South Australia will begin its Under-18 National Championships title defence on Saturday.
The Croweaters will take on West Australia at AAMI Stadium at midday. It’s the first of three ‘home’ games for SA across the Championships. Each state will play six matches across the course of seven weeks.
Port Adelaide midfielder Jake Johansen will skipper the team. Glenelg midfielder and eligible Melbourne father-son recruit Billy Stretch, and fancied West Adelaide utility Sam Durdin, have been named as joint vice-captains. All three players featured in last season’s drought-breaking title win.
Unfortunately for SA, highly-rated Norwood defender Peter Bampton has been ruled out for the entire carnival after injuring his ankle against Adelaide at Coopers Stadium on Friday night.
AFL.com.au draft expert Callum Twomey identifies the players to watch at the Championships.
SA UNDER-18 TEAM v WA
At AAMI Stadium, 12pm Saturday
F: Jake Johansen, Callum Wilkie, Ryan Burton
HF: Joseph Brown, Tom Read, Cory Gregson
C: Harrison Wigg, Dean Gore, Luke Partington
HB: Billy Stretch, Keenan Ramsey, James Ros
B: Connor McLean, Jack Hayes, Aaron Francis
R: Sam Durdin, Ben Heaslip, Bradley Coulson
INT: Josh Miller, Peter Spurling, Declan Hamilton, Ethan Haylock, Alex Neal-Bullen, Stephen Tahana, Caleb Daniel
AFL UNDER-18 CHAMPIONSHIPS FIXTURE (SA times)
GAME 1 – SA v WA (AAMI Stadium) Saturday May 24 at 12pm
GAME 2 – SA v Victoria Country (AAMI Stadium) Sunday June 1 at 11am
GAME 3 – SA v WA (Medibank Stadium, Leederville) Saturday June 7 at 12.30pm
GAME 4 – SA v Victoria Metro (AAMI Stadium) Saturday June 14 at 11am
GAME 5 – SA v Victoria Country (Simonds Stadium, Geelong) Friday June 27 at 2.05pm
GAME 6 – SA v Victoria Metro (Simonds Stadium, Geelong) Thursday July 3 at 12.45pm
FINAL SA UNDER-18 SQUAD (40 players)
1. Caleb Daniel (South) 167cm, 66kg
2. Jake Johansen (Port) 171cm, 63kg
3. Josh Hone (Sturt) 172cm, 74kg
4. Jack Elsworthy (Eagles) 173cm, 66kg
5. Croy Gregson (Glenelg) 175cm, 72kg
6. Ethan Haylock (Eagles) 177cm, 72kg
7. Joseph Brown (Central) 177cm, 64kg
8. Jack Gaffney (Eagles) 179cm, 72kg
9. Harrison Wigg (North) 179cm, 74kg
10 Tom Gray (Port) 180cm, 73kg
11 Billy Stretch (Glenelg) 181cm, 70kg
12 Luke Partington (Port) 181cm, 72kg
13 Jackson Press (Eagles) 181cm, 77kg
14 Harry Vick (West) 182cm, 75kg
15 Alex Neal-Bullen (Glenelg) 182cm, 77kg
16. Brett Turner (West) 183cm, 79kg
17. Stephen Tahana (North) 183cm, 77kg
18. Bradley Coulson (Port) 183cm, 78kg
19. Dean Gore (Sturt) 183cm, 86kg
20. Henry Carey (Sturt) 183cm, 78kg
21. Declan Hamilton (Port) 183cm, 68kg
22. James Rose (Sturt) 186cm, 78kg
23. Oleg Markov (North) 186cm, 69kg
24. Harrison Slee (North) 187cm, 81kg
25. Ben Heaslip (South) 189cm, 87kg
26. Aaron Francis (West) 190cm, 88kg
27. Mac Bower (Norwood) 190cm, 80kg
28. Ryan Burton (North) 191cm, 83kg
29. Jack Hayes (Eagles) 191cm, 88kg
30. Josh Pobke (North) 192cm, 76kg
31. Connor McLean (Central) 192cm, 82kg
32. Keenan Ramsey (Port) 192cm, 86kg
33. Callum Wilkie (North) 192cm, 85kg
34. Harrison Westhoff (West) 195cm, 80kg
35. Jesse Watchman (West) 197cm, 94kg
36. Sam Durdin (West) 197cm, 87kg
37. Peter Spurling (Glenelg) 199cm, 86kg
38. Tim Sullivan (Glenelg) 199cm, 85kg
39. Tom Read (Sturt) 201cm, 92kg
40. Josh Miller (Glenelg) 204cm, 100kg
