THE first match of the AFL National Under 18 Championships gets underway on Saturday, with an all-Victorian battle at the MCG. The game will be a curtain-raiser to the Collingwood-Fremantle match, with the first bounce from 10.35am.

Sandringham Dragons and Gippsland Power dominated the Vic Metro and Vic Country squads, and it looks to be the case on Saturday with at least nine Dragons and Power players to take the field. Such is their dominance, the Dragons fill the entire half-back line with Louis Butler, Fischer McAsey and Josh Worrell, while the Power contain the entire full-forward line with Riley Baldi, Josh Smith and Fraser Phillips. But the two sides aren’t the only ones in that boat, with the onball brigade of Metro no doubt familiar with each other – Oakleigh’s Nick Bryan, Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson all named in there. Gippsland has three that will play onball as well, with ruck Charlie Comben, and midfielders Sam Flanders and Caleb Serong also inside.

Metro has opted with a medium size defence outside of McAsey, with Brodie Newman and Ryan Sturgess opted to take forwards in what is a smaller attack line-up for Country. For the visitors, the surprise is Brodie Kemp named in the back pocket, with his versatility a clear strength, but was expected to be played through the middle. He could well end up there, but given the height of the Metro attack, his 192cm frame will come in handy against a smaller, yet highly talented Country defence. Both sides have named extended benches to be cut to 23 players, with two omissions from each side. Jack Bell and Mitch Mellis have both been named for their respective NAB League Boys sides, as have Oliver Henry and Lachlan Williams for Country.

Metro heads into this game as favourites, boasting an incredibly strong midfield with potential top two picks, Rowell and Anderson, while Daniel Mott will benefit from the pair getting the ball out. The best head-to-head battles will be found up the Metro forward-Country defence end, with the likes of Lachlan Ash and Hayden Young going to Darcy Cassar and Dylan Williams. Sam De Koning will have a big job on Charlie Dean, while up the other end, one would expect Fischer McAsey be the man to take on Josh Smith in terms of size. With all the damaging forwards in the Country forward 50, Ned Cahill, Elijah Hollands, Cody Weightman and Fraser Phillips will cause headaches for the opposition, with Josh Worrell, Louis Butler, Brodie Newman and Ryan Sturgess likely to take those match-ups to allow Trent Bianco to use his damaging skills out of the back 50. Overall, it will be a case of whether Country can do enough to nullify the midfield, as its defence is good enough to play a rebounding style to set-up and try and get it down to the classy forwards. For Metro, they have the talls, so putting it in to their advantage will make it difficult for the undersized, but clever Country defenders.

VIC METRO vs. VIC COUNTRY
MCG – Saturday June 1, 10.35am

Vic Metro:

B: 5. Trent Bianco – 38. Brodie Newman – 26. Ryan Sturgess
HB: 15. Louis Butler – 29. Fischer McAsey – 31. Josh Worrell
C: 22. Miles Bergman – 13. Daniel Mott – 21. Hugo Ralphsmith
HF: 16. Darcy Cassar – 30. Harrison Jones – 23. Dylan Williams
F: 19. Josh Honey – 34. Charlie Dean – 1. Jack Mahony
R: 40. Nick Bryan – 24. Noah Anderson – 11. Matt Rowell
INT: 39. Jack Bell* – 8. Adam Carafa – 37. Adam Courtney – 20. Connor Downie – 25. Finn Maginness – 2. Mitch Mellis* – 18. Lachlan Potter

Vic Country:

B: 26. Jesse Clark – 36. Sam De Koning – 16. Brodie Kemp
HB: 12. Lachlan Ash – 24. Brock Smith – 17. Hayden Young
C: 18 Brady Rowles – 2. Caleb Serong – 15. Ryan Sparkes
HF: 1. Ned Cahill – 20. Elijah Hollands – 3. Cody Weightman
F: 6. Riley Baldi – 39. Josh Smith – 19. Fraser Phillips
R: 40. Charlie Comben – 4. Sam Flanders – 8. Thomson Dow
INT: 27. Oliver Henry* – 7. Mitch Martin – 34. Bigoa Nyuon – 10. Harrison Pepper – 13. Jay Rantall – 32. Ben Worme – 29. Lachlan Williams*