The Falcons, coached by former Geelong champion Garry Hocking, are undefeated this season and will enter the finals as favourite to win this year’s premiership.
But as is the case with all TAC Cup sides, a premiership is almost an aside to how many players each club has selected come draft day.
In almost 15 years in his role, Turner has overseen the likes of Jonathan Brown, Luke Hodge and Jimmy Bartel graduate from TAC Cup to AFL level.
This year he believes eight to 10 Falcons will feature in draft calculations. But two players, in particular, stand out among this season’s Falcons crop.
Ben Cunnington and Gary Rohan are both likely to be selected in the top 10 at this year’s NAB AFL Draft with their ultimate ranking possibly dependent on how they go in September.
Both boys played senior football for Cobden before joining the Falcons. And both represented Vic Country and won All-Australian honours at the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships.
"Melbourne could do worse than taking both of those guys [Cunnington and Rohan] with their first two picks, to tell you the truth," Turner told afl.com.au.
"Cunnington’s the most professional kid I’ve seen but Rohan’s the most exciting kid I’ve seen.
"They’ll definitely be top 10, probably even earlier … as we know Hodge went No.1 [in the draft], Bartel went at pick no.8 and these kids are as good as they are."
Cunnington, the Falcons’ captain this season, was also a co-captain for Vic Country.
At about 186cm and 84kg he appears ready-made for senior AFL level. While predominately a midfielder, Turner says his ability to play almost anywhere has clubs salivating.
"I’ve had Hodge and obviously Bartel in the program and he’s very much a cross between them.
"We often play him off the back flank, he plays in the midfield and when we want to rest him he just goes down to full-forward because he doesn’t like coming off."
Cunnington booted five goals last week and has been a regular on the scoresheet in 2009.
"The thing that got Hodge the No.1 pick was the fact that he can play down back, play in the midfield and go forward and kick goals, and this kid is very much like that.
"He’s the most professional kid I’ve had in 15 years. He’s got a training bag, a match bag, he’s just super organised.
"Another good sign is after the national championships a lot of kids sort of taper off a bit, but the four games since then he’s been best on the ground every game."
Rohan is about 188cm and while sharing his teammate’s versatility, he possesses a certain X-factor that has drawn attention from all AFL scouts.
"He does things that I’ve never seen before," Turner said.
"He never made any of our squads until this year; he was very much a late developer.
"So there’s enormous upside to Gary Rohan because of the fact he’s a late developer and he’s only been in our program for five or six months."
Turner said this year had been a "headspin" for Rohan, who has come from nowhere to be vying for a top-10 pick in the draft.
"We cut him last year because he was a bit under-developed and let him go to Cobden," he said.
"He played in the backline there all year and did really well and then this year he’s come in and been a real revelation.
"He can play back, midfield on a wing or wherever and also go forward [because] he’s just super-quick.
"Kids like that are very appealing to clubs because they can play all over the shop."
