AFL Draft Central South Australian correspondent David Chapman cast his eyes over the top young prospects coming up through the SANFL, Reserves, Under 18s and local school football competitions. On the weekend, round 15 of the SANFL took place with the return of school football. We look at the top performances from the weekend:

League:

Sturt’s Mitch Crowden returned to league level with 11 disposals, including six tackles. For West Adelaide, under-ager Izak Rankine kicked two goals and picked up 13 disposals. Crows’ father/son prospect Jackson Edwards had 17 disposals including eight marks and five tackles for Glenelg in their win over the Crows at Bordertown.

Reserves:

With only two matches this week Sturt got over West Adelaide by 41 points. Jordan Houlahan kicked a goal with his nine disposals and Adam Trenorden had 11 disposals including seven tackles. For West, Jakob Heitmann did not have the impact he would have liked.

The Eagles held off Norwood by nine points with underage key forward Jack Lukosius best on ground with four goals in his 16 disposals (12 of which were contested). Jake Weideman was also amongst the best with 26 disposals and six tackles, as was tall rebounding defender Tom Schmusch with 16 disposals. Also having an impact were Cooper Gaffney (18 disposals) and Isaac Moller with two goals. For Norwood, last week’s U18 MVP nominee and 2016 winner Stefan Giro had 29 disposals, two goals and seven marks to be amongst the best. Along with state representative defender Brodie Carroll with 20 disposals. Isaac Hewson had 12 disposals.

U18s:

With many SANFL players returning to school footy this week we saw some readjustments in team performances. None more so than the South’s 115-point demolition of Norwood. For the Panthers Nick Steele kicked six goals with 10 marks and Darnell Tucker kicked five goals to go with his 23 disposals and five inside 50s with a best on ground performance. Henry Bruce continued his form from the reserves with 26 disposals. Norwood’s Max Joseph was judged best for the Redlegs with 21 disposals and seven tackles.

Eagles defeated Glenelg by 30 points. For the Eagles, Jake Cook was best on ground with 23 disposals, including two goals and 10 tackles, and for the Tigers Xavier Cubillo (23 disposals, one goals) and Brad McCarthy (20 disposals inc 9 defensive and offensive rebounds) got amongst it.

North Adelaide continued their four game winning streak with a 27-point win over Centrals. North was led by over-ager Tom Matsouliadis with 36 disposals, including a goal, nine clearances and six tackles. Frankie Szekely was lively with his 23 disposals five inside 50s and goal. For Centrals, Cooper Dahms was best with 25 disposals including a goal seven clearances and nine tackles.

Sturt returned to winning with a 30-point victory over West Adelaide. Ed Allan returned to dominate at this level with 38 disposals, including a goal and seven marks to be best on ground for Sturt. Tyson Hone (25 disposals) and Tom Welsby (21 disposlas including a goal and seven marks were also amongst the best. For West Adelaide, Josh Smithson was clearly best with 29 disposals(22 of which were contested) three goals, 11 clearances, six inside 50s and nine tackles in a complete performance.

Glenelg’s Darcy Fogarty and Sturt’s Callum Coleman-Jones have been put on ice for the rest of the year with surgery. This goes with Norwood’s Lachie Pascoe and North’s Hugo Barry also out with ACLs.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN DRAFT DUO OUT FOR THE SEASON

School Footy:

Recruiters were in abundance at the highly anticipated match between powerhouses Prince Alfred College (PAC) and Sacred Heart College in the battle for the State Championships and Messenger Shield. PAC absolutely dominated the game, to win by 69 points, especially with only being allowed 17 players for the last two and a half quarters.

For PAC, all played well, led by captain Cole Gerloff, and Mackenzie Slee rebounding off half back. All-Australian under 18s player Zac Bailey ended up on the pine courtesy of the umpires after a centre tussle. For Hearts, Charlie Ballard was strong early on with his intercept marking across half back, but he too ended up out of the game due to an accidental head clash requiring stitches. Oscar Lovelock was lively and one of the few Sacred Heart players to step up on the big stage.

In the other matches Rostrevor put away Saint Peters by 43 points with under-ager Luke Valente leading the way for Rossies with three goals and 30 plus possessions. Harrison Petty was again strong backing up his State MVP and Combine invite. For Saint Peters, under 16s player Dylan Stephens was best.
In the other game, Immanuel defeated St Michaels by 50 points.