Best of the best to face Knights

THE Tasmania Devils will roll out their best 17-year-old players against the Northern Knights at the Twin Ovals on Saturday as part of the NAB League’s Futures round.

The AFL recruiters want to see the next generation of potential league players and all teams must play 11 of their 17-year-olds in Round 11.

Devils coach Adrian Fletcher said his side was already ahead of the game.

“We’ve consistently played around eight or nine 17-year-olds all season so we only have to find a couple more this week,” Fletcher said.

Mitch O’Neill will continue his representative duties with the Allies in their clash with Western Australia in Adelaide on Saturday at the AFL national under-18 championships, while his North Hobart teammate Jake Steele was named as an Allies emergency.

O’Neill, 18, was one of the Allies’ key ball-winners in their 97-point Round 1 loss to Vic Country at UTas Stadium two weeks ago.

“Mitch was by far the best Allies player on a disappointing day,” Fletcher said. “He kicked the ball really well, took some marks and had 25 touches.”

Another Demon, Sam Collins, and Clarence’s Ollie Davis are back for the Devils as part of the team’s main crop of 17-year-olds, along with Patrick Walker, Isaac Chugg, Jye Menzie, Will Harper, Jackson Callow, Ollie Sanders, Oliver Burrows-Cheng and Lachie Borsboom.

“We’ve got some really good young kids coming through and that’s a really good thing for Tassie footy,” Fletcher said.

The Knights are 11th out of 18 in the NAB League, one spot behind the Devils.

“They’ve got to play 11 17-yearolds too, and we haven’t seen a lot of their 17-year-olds, but we know they will be tough,” Fletcher said.