AFL National Under 18 Championships

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(Redirected from Larke Medal)

The AFL National Under 18 Championships are the annual national Australian rules football championships for players aged 18 years or younger. The competition is seen as one of the main pathways towards being drafted into a team in the fully professional Australian Football League. Originally known as the Teal Cup, the competition began in 1953 between Queensland and New South Wales, but now features teams from each Australian state or Territory.^[1] The competition was renamed to the AFL National Under 18 Championships after the Commonwealth Bank sponsored the competition in 1995 and is currently sponsored by the National Australia Bank.

In 1989, Victoria was split into two teams - Metro and Country to ensure that other states could remain competitive. New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory combined into a single team in 1996. Between 1992 and 2008, the competition was run with two separate divisions, with four teams in each division.

[edit] Awards

The Larke Medal is awarded to the best player in Division 1 of the competition. It is named in honour of a junior footballer, Michael Larke, who was killed in a bus crash whilst attending trial matches for NSW. The Hunter Harrison Medal is awarded to the best player in Division 2 and is named in honour of the former president and life member of the Northern Territory Football League, Hunter Harrison, who played a major role in the development of the AFL youth championships.^[2]

[edit] Past winners

Year	Division 1 Premiers	Larke Medal	Division 2 Premiers	Hunter Harrison Medal
1953	Queensland
1963	Queensland
1971	Queensland
1972	Queensland
1973	Queensland
1974	New South Wales
1975	New South Wales
1976	Victoria	Mick Woods (Vic)
1977	Victoria	Rodney Watts (Vic)
1978	South Australia	Mark Weidemann (SA)
1979	South Australia	Grant Campbell (WA)
1980	South Australia	Darryl Murphy (ACT)
1981	Victoria	Paul Salmon (Vic)
1982	Victoria	Michael Phyland (NSW)
1983	Victoria	Greg Anderson (SA)
1984	Victoria	David Condon (NSW)
1985	Western Australia	Jason Kerr (NSW)
1986	Victoria	Stephen Lawrence (QLD)
1987	Victoria	Steven Kolyniuk (Vic)
1988	Victoria	Robbie Wright (NSW)
1989	Vic Country	Ray Windsor (QLD)
1990	Vic Metro	Paul Williams (Tas)
1991	South Australia	Robert Neill (ACT)
1992	Vic Metro	Daniel Southern (WA)	Vic Country	Michael Voss (Qld)
1993	Vic Metro	Shaun McManus (WA)	New South Wales	Mark Ryan (NT)
1994	Vic Metro	Daniel Harford (Vic Metro)	Vic Country	Michael Martin (Tas)
1995	South Australia	Luke Godden (Vic Metro) Ben Setchell (Vic Country)	Western Australia	Steven Koops (NT)
1996	Vic Metro	Pat Steinfort (Vic Metro)	Tasmania	Matthew Bernes (Tas)
1997	Vic Metro	Tim Finocchiaro (Vic Metro)	Queensland	Fred Campbell (NT)
1998	Vic Metro	Garth Taylor (WA)	/ NSW/ACT	Shane Young (Qld) Derek Murray (NSW/ACT)
1999	Western Australia	Paul Hasleby (WA)	Queensland	Brad Green (Tas)
2000	Vic Country	Kayne Pettifer (Vic Country)	/ NSW/ACT	Ian Callinan (Tas)
2001	Vic Metro	Sam Power (Vic Metro) Steven Armstrong (WA)	Tasmania	Tom Davidson (Tas)
2002	Vic Metro	Byron Schammer (SA)	/ NSW/ACT	Anthony Corrie (NT)
2003	Vic Country	Kepler Bradley (WA)	/ NSW/ACT	Jake Furfaro (Qld)
2004	Vic Metro	Jesse Smith (Vic Metro)	Northern Territory	Richard Tambling (NT)
2005	Vic Metro	Marc Murphy (Vic Metro)	Tasmania	Grant Birchall (TAS)
2006	Vic Metro	Tom Hawkins (Vic Metro)	Queensland	Ricky Petterd (QLD)
2007	Western Australia	Cale Morton (WA)	/ NSW/ACT	Craig Bird (NSW/ACT)
2008	Vic Metro	Jack Watts (Vic Metro)	Tasmania	Mitch Robinson (TAS)
2009	Western Australia	David Swallow (WA) Andrew Hooper (Vic Country)	/ NSW/ACT	Dylan McNeil (NSW/ACT)