EASTERN Ranges midfielder Jordan Knapp is primed for a big season according to his teammates. A total of 41 top-age (2026 draft eligible) prospects from the Vic Country and Metro summer squads were surveyed at Saturday’s Talent League preseason testing event, asked for a teammate to watch for 2026.

>> ONES TO WATCH: South Australia | Western Australia

Fellow premiership players Harrison Chapman, Archie Spencer, and Sam Devers all put his name forward. Knapp, a skilful and poised accumulator, played 11 games last year and earned a late call-up to the National Futures match. He’s part of the Vic Metro program, following through on his Under 16 year.

While his teammates put him down as an obvious choice, Knapp highlighted forward Max Bartlett as a “serious talent”. High-flyer William Waller was another wildcard put forward by Spencer as a “tough as nails” defender, while Sam Devers is high on Zac Antonellos after a three-goal Grand Final showing.

Along with Eastern, 2025 minor premier Gippsland boasts a stacked list once again. Three Power players – Marlon Neocleous, Clancy Snell, and Cody Templeton – were all named twice. Templeton singled out Snell for “[lighting] the preseason up”. Snell has family ties to the Duursmas and former Opal, Belinda.

Dandenong hard nut Gus Kennedy labelled Stingrays stars Darcy Szerszyn and Marcus Prasad as “hard to play on” at either end of the ground. Prasad’s second reference came from Murray Bushrangers prospect Tanner Armstrong, who also put forward Rhys Osborne from outside the Vic Country setup.

Others in a similar boat to Osborne include luckless Sandringham Dragons forward Jack Surkitt and Northern Knights “workhorse” Harvie Cooke. Knights defender Tate Hodgson lauded Cooke for being the “first there [and] last to leave”, on top of doing all the extras throughout preseason.

Surkitt, whose injury setbacks were acknowledged by Arki Butler and Tyson Bradley, having missed out on last year’s Talent League Grand Final. Nonetheless, he was backed to remind onlookers of his talent. Bradley is a fan of how hard he goes at the footy, despite measuring up on the smaller end of the scale.

Other standout descriptions included Billy Wigmore, who quipped “good luck getting past him this year” when pumping up Zach Dalli. The “all-round athleticism” of Andrio Sousa was lauded by Szerszyn, while Blake Justice is confident that Nathaniel Jenkins will “kick a lot of goals” for Calder.

The fabled “training the house down” call was reserved for Noah Williams, who praised Geelong Falcons teammate Joel Bartley. There was excitement for midfield “bull” Charlie Hanegraaf. The man himself was in awe of Charlie Gray‘s “next level” attack on the footy.