DESPITE a less-than-prolific NAB AFL Under 18 Championships to date, South Australia's coach Brenton Phillips still expects vice-captain Sam Mayes to be taken early in this year's NAB AFL Draft.
 
Mayes has been described as potentially more explosive than Scott Pendlebury, with the outside skills of Dale Thomas and the versatility of Andrew Mackie, but has struggled to find form in this year's titles after gaining All Australian selection as an underage player in 2011.
 
The 18-year-old's situation bears similarities to that of West Coast gun Jack Darling, who was an underage All Australian player in 2009 but couldn't match that form in 2010.
 
Darling has gone on to become one of the emerging stars of the competition and Phillips said Mayes had showed enough over the last few years to warrant early selection.
 
"I still maintain that if you're a good footballer, you're a good footballer," Phillips said.
 
"At the end of the day you don't lose you talent - AFL clubs would back their ability to bring someone like Sam into their club and develop them."
 
Playing senior football in the SANFL and touted as a likely first-round selection in this year's NAB AFL Draft, the wraps on Mayes are big, but he knows there is plenty of work to be done before he can make it in the big league.
 
The building blocks are there.
 
At 187cm and having represented the state in basketball, the resemblance to Pendlebury is obvious.
 
Like the Collingwood superstar, Mayes possesses tremendous endurance and speed, a trait inherited from his father Leon, who was the Australian junior national 400m champion in 1981-82.
 
Port Adelaide development coach Daniel Healy made the Pendlebury, Thomas and Mackie comparisons.
 
As senior coach of North Adelaide in the SANFL, in 2009 he played a large role in luring Mayes to the Roosters from Port Pirie, a coastal town two hours' north of Adelaide on the Yorke Peninsula.
 
"He's probably got a bit of Dale Thomas' outside stuff as well, but he's certainly got real class like they have and his ability to use the ball is pretty exciting."
 
Healy had seen Mayes dominate the SANFL's Smartplay Cup, a competition now known as the SANFL Under 15 Intra State Championships, and was immediately impressed.
 
"He could do it all - mark, kick, he was good around stoppages or could go forward, and he could play anywhere really."
 
Power champion and now North Adelaide coach Josh Francou certainly thought so, describing him as "naturally just a very classy player".
 
"I think he's probably the perfect height and, potentially, the perfect build … he's almost like the perfect utility player," he said.
 
"One, his running ability's so good and secondly his height, but also his skill level - he's got very good skills.
 
"He'll develop into a very good footballer at [AFL] level."
 
Francou also praised Mayes' work rate for North Adelaide: "You tend to see some young guys come through that might have the skills but don't have the work ethic, and eventually those sort of players fall off the team.
 
"Nothing to me suggests he's one of those; everything I've seen suggests otherwise."
 
Mayes agreed that his work rate was one of his key strengths and said playing at levels higher than his age had helped nurture it.
 
At 14 he became one of the youngest A-Grade debutants in his local club's history and by 17 he had played his first senior SANFL game.
 
Appearing against mature-bodied players in the SANFL was something he hoped would give him a head start should he be drafted in November.
 
"My work rate's always been pretty high, but I still think I need to step it up a bit if I want to play at the elite level," he said.
 
"Work rate's a massive thing, because if you want to get the ball you've got to work pretty hard, and harder the higher level you play.
 
"I think playing some league footy's kind of good for the development if I do get the opportunity to play at the highest level."
 
At SANFL and Under-18 level Mayes has the height to play tall in the forward or back line, and he can also spend time in the middle of the ground, but he accepts that he won’t be able to hold down a key position in the AFL and at just 74kg he knows he has to bulk up.
 
"I'll have to put on a little bit. I've been doing a bit of gym with North but I like to keep pretty athletic because that's my game style," he said.
 
"I'd like to come up the ground and play as a midfielder, winger-type player.
 
"You've got to be pretty well rounded to be able to play whatever position is necessary."