• NAB AFL Under-18s: video, stats and more
• NAB AFL Under-16s: fixture and results
• Listen to this week's Road to the Draft podcast
THE CONSENSUS among recruiters heading into this year's NAB AFL Under-18 Championships was that the 2015 draft pool was well down on recent years. The hope was that, through the carnival, the best players would go well and more prospects would emerge.
With the six-week, 18-game tournament now complete, all those thoughts proved about right.
The championships showed this isn't the year to rebuild a list through the draft with a stack of picks, because the depth just isn't there. Some clubs will take only one or two live picks and upgrade rookies or re-select delisted players to ensure they meet the minimum of three selections at the draft.
Vic Country makes it a title whitewash with win over WA in final
But through some strong, promising and encouraging efforts from a number of other players during the championships, some more talent should be on offer after the opening bunch.
Let's start with the top. A pick in the first round will find a good player, and a pick in the first dozen should be very good. But somewhat unusually, many of the early group will be taller key position prospects this year. Jacob Weitering and Josh Schache are vying for the No.1 selection and either would be deserving.
Behind them, Aaron Francis plays a damaging brand of footy in defence and has shown he can move around up the ground as well.
Injuries have restricted big forwards Sam Weideman, Charlie Curnow and Ryan Burton this year but all shape as possible early picks with healthy medical checks, while Harry McKay gives more and more glimpses of his skill with each game.
Athletic tall forwards who are 200cm are hard to find so he could push up, and the same applies for Eric Hipwood, whose carnival for Queensland saw more people get excited by how he will be able to develop.
Hipwood, tied to the Brisbane Lions via its academy, is one of perhaps seven or eight of the best 25 or so prospects attached to northern clubs.
Ben Keays (Brisbane Lions) won the Harrison Medal as the best player in division two and Jacob Hopper (GWS) wasn't far behind him, while Harrison Himmelberg (GWS) and Matthew Flynn (GWS) also performed consistently for NSW-ACT, who were without key midfielders Callum Mills (Sydney Swans) and Matthew Kennedy (GWS).
The championships helped add some beef to the top group, with a number of players pushing themselves up. From South Australia, Riley Bonner gave consistent run off half-back, Luke Partington dug into countless contests and offered some explosiveness from stoppages, and Wayne Milera's speed and tricks near goal will appeal.
Brayden Hackett was a highlight for Western Australia in a poor carnival, while small Tasmanian midfielder Kieran Lovell could not have done much more for his team across the three games. He finished the carnival averaging 35 disposals (as well as 34 disposals in four TAC Cup games).
Queensland down NSW/ACT to take division two title
His teammate Mitchell Hibberd looks likely to be the first player from that team drafted, though, with the athletic half-back shaping as a riser up the ranks in the second half of the year. Hibberd, like Himmelberg, is a good example of the AFL's 19-year-old rule working well, with both overlooked at last year's draft due to injury but having this year to go again as overagers.
The unbeaten Vic Country will provide plenty of draftees, South Australia will produce a few solid players beyond the obvious, and some Western Australian prospects will benefit from tasting senior WAFL footy in the back end of the year. The developing states – Queensland and NSW/ACT – have also got some exciting players to choose.
Despite their last-gasp win in their final game, Vic Metro was a disappointment. The draft generally relies on about 25 per cent of the pool to come from Metro, but the numbers will drop this year, with Harley Balic a top-10 chance and Jade Gresham also doing his stocks no harm in his five games.
They also blooded only a couple of bottom-agers, with Jordan Gallucci the best, meaning next year's group might also not have the depth of previous Metro teams.
On the surface Country will have a good group again next year, with the likes of Ben Ainsworth, Jy Simpkin, Jordan Berry and Will Brodie impressing, while brighter times seem ahead for Western Australia, with Sam Petrevski-Seton, Sam Powell-Pepper and Josh Rotham exciting at stages.
Clubs need to keep an eye on the next crops, particularly with the trading of future draft picks on the horizon. That's why recruiting teams will head with interest to the Gold Coast on Friday ahead of the under-16 championships, which start on Saturday.
They left the corresponding championships two years ago sensing the 2015 draft crop would not be one of the strongest, so what will the first impression of 2017's intake be?
