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Lucas Robinson<\/p>\nThe state squads for u18s and u16s have been released and show many promising signs for the future of footy in WA.<\/p>\n
WA State Talent Manager Adam Jones and his team have spent all summer identifying talent to select for the squad, and teams like Claremont, East Fremantle and South Fremantle have all excelled with 21 players selected between the three clubs for the 18s side.<\/p>\n
Younger brother of Demons key forward Jacob Van Rooyen, Benji, is a top prospect for the 2026 AFL draft, and he\u2019ll be looking to make an impact alongside Drew Banfield\u2019s son, Harper.<\/p>\n
An exhibition match scheduled on May 16 for the 18s and the WAFL\u2019s best under 20, with 6 more games throughout the season against other interstate teams.<\/p>\n
Players like Lucas Robinson who are making their way deep into their club\u2019s League side will not be missing too much WAFL footy over the course of the season, with Jones saying those players will only need to play two state games which fall over the WAFL\u2019s bye weeks.<\/p>\n
The talent manager joined\u00a0Sports Breakfast\u00a0this morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be able to get all that talent together and be able to work with them over the next couple of months is really exciting and I\u2019m really happy with the talent we\u2019ve got in both 18s and 16s. I think we\u2019re going to shape up for a really competitive campaign,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got six trial games in the 18s this year, and if they\u2019re playing league they\u2019ll only be selected for two of those games.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys like Leo Steed, Lucas Robinson, Frazer Rickson will be available for that game, and then for our last trial game we\u2019ll play our best team as well. We want to keep those guys in league football, it\u2019s important for their WAFL clubs and also for their individual development.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the u16s, East Fremantle are looking to repeat their 2019 draft class with 12 players selected including brother of Sydney Swans duo Chad and Corey Warner.<\/p>\n
The Sharks presented the AFL with outstanding talent in 2019 with big names like Fremantle\u2019s Luke Jackson at pick 3, as well as Jeremy Sharp, Chad Warner, Trent Rivers and Trey Ruscoe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucas Robinson<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got I think 12 from East Fremantle, one of the highest numbers we\u2019ve had in the squad from one club, and I can tell you it\u2019s one of the most talented groups of kids that I\u2019ve seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt reminds me a little bit of 2019 when Luke Jackson\u2026 Chad Warner, those sorts of names came through. So I think East Fremantle might have a similar crop in the 16s this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones said the jump from 16s to 18s is large in terms of professionalism and the standard of football, with the leap often differentiating the best footballers from the rest of their club.<\/p>\n
The opportunity to represent the state at both 16s and 18s give players who develop later a chance to still make a name for themselves in the draft or potentially make the AFL later as a recruit.<\/p>\n
\u201cHudson Graham, really late developer \u2013 I think he\u2019s grown about eight centimetres since futures \u2013 but he\u2019s a key position player. And his teammate Conor Bushe-Jones, he\u2019s a really skinny sort of tall ruckman. They were both late developers and were involved at the 16s level and have come up to the 18s squad.\u201d<\/p>\n
South Fremantle might have some AFL material on their hands with Byron Foster and Heath Wilson both prominent on the talent manager\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n
It was Claremont who caught Jones\u2019 eye the most with Heath Mellody standing out as the squad\u2019s best player \u2013 a sweeping halfback midfielder hoping to add speed and rebound to the state side.<\/p>\n
We could see another Wirrpanda in the AFL in the coming years, with David\u2019s son, Eli, selected from East Perth for the 16s side \u2013 his Dad making his professional debut 30 years ago this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cEli is only slight at this stage, he\u2019s a little fellow with blistering speed and fantastic skills.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got some of the stuff you can\u2019t teach players with speed and skill and as we build his body over the next few years, West coast fans I think can get pretty excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first game for the 18s squad on May 16 provides them with an opportunity to gel as a team on the field before they take their skills interstate in June.<\/p>\n
16s Squad<\/p>\n
Claremont: Sam Gooch<\/p>\n
East Fremantle: Aiden Martignago, Aiden Wilson, Clancy Gaspar, Jack Holland, Jayden Makanza, Jayke Taylor, Josh Waite, Naka Herwanto, Owen Hodge, Raf McRae, Tom De Jong, Troy Warner<\/p>\n
East Perth: Eli Wirrpanda, Nate Cass, Noth Thompson (South West Academy)<\/p>\n
Peel Thunder: Jai Keene, Xavier Stewart (South West Academy)<\/p>\n
Perth: Ashley Clayton, Cruz Ingleton, Lincoln Workman<\/p>\n
South Fremantle: Henry Synnot, Noah Haskell, Luke Websdale Jnr<\/p>\n
Subiaco: Levi Ord, Toby McLaren, Zinzan Clark<\/p>\n
Swan Districts: Bernard Edmondson (South West Academy), Coby Jackson, Dylan Wood, Ethan Wulf, James Kent<\/p>\n
West Perth: Josh Oldroyd<\/p>\n
Train-ons: Sam Keys (East Perth),\u00a0Xavier Allison (Perth),\u00a0Tye Subritzky (Perth), Josh King (Subiaco), Darcy Dingle (Subiaco) and Jed McGuane (West Perth)<\/p>\n
18s Squad \u2013 <\/p>\n
Claremont:\u00a0Benji van Rooyen, George Gale, Heath Mellody, Robby Farmer, Elijah Dennis, Harper Banfield, Elijah Williams, Jacob Kee, Tom Brown<\/p>\n
East Fremantle: Cooper Ramsay, Finlay Yeo, James Artemis, Oscar Richardson, Marcus Motton, Ben Wood<\/p>\n
East Perth: Garrison Kenh, Axel Walsh, Lachlan McGlade, Ethan Turner<\/p>\n
Peel Thunder: Mitch Stirling<\/p>\n
Perth: Jayden Clarke, Fynn Tomasini, Cody Lee<\/p>\n
South Fremantle: Heath Wilson, Byron Foster, Lucas Robinson, Cam Maynard, Conor Bushe-Jones, Hudson Graham<\/p>\n
Subiaco: Kyan Perera, Frazer Rickson, Sam O\u2019Brien<\/p>\n
Swan Districts: Leo Steed, Sheldon Pickett<\/p>\n
West Perth: Koby LeCras, Harvey Spawton-Guy, Rafe Williamson, Maxim Collins, Campbell Creyk<\/p>\n
Train-on players: Lachlan Sheldrick (Claremont), Damien Newry (Claremont), Noah Hannaford (East Fremantle), Hunter Hearn (East Fremantle), Taj Allan (Swan Districts)<\/p>\n
IMAGE: Blake Parry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The state squads for u18s and u16s have been released and show many promising signs for the future…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,588,85,36052],"class_list":["post-626851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-wafl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}