So, the U18 championships have come and gone, and sadly, unlike last year, Ive been too busy to give my take on it all, heck even this post has taken way longer than it should have to write!. So instead of the missed weekly updates that I was planning on posting, Im just going to post a couple of thoughts, with the idea of opening a dialog with you guys out there. cause damn, as a collective, were a pretty clever mob.

First off, Im going to post up the All Australia squad, while not neccessarily the best way of picking fantasy potential, its not a bad place to start.

Defenders: Ben Jacobs (VM), Matt Watson(VM), Dyson Heppell (VC), Shaun Atley (VC), Patrick McCarthy (SA), Brodie Smith (SA)
Midfield: Jared Polec (SA), Daniel Gorringe (SA), Andrew Gaff (VM), Mitch Hallahan (VC), Anthony Miles (NSW/ACT), Tom Liberatore (VM)
Forwards: Harley Bennell (WA), Lucas Cook (VC), Adam Treloar (VC), Jayden Pitt (VC), Steven May (NT), Josh Caddy (VM)
Interchange: Sam Day (SA), Josh Bruce (NSW/ACT), Josh Green (Tas), Sam Darley (TAS)

Next, I want to bring to attention this article on the AFL website- <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/97612/default.aspx">2010 NAB AFL Draft: 25 to watch[/url] - which offers up a brief spiel on the whos who, and offers up a good number of names to keep an eye on.

What Im really looking forward to though is the follow up to <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/96019/default.aspx">this article[/url] - which lists the top 10 SuperCoach averages over the first 2 games.

Now, one thought that has been going around my head these past few weeks is on the GCs picks. 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15. If they had these picks this year, they would have picked up- Scully, Trengove, Martin, Cunnington, Sheppard, Moore, Gysberts, Talia and Howard. A great list, yes- but consider the implications. Firstly, they will be signing ready made players. Secondly, theyve already picked up a selection of excellent draft picks from last years draft.

So what Im getting at- theres a chance that there will be less gametime for the pointy end of this draft, because they will all be competing to see who they fit into the new squad. Theres no way Scully, Trengove, Martin and Cunnington would all be getting the same gametime if they were all at the Demons this year. Which will make life very difficult for us, the home viewer I reckon.

Basically what Im trying to say is that next year, rookie selection will be more important than ever before- particularly if the salary scaling on them goes up some more- So a good working knowledge of them, irrespective of where they are drafted, will help us pick more diamonds out of the rough.

Anyways Ill start us off, the "general consensus (TM)" is that the first three picks to the GC will be Swallow, Bennell and Day. Of these I reckon Swallow will be in a lot of teams. The boy is all class and I reckon the GC have got to start getting some games into him early. Bennell won the award for the best player at the U18 championships, but at 180cm and 70kg- he could be a little light on. (Though I suppose Hill was 182 and 72kg back in 08 and he did great.); additionally, theres a good chance hell have M/F eligibility with a 6 goal haul against SA.

Personally, my pick of the bunch will be Josh Caddy, an inside mid who loves to get forward and kick a goal- Also with a little luck, hell avoid going to the coast.

Another one to watch has got to be Ben Jacobs. Named Back pocket in the AA team, gets plenty of the ball at half back and in one game amassed 47 touches. Gotta watch where that kind of potential goes.

Anyways, well be looking at these blokes a lot over the next few months, so take a bit of time and get familiarised with them- it means that when you are picking rookies for your squad, you go in with both eyes open.