00:00latest team in our under 18s national championships preview is vic metro as we know the squad
00:05uh has been released you actually kind of dropped it we're ahead of anyone else which is which was
00:10nice uh on craft draft and zero hanger.com so you can go check out the full squad there but
00:15uh a side who will certainly think they're a sniff to uh to take out the title um their first
00:20game
00:20will be against wa on june 20 and that'll be in perth and then they play the allies sa and
00:25finish
00:25with that vic country clash those last three games all in melbourne so it'll be obviously nice and
00:29comfortable for the metro boys um but that and their last games on july 19 so there's a bit of
00:34a break usually obviously but before we get into that vic darby whatever you want to call it um
00:39the squad itself i think the first thing you might notice is the nine knights players
00:42that had that come into this list and obviously they're an undefeated side in the coats talent
00:46league and also just the talent league and uh there's you don't look at a single name there
00:51and think oh i can't believe he snuck in because those all of them as a collective have been a
00:54big
00:54reason there's probably a couple of other knights boys who might you might consider stiff to miss
00:58but that they uh it's a fantastic effort from that program to get nine selections into a vic metro
01:04squad yeah if i was to highlight one i'm really happy toby krasner got in i think you do have
01:08the
01:09tendency sometimes to overlook those specialist pure wingers because the midfielders often get pushed out
01:14to a wing in vic metro to showcase that positional flexibility and then those pure wingers who have
01:19done really well all season that position end up missing um but toby krasner a running machine and
01:25yeah really highly skilled and he couldn't have done any more in the vic trial about a month or so
01:30ago and he even got some midfield minutes in that game too so i do hope to see him in
01:34action because
01:35he's been one that i've been really impressed with what he's produced so far in 2026 and um
01:40yeah i've obviously got the three academy boys tate hodgson building into some nice form harry van
01:45haddam will be spearheading the ruck contingent and then um yeah plenty of other names as well when
01:50you consider harvey chapman max downs kai parker yeah max downs obviously had spent some time out
01:55with injuries so he's one that i found some great form for the knights and hopefully gets a good look
01:59in uh for vic metro part of that we've seen a lot for the knights is their tools you mentioned
02:04big hvh tate hodgson lewis hounson's another one with that and what we're going to see from maybe this
02:09vic metro squad is that key forward mix and how that's going to unfold because harry big harry's
02:15probably going to spend some time down there you'd think uh lewis hansom too sam gafer has been one of
02:20the form uh spearhead forwards in the talent league then you add seb marstich and fit thin woolhouse
02:25out of oakley then you add in jake miller as that one of those leading bottom ages and most promising
02:30uh key forwards in the talent league as well so there's going to be well absolute headaches for
02:35any key defender that's to come up against this group it's going to be fascinating as well how this
02:38forward line uh kind of takes shape yeah it will because um because like you said they've got so many
02:44to pick from seb marcik is one that we'll see whether he gets back to the back end of chance
02:48from his foot injury but outside of that yeah you've got like you said you've got such a compelling
02:54group even taking seb marcik out that how do you try and fit them all in i guess the fact
02:59that flynn
03:00woolhouse is quite um athletic and is able to impact a ground level really helps harrison lead is more of
03:06that at all um jake miller so you usually wouldn't necessarily prioritize bottom ages but he's almost the
03:13leading forward of that group and then the fact that tazzy comes in means there might be a bit more
03:16interest in seeing those bottom ages play so yeah how they mix and match and whether any of them go
03:21down into defense will be um an interesting one the starting midfield mix is always fascinating we
03:27anticipate harry van haddam obviously is the ruck i think arky butler is definitely going to be in
03:32there as that afl academy member that spark plug and then gus to share a two and then it's probably
03:38that
03:38last midfield spot is it going to be lucky hicks is it going to be lucky burrows is it going
03:42to be
03:42albert mcgowan there's several players who could roll through there and obviously there'll be
03:47different players will get the opportunity throughout matches and throughout the four game
03:50carnival and then obviously we've got a few in the training squad as well that not too sure if we'll
03:54see them or not but jet flower baxter baxter struck a couple of boys that we mentioned as well
03:58harper mcculligan another bottom major in that mix tavita rodent too and nate jenkins so
04:03uh yeah if you want to check out that full squad you can head to zerohanger.com
04:08another one as well that worth mentioning some of the early season rises that have gotten themselves
04:12into the squad uh off some some strong form obviously gus to share being one of them
04:17but who else do you want to kind of highlight yeah well i think lucky burrows as we talked about
04:21he's
04:21just been producing every week for for wesley college which has been really really impressive
04:26in the aps competition so i'm really looking forward to to seeing how he goes um nick starapoli
04:34narrowly overlooked in the mid-season draft but he'll be thereabouts i think at the end of year
04:37draft and will be part of a strong defense that also includes the likes of tate hodgson and tyson
04:43bradley and george dimer um along similar lines as um lucky burrows and albert mcgowan in strong form
04:49at school level i think the the positive here is um that vit metro and vit country can play a
04:56trial
04:56game this weekend so that gives players the opportunity to at least get a go at a slightly
05:01higher standard rather than coming in cold off schoolboy form which can sometimes take a match
05:06or two to adjust because it is such a difference in standard and a difference in style of play as
05:10well so that'll take place on sunday dingley um which is one thing that is uh it is a positive
05:15that
05:16um hasn't happened in previous years yes that's that's obviously awesome george dimer one you
05:20mentioned there he's uh got some pace to burn but obviously unfortunate news for carlid elsuki who's
05:26set to miss through injury but george dimer could be one that benefits for sure yeah absolutely um
05:31um yeah probably the cleanest player in the squad um if not in the whole crop so now looking forward
05:35to seeing what he produces
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