The WA State 18s boys held on for a gutsy 12-point win over South Australia in their opening match of the 2026 Marsh AFL National Under-18 Championships.

Scouts were presented with a buffet of talent over the weekend at Mineral Resources Park, with plenty of WA’s boys stepping up to the occasion.

The home side burst out the gates with five unanswered goals in the first quarter, maintaining scoreboard pressure in the second and third terms.

A fourth quarter barrage from South Australia saw the visitors start the final term off with three unanswered goals, getting themselves within a three-point margin in the final term.

Composure from Frazer Rickson saw him kick his second goal to give WA some breathing room before James Artemis burst through the middle to kick a late game sealer. 

AFL talent ambassador Kevin Sheehan joined Sports Breakfast this morning.

“They were impressive the WA boys, they jumped the blocks and it was five goals to none at quarter time with their midfield on fire,” he said.

“They haven’t won it [the national championships] since Luke Jackson and Trent Rivers and Chad Warner… so they’ve given themselves a chance with a great early win over SA.”

Plenty of players stood out with co-captains Leo Steed and George Gale both leading by example.

Steed racked up 30 disposals and four clearances, also slotting a goal while George Gale had 27 touches of his own and took seven marks.

“I loved Leo Steed’s game – a boy that has had some senior games this year at Swan Districts and of course benefitted from that.”

“He’s developed into a good player. [He’s] a great ball winner, had 30 disposals and really set them on fire early and provided that great leadership they needed.

“George Gale’s a running machine… he comes from very elite talent too, with his grandfather and of course his father a player – his grandfather a great golfer.”

Lucas Robinson’s experience in the League side at South Fremantle showed over the weekend as he gathered 25 touches, providing eight clearances and laying five tackles.

“Lucas Robinson I think is a very promising player… He’s a contested ball winner, a tall midfielder – about 192 [cm] – very strong, got a terrific set of hands and sets the play up.”

Both hailing from great sporting genes, Harper Banfield and Heath Mellody lived up to expectations on Saturday.

Banfield stood out with 24 touches, four clearances and provided three inside 50 entries, while Mellody had 21 disposals.

Axel Walsh and Benji Van Rooyen shared the workload in the ruck – Walsh having 10 hit outs and scoring a goal while Van Rooyen had 18 hit outs and five clearances.

“They’ve got a couple of big boys. Axel Walsh, he may well be the best boy of his age in Australia today as a 202 centimetre ruckman. That helps a lot with big Benji Van Rooyen, the brother of Jacob.”

WA will play Vic Metro this coming Saturday in their second match of the tournament – a team said to be stacked with young draft-worthy talent.

Captain Harry Van Hattum stands at 205cm and is looking to go quick at this year’s draft as a ruckman.

“We haven’t seen the Metro boys so we’ll see them this weekend. They’ll come to Perth and we’ll get a look at what is regarded as a pretty good tall team coming out of Melbourne led by a kid called Harry Van Hattum – a boy that is as big as we’ve probably seen at this level in terms of his size and physique.”

“Their [Walsh and Van Rooyen] battle with Van Hattum is going to be well worth watching.”

Saturday’s match will take place at 10:20am at Cockburn Arc.

IMAGE: AFL Photos