IT WAS only fitting that on the final day of the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships, midfielders should again play a starring role.
There were no big bags of goals or as many big grabs as previous years but pace and good ball use was at a premium.
Western Australia maintained its perfect record to take out the Division 1 trophy and claim the title as the best under-18 football state in the country.
Midfielder David Swallow, brother of North Melbourne ball-winner Andrew, shared the Larke Medal for the carnival's best Division 1 player.
However, recruiters who might have considered Swallow in their club's colours are unlikely to ever see it happen. Too young for this year’s draft, he is certain to be in Gold Coast recruiting manager Scott Clayton’s sights in 2010.
Swallow may be off-limits, but plenty of midfielders aren’t – and many of those shone.
Vic Metro’s Tom Scully, South Australia’s Jack Trengove, Western Australia’s Anthony Morabito and NSW/ACT’s Dylan McNeil were just a few to press their cases on Wednesday.
McNeil won the Hunter Harrison Medal for best player in Division 2 as NSW/ACT claimed that group's title.
AIS/AFL high performance coach Jason McCartney said the championships had been "dominated by midfield types".
Swallow shared the medal with Victoria Country's Andrew Hooper. While Hooper’s team had a so-so carnival, the North Ballarat defender was outstanding.
Also his club captain, Hooper’s leadership was evident on the final day when, as a scuffle broke out on the stroke of half time, he quickly brought his teammates together.
Vic Country fell short in the best encounter of the day’s four games – against WA – but scouts watching would have seen what kind of character Hooper is.
Rating the carnival’s top draft prospects – midfielders or not – might be tougher than in previous years.
"It’s probably not as clearly evident who your top 15 are," McCartney told afl.com.au.
"I think it maybe works itself out with your top half-dozen to eight [picks], but then after that I think there’s plenty on offer.
"It would be very hard to pick maybe 20 in order because I think once it gets past 10 or 12, it’ll be on a needs basis or what a club needs.
"Generally [in the past] that probably hasn’t occurred until maybe pick 20."
McCartney said organisers were also happy with the revised format of this year’s championships, labelling them a "huge success".
Last year two states from Division 2 were able to qualify for Division 1 if they performed well in early matches.
"The Division 2 sides that went up ended up playing eight games, so that was probably a bit too much," he said.
"This year we thought, 'Just have everyone in together and play two [sides] out of your division' and that seems to have worked pretty well."
2009 NAB AFL Under-18 Championships
Division 1 winners: Western Australia
Larke Medal: David Swallow (WA), Andrew Hooper (Vic Country)
Division 2 winners: NSW/ACT
Hunter Harrison Medal: Dylan McNeil (NSW/ACT)
