SA U18 Team defeat Victoria Metro in Game 2

By ZAC MILBANK

South Australia’s title hopes received a massive boost after it cruised to an impressive 61-point win against Victoria Metro in Game 2 of the Marsh AFL National Championships at Alberton Oval. 

Coming off a hard-fought seven-point victory against the Allies in Game 1, the Croweaters responded emphatically to an early challenge laid down by the Big V.

After booting the opening two goals of the game, Victoria Metro then booted the next four in succession to lead by seven points at the first change.

But Tony Bamford’s charges appeared to be sparked by a sensational mark which was converted by key forward Mitch Marsh in the 18th minute of the second term.

It was to be the first of SA’s avalanche of majors after regaining the lead, with the Croweaters piling on the next nine goals in succession to establish a 42-point lead by three-quarter time.

Conversely, the scoring dried up for the visitors, who went without a major from eight minutes into the second term through to Zac McCarthy’s drought-breaker 17 minutes into the fourth quarter.

With captain Dyson Sharp dominating throughout the contest, the hosts displayed their supreme efficiency in having 17 fewer disposals than their rivals while also chalking up an admirable inside 50 count of 46 to 26.

Sharp, who had 16 disposals by half-time, finished with a match-high 32 to go with his five marks, six clearances, four tackles and two goals.

His vice-captain Sam Cumming was also constructive with 19 disposals, three clearances and two goals while powerful small forward Zane Peucker helped set the tone in the first half before finishing with two goals and 12 disposals.

Tall SA utility Aidan Schubert continued his promising start to the carnival with 14 disposals, nine marks, nine hit outs and three goals while dividing his time between ruck and forward.

SA ruck Sam Ainsworth also found himself in the best players for the second match in succession after impressing with his clearance work against highly-touted Victoria Metro prospect Cooper Duff-Tytler.

The Croweaters will now turn their attention toward matches against Western Australia (Sunday June 15) at Alberton and Victoria Country (Sunday June 29) in Melbourne to finish off their campaign.

Western Australia is also undefeated after toppling Victoria Country by three points in its opening contest of the Championships in Perth.

All matches in the 2025 Marsh U18 AFL National Championships will be live streamed via the match centre on the AFL website and AFL Live Official App.

South Australia  2.2  7.5  11.8  15.10 (100)

Victoria Metro  3.3  4.3  4.8  5.9 (39)

BEST – SA: Dyson Sharp, Sam Cumming, Zane Peucker, Aidan Schubert, Matt LeRay, Sam Ainsworth, Luke Candy, Jim Kelly.

GOALS – SA: Aidan Schubert 3, Dyson Sharp, Sam Cumming, Zane Peucker 2, Noah Roberts-Thomson, Mitchell Marsh, Josh Reichelt, Cameron Nairn, Jesse Nye, Harley Barker 1.

At Alberton Oval