STATE and territory talent managers take a look at the players to watch from Division One in the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships, which begin this weekend.

Vic Metro

James Stewart, Sandringham Dragons, 4 March 1994, 197cm, 82kg
James is a tall, athletic key-position prospect with good kicking skills, who goes to school at Scotch College (and is the son of Collingwood's Craig). He has good agility and mobility. He's resumed football this year after a period of time dealing with a back complaint and has actually grown quite an enormous amount in the past 14 months. He's an AIS-AFL Academy member.

Nick Vlastuin, Northern Knights, 19 April 1994, 187cm, 83kgs
Nick is a quality inside midfielder who has developed an outside game. He's a good kick off his right foot, but he's sound on both sides. He's very competitive, makes good decisions and tends to take charge out on the ground and make things happen. He's a quality young man who leads by example - a real coach's player. AIS-AFL Academy member.

Liam McBean, Calder Cannons, 25 August 1994, 202cm, 84kg
Liam is athletic for his size and has a lot of developing to come in terms of body strength, but he really moves around the ground very well. He's a bit similar to Joe Daniher in that they both have good mobility for a tall, have good skills and know the game pretty well. He's been with the AIS-AFL Academy for the past two years.

Jonathan O'Rourke, Calder Cannons, 21 April 1994, 183cm, 75kg
He's in his second year in the AIS-AFL Academy and he's developing into a very rounded midfielder in terms of his inside and outside game and he has a very good tank. He's a very good decision maker with excellent kicking skills and good hands in close. He's not a big lad, but he's actually quite a good tackler for his size. He tends to lead by example, but is developing those leadership qualities.

- Vic Metro talent manager Anton Grbac

Vic Country

Lachie Whitfield, Dandenong Stingrays, 18 July 1994, 184cm, 74kg
Lachie's been in the AIS-AFL Academy for the last two years and won the player of the national carnival award for us as an under-age player last year. He's an outstanding, skilful player who has been touted as a very early draft pick. He played well in the Academy-Box Hill game before they went on tour. He's been playing most of his footy with his school this year.

Jake Stringer, Bendigo Pioneers, 25 April 1994, 191cm, 91kg
Jake is an interesting player because he's coming off missing 12 months with a broken leg. He's done all the hard work and is starting to play some sound TAC Cup footy, so it will be interesting to see how he plays against higher quality opposition. He's a forward [who kicked nine goals a few weeks back] and he's got his spring back, which is good.

Ollie Wines, Bendigo Pioneers, 7 October 1994, 185cm, 83kg
Ollie is a right-footed, inside midfielder and his form since he came back from the Academy tour has been exceptional, which is really encouraging. He's grown a fair bit in the last year and his finishing skills are pretty good.

Tim Membrey, Gippsland Power, 26 May 1994, 188cm, 87kg
Tim was added late to the AIS-AFL squad. He played predominantly as a key forward last year and is a real goalkicker. We're working with him to play a bit higher up the ground.

- Vic Country talent manager Leon Harris

South Australia

Jimmy Toumpas, Woodville-West Torrens, 2 January 1994, 183cm, 77kg
Jimmy played in last year's champs and he's a genuine chance to be a high draft pick. While everyone talks about his excellent Grand Final [for the Eagles' premiership team], I think his whole finals series was outstanding. It indicates to me that he's almost capable of playing senior AFL footy right now.

Brodie Grundy, Sturt, 15 April 1994, 202cm, 100kg
Brodie is the standout tall man in the competition at this stage. He played for us last year, continued to develop and recently made his league debut with Sturt. He has a number of impressive traits with his athleticism and jump at the ball and what I like about him is his competitive nature. He gets after the contest with a bit of vigour and that's something that coaches always like. He's also developing his ability to go forward and take really good marks.

Troy Menzel, Central Districts, 22 September 1994, 186cm, 77kg
Troy is the brother of Geelong's Daniel and he's a very cluey midfielder-forward who can really find the footy and use it pretty well. He's very evasive around a contest and can really find his way in and out of traffic very quickly. He's up and about and travelling pretty well with a very strong football club in Central Districts.

Sam Mayes, North Adelaide, 20 May 1994, 187cm, 78kg
Sam is a forward-midfielder who is really an elite kicker of the football, which is paramount these days. He's got a number of strings to his bow - we played him down back a bit in last year's champs and he did that successfully - and he brings a real energy to the team.

- SA talent manager/coach Brenton Phillips

Western Australia

Dayle Garlett, Swan Districts, 9 January 1994, 180cm, 75kg
Dayle is a slick, skilful midfielder with an excellent work rate. He has the ability to really turn a game on its head. We're really happy with his progress in our academy after a few setbacks early on. He's come back with a point to prove. He's been a regular senior player for Swan Districts.

Jesse Hogan, Claremont, 12 February 1995, 193cm, 91kg
Jesse is a powerful key forward/defender in the mould of Jonathan Brown. He's good overhead and very explosive off the mark for his size. We almost considered playing him in our under-18s team as a 16-year-old. He'd be in the top two or three players in the WAFL colts competition. He falls into the GWS mini-draft pool.

Marco Paparone, East Fremantle, 3 September 1994, 193cm, 84kg
Marco has elite endurance and has the ability to wear down opponents. He's a midfielder-forward who is strong overhead and can get outside well. For a boy of his size, he has excellent athletic attributes.

Mason Shaw, South Fremantle, 15 January 1994, 197cm, 82kg
Mason suffered a broken jaw early in the season, but in his first game back for the colts he kicked 8.4 and didn't look like he'd been away from the game at all. He's a clever power forward who is strong on the lead and can also pinch-hit in the ruck.

- WA talent manager Raff Guadagnino