Victoria Country gave the Queensland Scorpions a comprehensive football lesson in Round 2 of the NAB AFL U18 National Championships, running out winners by 94 points.
The Queensland boys came back to earth with a thud after last week pulling off the upset of the Carnival with a 2 point win over Western Australia.
Victoria Country – together with South Australia – are hot favourites to take out the Division 1 Championships this year and their class and skills shined like beacons at AAMI Stadium. The Scorpions competed hard and battled on, but let themselves down with poor disposals
The Scorpions matched their rivals with plenty of intensity and clearances in a competitive first quarter but trailed the Country boys by 8 points at quarter time.
Victoria Country showed more precision with their kicking in the second term and slowly edged further ahead, kicking 3 goals to set up a 31 point lead at the long break.
The Scorpions forward structure broke down under the intense pressure applied by the Victorians. The margin widened as the game went on with the Queenslanders 61 points down at three quarter time and 94 points at the final siren.
Daniel Brown was the sole goal-kicker for the Maroons whose better players were Isaac Conway, Jermaine Wardle, Tyler Jones, Will Wolbers, Blake Grewar and Andrew Boston.
The boys now have 2 weeks to lick their wounds and reset their goals before they take on their first fellow Division 2 foe Tasmania on Sat June 23 at Yeronga.
Results from earlier Division 1 crossover games (1 win , 1 loss) do not count in deciding the winner of the NAB AFL National Championships Division 2 Championships winner.
The Scorpions are hopeful former AIS/AFL Academy Scholarship players Clay Cameron and Brian Coleman-Broome will be available for the all important game against Tasmania.