AFL youth and high performance coordinator and former AFL star Jason McCartney shares his thoughts with afl.com.au on the players who caught his eye on the final day of the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships.
Here are his assessments of Vic Country and Tasmania players after the former won the second match of Wednesday's triple-header at Telstra Dome by 98 points.
TASMANIA v VIC COUNTRY
Tasmania
Mitch Robinson – Once again, Mitch produced an outstanding performance. I'd never seen him play until the championships, but he took my eye right from his first game in division two. I thought: 'Gee, this kid can play a bit'. And with every game, he got better and better. He starts the games really well and against Vic Country, he ended up with 24 disposals. He was the deserving winner of Tasmania's NAB AFL MVP award, on the back of his Hunter Harrison Medal in division two.
Tom Salter – The Tassie captain was impressive throughout the carnival – I don't think he played a bad game. His kicking has been marginal at times, but he looks like a quality kid with a high work-rate. He gets a lot of uncontested possessions because of that high work-rate. Tom's very tough, a good tackler and loves the contest. He had 17 disposals against Vic Country, capping off a very consistent carnival.
Aaron Cornelius – I want to give a big wrap to Aaron. Once again, the ball didn't get down into Tassie's forward 50 a lot of times, but Aaron kicked four goals. He's got great hands, takes a really good mark and reads the ball well, but I was really impressed with ability to work into the front position. When a side kicks six goals and your key forward kicks four, you've done your job.
Maverick Weller – The 16-year-old won 15 disposals – not looking out of place. He looks very composed, uses the ball well and makes good decisions. I'm really looking forward to watching him play in Queensland in a few weeks' time, when the under 16 championships are on. He played under 16s as a bottom-age player last year, so I think these two under 18 matches will help him in the bigger picture.
Vic Country
Jamie Sheehan – If you could mirror image his set shots at goal and give it to any other young kid, you wouldn't go far wrong. He's really composed, really relaxed and technically sound, finishing with three goals. He burrows in really hard; he's strong through the hips and can shrug off tackles really well. I thought he was best-on-ground.
Steele Sidebottom – Playing off half-back and through the midfield again, I just love the way he goes about it. He had four tackles and made some big hits with his attack on the contest and eyes on the ball. He uses the ball really well and I think he would go extremely close to All-Australian selection, due to his highly consistent performances.
Andrew Hooper – Andrew was Vic Country's MVP player and full credit to him. He's a strongly built young player. He played in the under-16s last year mainly as a burst player. Country used him as a rebounding back-pocket/half-back and in the second half he went into the midfield and pushed forward. He looks like the type of player you want to play. I honestly don't know how far he will go on, but he's been great.
John Butcher – He's a bottom-age player, but he's tall at 197cm. He's athletic and agile and although he's only had six kicks, he's kicked 5.1. He's not strongly built at the moment, but he's got a great ability to take front position and if he doesn't mark it, he doesn't have it spoiled far from him. He has bright future and I look forward to watching him again next year.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.