The McDonald’s SA Under-18 team has finished its 2017 campaign on a high after engineering a convincing 46-point win against Victoria Country at Simonds Stadium on Wednesday night.
Desperate to atone for a disappointing loss to Victoria Metro last Friday, the Croweaters showed plenty of intent early in the contest as they raced to 38-point lead at the main change.
In stark contrast to their last outing, SA moved the ball with much more efficiency and fluency through the corridor to put the hosts on the back foot at the home of Geelong FC.
Sturt midfielder Mitch Crowden set the tone in the centre square, collecting 10 disposals and a goal in the first term en route to a tally of 28 – and seven tackles – for the match.
Norwood’s Stefan Giro was also prominent early while Crows father-son prospect Jackson Edwards had nine touches in the opening stanza on his way to collecting a game-high 30 while playing on the wing.
But the class was on show from under-agers Connor Rozee and Izak Rankine, who displayed their prodigious talent on several occasions in front of AFL scouts.
Rozee booted three goals to go with his 19 disposals while Rankine had a strong second half, in which he produced to eye-catching pieces of play to have those at the ground on the edge of their seats.
The first saw the West Adelaide teenager weave out of traffic and flick the ball up to himself while moving at pace, just moments before he baulked an opponent, accelerated from 40m and kicked truly on the run.
Victoria Country came hard at the visitors to boot three goals in succession after the main change but SA regained control of the contest by controlling the tempo, executing the instruction from coach Brenton Phillips at three quarter-time.
Norwood defender Harry Petty again did his bit in defence, ensuring he would be fittingly named as the MVP for the McDonald’s SA U18 team for the carnival.
Sturt’s Jordan Houlahan showed off his athleticism on several occasions, highlighted by a towering chest mark on the outer side while vice-captain Darcy Fogarty put in an improved performance to finish with 16 disposals and six rebound 50s from defence.
Victoria Metro was crowned the 2017 AFL National Championship winner after losing just one of its four matches while Western Australia forward Oscar Allen – 11 goals in four games – won the Larke Medal as Division One’s best player.
SCOREBOARD
SA 3.3 9.7 11.13 16.15 (111)
Vic Country 1.3 3.5 7.7 9.11 (65)
BEST – SA: Rankine, Crowden, McCarthy, Edwards, Carroll, Giro, Fogarty, Houlahan.
Vic Country: Worpel, Daniels, Clavarino, Walsh, Dow, Paton.
GOALS – SA: Rozee, Smithson, Giro 3, Crowden, Ballard, Rowe, Rankine, Davis, Houlahan, Coleman-Jones.
Vic Country: Daniels, Clark 2, Worpel, Davies-Uniacke, Dow, Jiath, Williams.
At Simonds Stadium, Geelong