IN what will be a big five days for the most talented Under 18s in the country, the National AFL Championships continue tomorrow in the first of two double headers in Victoria. Tomorrow, teams clash at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong before reconvening next Wednesday at Etihad Stadium. Vic Metro has the bye tomorrow, while Vic Country plays its final game of the series in Geelong.<\/p>\n
ALLIES VS. SOUTH AUSTRALIA<\/strong><\/p>\n Friday, June 29, 2.10pm<\/strong> The Allies come into this clash after a good performance against Vic Metro where they narrowly fell short in the dying minutes.\u00a0Jacob Koschitzke<\/strong>\u00a0was one of the most impressive, restricting potential number one pick\u00a0Ben King<\/strong>\u00a0to just one goal \u2013 unfortunately it was the match winner. His job does not get any easier this week, with a potential match-up on likely number on pick\u00a0Jack Lukosius<\/strong>. He will look to work in tandem with\u00a0Dirk Koenen<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 who also played well in the last match \u2013 likely to take fellow tall\u00a0Hugo Munn<\/strong>.\u00a0Fraser Turner<\/strong>\u00a0was the Allies\u2019 best in the last game and he could line-up on AFL Academy member and potential first round pick\u00a0Connor Rozee<\/strong>, while on the inside,\u00a0Connor McFadyen<\/strong>\u00a0joins\u00a0Tarryn Thomas<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Chayce Jones<\/strong>\u00a0against the A-grade midfield of\u00a0Izak Rankine<\/strong>,\u00a0Luke Valente<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Tom Lewis<\/strong>, with\u00a0Jackson Hately<\/strong>\u00a0rotating between midfield and forward.\u00a0Kieren Briggs<\/strong>\u00a0and bottom-agers\u00a0Thomas Green<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Mitchell O\u2019Neill<\/strong>\u00a0are others who have impressed in the championships thus far.<\/p>\n In defence,\u00a0Riley Grundy<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Will Gould<\/strong>\u00a0have been impressive and will likely be given the jobs on\u00a0Caleb Graham<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Nick Blakey<\/strong>, while\u00a0Mathew Walker<\/strong>\u00a0provides a medium-tall option in attack, with plenty of smalls creating havoc at ground level.\u00a0Jez McLennan<\/strong>\u00a0has looked good this carnival in defence, while\u00a0Hayden Sampson<\/strong>\u00a0has shown promising signs in attack and through the midfield. The attacking end for South Australia is unbelievable, with Lukosius and Munn joined by high-flying overager\u00a0Oscar Chapman<\/strong>\u00a0who returns to the team, while clearance machine\u00a0Boyd Woodcock\u00a0<\/strong>makes his debut for the Croweaters. Port Adelaide Next Generation Academy member\u00a0Kai Pudney<\/strong>\u00a0leads the strong depth on the bench with\u00a0Ben Jarvis<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Kade Chandler<\/strong>\u00a0– others who have impressed at times this carnival.<\/p>\n South Australia head into the game as deserving favourites, but given the Allies were able to push Vic Metro all the way and South Australia was largely challenged by Vic Country, anything is possible in this game. A win to South Australia sets up a tantalising match with Vic Metro next week in what would decide the 2018 National Under 18 Championships title.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n VIC COUNTRY VS. WESTERN AUSTRALIA<\/strong><\/p>\n Friday, June 29, 4.40pm<\/strong> In the second game of the double header, the two sides without a win do battle to open their account in the National Under 18 Championships. Vic County has lost all three of its games thus far and will want to end the carnival on a high, while Western Australia can finish off with two wins if it can topple Country and then the Allies next Wednesday. After losing to South Australia by 89 points in the opening round, Western Australia were much improved at home against Vic Metro. In this game, the exciting\u00a0Jason Carter<\/strong>\u00a0returns to provide some speed on the wing, joining a talented Black Swans outfit that will be without\u00a0Jarrod Fazioli<\/strong>\u00a0who booted three goals against Country in last year\u2019s National Championships. The midfield of\u00a0Luke Foley<\/strong>,\u00a0Deven Robertson<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Luke English<\/strong>\u00a0is a consistent base, while\u00a0Ian Hill<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Rylie Morgan<\/strong>\u00a0are always dangerous up the forward end. In defence,\u00a0Jake Pasini<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Louis Miller<\/strong>\u00a0come into the team, while\u00a0Regan Spooner<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Damon Greaves<\/strong>\u00a0will be hoping to continue their form.<\/p>\n For Vic Country, Murray Bushrangers midfielder\u00a0Ely Smith<\/strong>\u00a0receives the call-up to replace the injured\u00a0Mitch Riordan<\/strong>, and will be hoping to back-up his 37-disposal game in the TAC Cup last weekend. Smith is joined in an extended side by teammates\u00a0Zane Barzen<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Hudson Garoni<\/strong>, while Gippsland bottom-agers swap spots with\u00a0Brock Smith<\/strong>\u00a0coming in and\u00a0Caleb Serong<\/strong>\u00a0heading out.\u00a0Connor Idun<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Kyle Reid<\/strong>\u00a0have been consistent in defence and will want to finish the carnival with a positive note taking on the likes of\u00a0Dillion O\u2019Reilly<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Tyson Powell<\/strong>.\u00a0Tom Berry<\/strong>\u00a0will have a strong challenge against Hill, while\u00a0Laitham Vandermeer<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Hayden Young<\/strong>\u00a0will look to create run out of defence. Ely Smith joins\u00a0Sam Walsh<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Sam Fletcher<\/strong>\u00a0in the midfield, while the forward set-up of\u00a0Oscar Brownless<\/strong>,\u00a0Ned McHenry<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Xavier Duursma<\/strong>\u00a0seemed to provide opportunities last week, with\u00a0Brodie Kemp<\/strong>\u00a0coming into the mix for his first game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" IN what will be a big five days for the most talented Under 18s in the country, the National AFL Championships continue tomorrow in the first of two double headers in Victoria. Tomorrow, teams clash at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong before reconvening next Wednesday at Etihad Stadium. Vic Metro has the bye tomorrow, while Vic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":27405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,8],"tags":[369,4592,63,457,481,2748,2291,2558,2094,2573,4801,249,2383,4131,5709,4283,3630,269,2411,887,892,910,5575,248,2349,4630,4626,986,3655,2507,2434,4408,2444,2464,2401,4054,4070,1181,4008,2570,5251,2329,86,172,2540,4574,3986,1643,1656,1667,234,69,4859,3813,266,4267,1879,1880,1921,2561,2064,1974],"class_list":["post-36709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-championships","category-news","tag-allies","tag-ben-jarvis","tag-ben-king","tag-boyd-woodcock","tag-brock-smith","tag-brodie-kemp","tag-caleb-graham","tag-caleb-serong","tag-chayce-jones","tag-connor-idun","tag-connor-mcfadyen","tag-connor-rozee","tag-damon-greaves","tag-deven-robertson","tag-dillion-oreilly","tag-dirk-koenen","tag-ely-smith","tag-hayden-sampson","tag-hayden-young","tag-hudson-garoni","tag-hugo-munn","tag-izak-rankine","tag-jack-lukosisus","tag-jackson-hately","tag-jacob-koschitzke","tag-jake-pasini","tag-jarrod-fazioli","tag-jason-carter","tag-jez-mclennan","tag-kade-chandler","tag-kai-pudney","tag-kieren-briggs","tag-kyle-reid","tag-laitham-vandermeer","tag-louis-miller","tag-luke-english","tag-luke-foley","tag-luke-valente","tag-mathew-walker","tag-mitch-riordan","tag-mitchell-oneill","tag-ned-mchenry","tag-nick-blakey","tag-oscar-brownless","tag-oscar-chapman","tag-regan-spooner","tag-riley-grundy","tag-rylie-morgan","tag-sam-fletcher","tag-sam-walsh","tag-south-australia","tag-tarryn-thomas","tag-thomas-green","tag-tom-berry","tag-tom-lewis","tag-tyson-powell","tag-vic-country","tag-vic-metro","tag-western-australia","tag-will-gould","tag-xavier-duursma","tag-zane-barzen"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
GMHBA Stadium, Geelong<\/strong><\/p>\n
GMHBA Stadium, Geelong<\/strong><\/p>\n