U18 Champs Victoria Metro vs South Australia, GMHBA Stadium, Sunday July 17 @ 10:30 am

[roos_fanatic08]

My bests:

VM: Ashcroft, Hotton, McKenzie, Drury & Weddle. Caddy & Watson around the mark too.

SA: Dowling, K.Ryan, D’Aloia, J.Ryan & Patton.

 

[Titch3Votes0MooreAA]

Olli Hotton is certainly one to watch out for as a bolter. He had a tremendous game today and was most impressive for me.

 

[Davo-27]

I seem to recall some sort of statement made earlier this year by a well renowned draft watcher, think it was something like "2022 is SA's strongest draft crop and Victoria's weakest"?

Werent you also saying SA were favourites to win the champs?

 

[dkalphy]

Phillipou how did he go?

 

[PMBangers]

Werent you also saying SA were favourites to win the champs?

Think I said I expected it to between Metro and SA, so at least 50% of that is correct

 

[Chris25]

Phillipou how did he go?

Good early. But not 100%, so went forward on a bad day to be an SA forward.

 

[Chris25]

Think I said I expected it to between Metro and SA, so at least 50% of that is correct

It could still potentially be a stronger than normal SA draft crop, just on a poorly balanced team. My concern was always on run and carry, speed and just any sort of point of difference. A lot of the draft relevant mids are all similar and fighting for the same positions.

Whereas the best Metro (and Country) players compliment each other well.

 

[PMBangers]

It could still potentially be a stronger than normal SA draft crop, just on a poorly balanced team. My concern was always on run and carry, speed and just any sort of point of difference. A lot of the draft relevant mids are all similar and fighting for the same positions.

Whereas the best Metro (and Country) players compliment each other well.

SA have ventured into the Metro selection criteria it feels, Pick a best 22 rather than a functional one. Gotta say though the SA mids I had higher on my board probably get overtaken by their second string at this rate, Walker and Sadler have been really impressive

 

[eDPS]

This has aged well

 

[Chris25]

SA have ventured into the Metro selection criteria it feels, Pick a best 22 rather than a functional one. Gotta say though the SA mids I had higher on my board probably get overtaken by their second string at this rate, Walker and Sadler have been really impressive

Shame Rypstra and Delean were both outs, two of the few with outside ability and a bit of X factor. About the only other real option is giving Keeler a go up the ground.

I do agree on Sadler. Climbing my board, ahead of Dowling and D’Aloia and quickly catching the Ryan’s. The last couple of games has highlighted that he does have more than one just facet to his game.

Walker, Lovelock plus Barkla as a late or rookie pick have improved their stocks for me too.

 

[Davo-27]

This has aged well
View attachment 1448984

With it likely being an all vic final and them playing a 2-1 series last yr i think it was a bad call, the 2 vic teams looked better than the wa v sa series last yr.

Going early on wa and vc game, but the final could be a coin toss.

 

[Mutineer]

Shame Rypstra and Delean were both outs, two of the few with outside ability and a bit of X factor. About the only other real option is giving Keeler a go up the ground.

I do agree on Sadler. Climbing my board, ahead of Dowling and D’Aloia and quickly catching the Ryan’s. The last couple of games has highlighted that he does have more than one just facet to his game.

Walker, Lovelock plus Barkla as a late or rookie pick have improved their stocks for me too.

Rypstra did an ACL too didn't he?

 

[eDPS]

With it likely being an all vic final and them playing a 2-1 series last yr i think it was a bad call, the 2 vic teams looked better than the wa v sa series last yr.

Going early on wa and vc game, but the final could be a coin toss.

VIC teams also missing some key players, Metro especially

 

[Thunderstruck]

Best ever crop? my god. Wouldn't even be in my top 10 in years I've been watching and that was well known for 2 years. Having said that, today looked like and extremely underwhelming effort. They are better than that but will have to watch the replay.

 

[roos_fanatic08]

Watched both championship games today. Both were played down at GMHBA stadium in pretty average conditions. Showers and wet under foot made for tough conditions particularly for the key position players. I won’t bother writing up some of next years draft crop. I’ll just focus on players who are eligible this year.

Some player highlights below:

Vic Metro Vs SA

Metro

Will Ashcroft - best afield and easily the cleanest player on the ground, positioning and link up play was nothing short of elite. A lot of power running to stay involved in multiple posession chains. Clean by hand and foot, which was super impressive considering the conditions. Solidified himself as the number 1 pick imo.

Blake Drury - love this kid. Tough, hard, quick and does all the team things. Kicked a couple of goals and played a hand in at least half a dozen more. Long kicking inside 50 was a real standout. Plays that half forward lead up/extra midfielder role really well. With his red hair and competitiveness he actually reminds me of a more explosive Leigh Adams.

Olli Hotton - Hadn’t seen much of this kid but he played a blinder. Kicked a few goals and was clean around the ground. Ended up with the 2nd most posessions and was really damaging with hit up passes. His contested marking was also super impressive for a guy his size.

Cam McKenzie - quiet in the first half back worked into the game. Had an influence with his clearances and zip out of the midfield.

Lewis Hayes - played a really neat game across centre half back. Good in the air and provided a bit of rebound. Rarely seems to play a bad game.

Josh Weddle - gave Harry Lemmy a bath in the first quarter despite giving away 6kg and 8cm. Then locked down on Phillipou in the 2nd half and negated his influence. Does all the team things and has elite closing speed. Always seems to keep his feet in the contest too. Shame he isn’t a 3-4cm taller as he’d be a sure thing as a key defender.

Matt Jefferson - got on the end of a few and ended up kicking 3 goals. Worked hard but tough conditions made it hard for him to clunk his marks.

SA

Billy Dowling - best on for the crow eaters. Worked hard around the ground and provided an outlet many times when they were coming out of defence. Kicking was neat, and his hands in close were impressive. Seems to cover the ground well. Provided a tonne of defensive pressure too.

Adam D’Aloia - not his best game but still found plenty of the footy. Lacked a bit of polish by foot, but was still industrious around the contest. Can’t fault his defensive effort.

Mattaes Phillipou - started really well with a goal and set up another. Commentators said he had a lower back niggle so he was sent forward, kicked a set shot out on the full and ultimately didn’t have much impact.

Harry Barnett - didn’t get a heap of the footy but I thought his ruck craft was seriously impressive. Was palming the ball down to his midfielders at will but they couldn’t capitalise on his ruck dominance.

Kobe Ryan - found the footy 20 odd times and his foot skills stood out. Got caught out a few times on Ashcroft and was left chasing tail. Has to improve his defensive positioning around the stoppages imo.

Jakob Ryan - Provided some rebound out of half back, but got beaten one on one more than a few times. At times when he was under pressure he lacked a bit of composure which is usually one of his standout attributes.

Harry Lemmy - not a day for talls but had no influence whatsoever. Think he ended up with a few hitouts and less than 5 disposals. Ended up playing key defence in the 2nd half.

Isaac Keeler - had a couple of really neat lead up marks up the ground. Didn’t have a heap of influence but worked really hard to try stay involved.

Couple of write ups from me, if anyone is interested

 

[pushintheback]

Vic Metro stats of todays game.

 

[Jeffcrowe]

It could still potentially be a stronger than normal SA draft crop, just on a poorly balanced team. My concern was always on run and carry, speed and just any sort of point of difference. A lot of the draft relevant mids are all similar and fighting for the same positions.

Whereas the best Metro (and Country) players compliment each other well.

reputations bigger than output , also another example of not getting too excited re SA U18s sanfl form

I Like Phillipou … outside of him nothing special

The talls are all overrated and that’s not just because of today

 

[pushintheback]

View attachment 1449230

Vic Metro stats of todays game.

Ashcroft, Edmonds and Hotton the top 3 for me. VM 3 bottom agers Watson, Philactides & Caddy great as well. I really liked Hayes contested marks. Winners all over the ground for VM today.

 

[dkalphy]

Shezeel no good?

 

[pushintheback]

Shezeel no good?

I wouldn’t say no good. Just not as good as what we’ve gotten use to. He’s still a jet.

 

[Mutineer]

Best ever crop? my god. Wouldn't even be in my top 10 in years I've been watching and that was well known for 2 years. Having said that, today looked like and extremely underwhelming effort. They are better than that but will have to watch the replay.

Too tall for the conditions didn't help.

 

[PocketRocket08]

I seem to recall some sort of statement made earlier this year by a well renowned draft watcher, think it was something like "2022 is SA's strongest draft crop and Victoria's weakest"?

Yes I clearly remember hearing from several recruiters also. Even Derek Hine on one of the draft podcast raving about SA footy. This vic metro side is actually very very good and missing 2/3 top liners. Even with out much footy in the previous two seasons these boys have been exceptional. Players like Hotton Clarke Mackenzie Weddle have put themselves into first round calculations. Drury Edmonds Hayes Sheezel also a very strong chance. For me Ashcroft clear standout for pick 1 which I have thought all along. He will impact the afl next year much similar to Nick Daicos.
The final game should be a ripper between the two vic sides. Hopefully it’s at Marvel Friday 1pm. With plenty of promotion of this game part of the AFL GF festivities.

 

[eDPS]

My bests

VM
Ashcroft, Hotton, Hayes, Edmends, Mackenzie, Drury, Weddle

SA
D’Aloia, Dowling, J.Ryan, K.Ryan, Pedler, Phillipou

 

[ChasingFlags25]

Olli Hotton is certainly one to watch out for as a bolter. He had a tremendous game today and was most impressive for me.

I liked Hotton in the WA game too, what is his draft range??

 

[danster168]

as a club that is looking for a ruck or key forward, Lemmey was hella disappointing. Seems to lack aggression and overall spark for the contest. For Rucks, I thought O'Keefe was quite good. *better than what I've seen from Broadbent too.