The McDonald’s SA Under-18 team has bounced back into Championship contention with a 51-point win against the Allies at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
Desperate to atone for last Saturday’s heart-breaking one-point loss to Western Australia, the Croweaters flexed their muscle in the third term to kick 6.4 to the Allies solitary point.
Leading by just one behind at the main change, Brenton Phillips’ charges put the accelerator down during the premiership stanza by using the ball in slick fashion through the corridor.
This allowed SA’s bevy of talented forwards to take control of the contest with Jack Lukosius and Izak Rankine showing why they are already being highly touted ahead of the 2018 AFL Draft.
Eagle Lukosius moved like a midfielder despite standing 194cm while Rankine displayed all of his class to kick a goal to remember after dodging one and snapping truly from the boundary line.
This prompted Phillips to declare on SANFL Radio that Rankine would be playing at AFL level right now if he was eligbile, such is his prowess around goal and natural flair to find space and create for his team-mates.
Sturt’s Jordan Houlahan also hit the scoreboard with a game-high four majors but the SA side was forced to steady in the final term after the Allies kicked three quick goals in succession after the last change.
McDonald’s SA Under-18 captain Callum Coleman-Jones set the tone for his side early in the centre square to finish with 28 disposals, 15 hit outs and five marks in an impressive display.
This helped his midfielders get into the contest with Norwood’s Stefan Giro gathering a game-high 31 disposals while another under-ager – Central’s Jasckson Hately, racked up 27 touches.
They were well supported by Jackson Edwards, Mitch Crowden and James Rowe, who all found plenty of the ball to the advantage of their team-mates.
Phillips was also quick to laud his settled and composed back-six, with Redleg Harrison Petty being rated SA’s best while Sturt’s Brandon Zerk-Thatcher also showed some positive signs after being included for his first Championships outing.
Vice-captain Darcy Fogarty had more influence on the match compared with the previous week against the Sandgropers, kicking another 2 goals to go with his 14 disposals and four marks.
The only disappointment for SA came when Hugo Barry had to be stretchered from the field in the last minute of the game after injuring his knee.
SA will now prepare for its final two matches of the AFL National Championships against Victoria Metro (Etihad Stadium) and Victoria Country (Simonds Stadium).
SCOREBOARD
SA 4.2 6.5 12.9 17.10 (112)
Allies 1.3 6.4 6.5 9.7 (61)
BEST – SA: H. Petty, J. Lukosius, C. Coleman-Jones, I. Rankine, D. Fogarty, B. Zerk-Thatcher.
Allies: J. Bell, N. Shipley, B. Scott, M. Green, Z. Bailey.
GOALS – SA: J. Houlahan 4, J. Lukosius 3, H. Barry, I. Rankine, D. Fogarty 2, J. Rowe, S. Giro, C. Rozee, I. Hewson.
Allies: B. Scott, H. Dixon 2, J. Powell, S. Davidson, J. Bell, J. Brander, N. Richards.
Last Modified on 17/06/2017 22:22