibly wasteful going inside 50, but the Greater Western Victoria forward still managed to snare a pair of goals. His high level forward craft was evident, with clean marks on the lead and strong work one-on-one, contributing all of his three scoring shots in the opening half for 2.1.

 

Edited June 29, 20222 yr by Nascent

Rueban Ginbey from East Perth is one I understand we have an interest in.

WAFL Stats say 189cm but reckon he’s now around the 192-4cm. Very versatile utility who can play across the backline and through the middle.