STATE and territory talent managers take a look at the players to watch from Division Two in the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships, which begin this weekend.

Northern Territory

Jed Anderson, Darwin FC, 16 February 1994, 178cm, 75kg
Jed played with us last year as an under-age player and he also played in a senior NEAFL premiership side with the NT Thunder. He's already received two nominations for the best player in the NEAFL northern conference this year. He's been playing in the midfield and he was good against the Sydney Swans and GWS reserves sides. He's an NTIS scholarship holder.

Louis Egger, Federal FC, 5 June 1993, 184cm, 74kg
Louis played in a few of our games last year and got invited to the draft combine. He had a hand injury in the last three games of last year's nationals, but he's moved to Melbourne for university and has been playing with the Coburg Tigers. He's a super-competitive mid-sized utility and played in the NEAFL grand final last year and was one of the best players.

Damien Williams, Darwin FC, 21 November 1993, 180cm, 69kg
Damien has played with GWS for the last couple of years and wasn't taken as a priority pick, but he's really come on since he joined the Thunder. He's only 180cm, but we got stuck against the Brisbane Lions [reserves] and he rucked most of the day against [former Bulldogs ruckman] Ben Hudson and he performed pretty well.

- NT talent manager Wally Gallio

Tasmania

Jesse Lonergan, Launceston FC, 14 November 1994, 183cm, 86kg
Jesse is our only AIS-AFL Academy player this year and he played every game for us as an under-age player last year. He's an inside midfielder, who has played three seasons of senior footy now and was a premiership player at senior level with Launceston last year. He's the nephew of Essendon's Sam Lonergan and has a similar style of game. He possesses excellent speed and power for the inside game and has the physical presence to match.

Josh Grant, Glenorchy FC, 1 March 1994, 197cm, 89kg
Josh is from Glenorchy Football Club and is a key forward who is developing as a back man as well. He played games for us last year and, like a lot of tall players, he's still developing aspects of his game like competitiveness, but he has some excellent athletic attributes and is very agile. We'll really be looking for him to provide a target and plenty of competitive effort up forward.

Jackson Thurlow, Launceston FC, 28 March 1994, 189cm, 79kg
Jackson is a 189cm utility who can play forward, midfield and back. He can play anywhere on the ground and played almost every game with us at last year's champs. He was also part of Launceston's senior premiership team. He's a very good kick, is a good reader of the play and is excellent overhead.

- Tasmania talent manager Nick Probert

NSW/ACT Rams

Craig Moller, Sydney University, 22 August 1994, 203cm, 84kg
Craig is a 203cm ruckman who is capable of going forward, taking marks and kicking goals. He's very athletic, he tested as one of our quickest players over 20m, and is very agile as well. He's a Fremantle scholarship player. He's still very light and lean, but he has all the athletic attributes you'd want.

Liam Flaherty, Eastlake FC, 14 November 1993, 194cm, 87kg
Liam is from the ACT and he's one of our over-age kids. He was injured for a lot of last year so we'll give him an opportunity this year. He's a 194cm key forward with very good hands. He's a strong mark, but is also quite adept at ground level and has a nose for the goals. He's been playing senior footy for Eastlake in the NEAFL.

Tom Hargreave, Murray Bushrangers, 4 July 1994, 182cm, 77kg
Tom is a midfielder who can go forward. He has very good skills and is a ball winner. He has clean hands and is very good with that first possession. He's right-footed, but is skilful on both sides of his body. He'll potentially be one of leaders as well.

- NSW/ACT coach Jason Saddington

Queensland

Andrew Boston, Broadbeach FC, 23 March 1994, 180cm, 75kg
Andrew is a talented midfielder with very good disposal skills on both sides of his body. He's got good leadership skills, he was captain of the Gold Coast Suns academy, and has the ability to go forward and kick goals while either running through the midfield or as a small defensive forward. He's become a regular senior player for Broadbeach in the NEAFL competition and has a bag of six goals to his name. He has a NAB Rising Star nomination in NEAFL northern conference.

Tyler Jones, Redland FC, 3 February 1994, 182cm, 80kg
Tyler is a long-kicking, hard-running defender, originally from Mackay, who has forced his way into the senior side at Redland in the NEAFL. He played in last year's reserves premiership side. He has a very good temperament, great concentration and really loves a contest. He's also started to take on some midfield roles for the Scorpions.

James Ives, Aspley FC, 22 March 1994, 176cm, 77kg
James is a talented midfielder who reads the play well and is a very good clearance and stoppage player. He has outstanding leadership qualities, he was the captain of our under-16 team two years ago, and was also the captain of the Brisbane Lions under-18 academy side this year. He's very creative around the goals. He debuted at senior level with Aspley in the NEAFL competition late in 2011 after overcoming a broken collarbone he sustained in one of our trial games last year.   

- Queensland talent manager Bob Batty