THE GAME'S best junior talent have been given their final chance to impress before the squads for this year's Under 17s AFL Grand Final curtain raiser are selected.
A series of Under 17s Futures games were played over the weekend, with Vic Metro seeing off New South Wales by 11 points and Vic Country defeating Queensland by 10 points.
The matches are set to help selectors finalise the squads for this year's Under 17s All-Star game, which will be played at 10am at the MCG on the morning of the Grand Final.
A number of academy members impressed in their final hit-outs, notably lively small forward Hawego Paul Oea and athletic ruckman Bigoa Nyuon.
Paul Oea, nicknamed 'Ace' by teammates, hails from Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea and is eligible to be selected to Gold Coast as an international scholarship holder.
Nyoun, the younger brother of former Essendon rookie Gach, is an agile 195cm ruckman who can be recruited to St Kilda as part of its Next Generation Academy.
Another feature of the weekend was Giants academy member Liam Delahunty's match-up with 198cm Vic Metro forward Emerson Jeka. Both are expected to be included in the squads for this year's Grand Final All-Star game.
Selectors will meet on Tuesday, with the squads likely to be finalised over the next 10 days.
Vic Metro 13.13 (91) defeated NSW/ACT 12.8 (80)
GOALS
Vic Metro: Rocci 2, D'Intinosante 2, Honey 2, Newman 2, Black, Ramsay, Kyriazis, Mott, Caspar
NSW ACT: Edwards 3, Barling 2, Green 2, Gallen, Mack, Ellem, Bayliss, Chandler
BEST
Vic Metro: Bergman, Newman, Mellis, Jeka, Sturgess, May
NSW/ACT: Ellem, Barling, Green, Delahunty, Wilson
Vic Country 7.14 (56) defeated Queensland 7.4 (46)
GOALS
Vic Country: J Smith 4, Chalcraft, Perez, Phillips
Queensland: Conroy 2, Martin 2, Gore, Sproule, Wischnat
BEST
Vic Country: Chirgwin, Perez, J.Smith, Nyoun, Phillips, Martin
Queensland: Crossley, Jeffrey, Budarick, Samson, Joyce, Gore
