The outrageously talented team changing the face of the AFL draft

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Key points

• Twelve per cent of AFL players are drafted from the northern states.
• Hulking forward Jed Walter could usurp Harley Reid as this year’s No.1 pick in the national draft.
• Walter, Ethan Read and Jake Rogers are all Gold Coast Academy prospects and set to join the Suns after attracting likely first-round draft bids.
• Father-son prospect Indhi Kirk, son of former Swans captain Brett, also plays for the Allies.

History could, and probably will, be made on Sunday.

The Allies – a hodgepodge of the best teenage football talent from NSW/ACT, Tasmania, Queensland and the Northern Territory – are gunning for an unbeaten AFL Under-18 Championships campaign against Victoria Country.

Young guns in alliance (from left): Jed Walter, Indhi Kirk, Colby McKercher, Ryley Sanders.Credit: Getty Images / AFL Photos

Making the potential feat more extraordinary is that this squad never won more than one game in any of the previous five times they contested the championships, with a total win-loss record of 4-16.

As the AFL’s former national talent football manager, Mick Ablett, said: “We used to celebrate them winning one game, but now the talk is how much they will win by – it’s remarkable. If they win the title, it will be one of the great things to happen in the talent space in the last 10 years.”

The Mark McVeigh-coached, 2023 Allies are a different beast, loaded with outrageous talent that will shape the top end of this year’s national draft. There’s hulking forward Jed Walter, Tasmanian-born midfielders Colby McKercher and Ryley Sanders, strong-marking swingman Connor O’Sullivan, and 202-centimetre unicorn Ethan Read.

And don’t forget pocket-rocket Jake Rogers, who won the AFL Academy’s best player award for his performances against Carlton’s and Port Adelaide’s reserves. Walter, Read and Rogers are all Gold Coast Academy prospects and set to join the Suns after attracting likely first-round draft bids in November.

There are plenty more: GWS Giants beanpole Charlie McCormack – a rake-thin forward who’s kicked 10 goals from 15 kicks across three games – hard nut Caiden Cleary, Swans-attached forward Max Ryder, goalsneak Jack Callinan (son of former Crow Ian), plus father-son-eligible Indhi Kirk (son of Brett, who embodied the “Bloods” spirit that carried the Swans to the 2005 flag).

Former Sydney captain Brett Kirk with his family in 2010. Son Indhi (climbing on his dad) is now a father-son prospect.Credit: Dallas Kilponen

Both McVeigh and AFL talent guru Kevin “Shifter” Sheehan believe 197-centimetre Walter is so promising he could do the unthinkable and usurp Vic Country and Tongala rising star Harley Reid to be this year’s No.1 pick.

“I haven’t seen another young key forward put pressure on like Walter does. His want to tackle and compete is as good as I’ve seen,” McVeigh said.

“He will challenge for the No.1 pick. Like all players, he has stuff to work on, but he’s built for the AFL, and he plays next year, there’s no doubt about that. He’s a beauty.”

The AFL introduced the Allies into the championships in 2016, after trialling various concepts to expose the elite players from those states and territories, including a grand final day clash with the AFL Academy for several years.

The hulking Jed Walter could usurp Harley Reid as No.1 pick. Credit: AFL Photos / Getty Images

Way back, they used to play a one-off match late in the season against a Victorian side made up of leftover players who missed out on Vic Metro and Vic Country selection but were in the draft mix.

Perhaps, it should not have taken so long for the Allies to be brought in, given 12 of the first 32 players picked in the 2006 draft came from those areas, including Jack Riewoldt, David Armitage and Kurt Tippett.

They instead competed for their individual states and territories (NSW/ACT was the exception) in division two of the championships, which Ablett said everyone knew was not taken as seriously, or treated with the same respect – from recruiters down – as the division one equivalent.

Charlie McCormack (centre) celebrates an Allies goal with Jack Callinan (left), son of former Crow Ian.Credit: AFL Photos / Getty Images

That evolved into the Academy Series, which served as players’ chance to audition for the Allies. Now the Sydney Swans, Brisbane Lions, Gold Coast, GWS Giants and the NT play in a part-time capacity in the under-18 Talent League, while Tasmania is involved on a full-time basis.

McVeigh, the former Essendon midfielder who is the Swans’ Academy head coach outside his Allies duties, said the next step was to make sure the academies were also fully fledged members of that competition.

“I’m really big on the academies being in it full-time. Imagine if the Sydney Swans or Brisbane Lions academy could play every week in the Coates [Talent] League?” McVeigh said.

“They say that financially it can’t work. Righto, how about we pick the best players from the Swans and Giants to make one team, and the Lions and Suns another, to compete every week and share the financial burden of travelling from the northern states?

“These kids need to continue to play the best players in the country.”

Sheehan said the Allies’ creation came about after overwhelming feedback from AFL recruiters that they needed to see the most gifted young footballers from those states and territories up against the best from the traditional powerhouses.

It was the only way to fairly assess them ahead of the draft.

“The club academies run by AFL clubs up there have certainly worked quite well, and they have developed players impressively,” Sheehan said.

‘There will be a strong number (drafted from the northern states) in the first round this year – maybe seven or eight, which would be a marvellous result.’

“They have a good number in the national program as well, under Tarkyn Lockyer. We were probably dreaming about 20 years ago that we could get 20 per cent of the players drafted from northern Australia.

“It was once eight per cent, and it’s grown to 12. Certainly, there will be a strong number in the first round this year – maybe seven or eight, which would be a marvellous result. [Australian football] has become a sport of choice up there.”

McVeigh, who gave credit for his strong squad to the state and territory talent programs, is not shying away from the occasion, embracing the opportunity.

“We want to put the Allies on the map, and we’ve said that from the very start,” McVeigh said. “We want to finish in a strong way this week, and we’re not holding back – we are going after Vic Country.”

Sunday’s AFL under-18 Championships schedule

RSEA Park, Moorabbin

10.35am: Victoria Metro v Western Australia

1.15pm: Victoria Country v Allies

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