Top draft contenders Jack Lukosius and Izak Rankine lead Henley to first schools championship since 1980
NUMBER one AFL draft contenders Jack Lukosius and Izak Rankine will sign off on school life on a high after leading Henley to its first Statewide Knockout Open Schools Football Cup in 38 years.
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NUMBER one AFL draft contenders Jack Lukosius and Izak Rankine will sign off on school life on a high after leading Henley to its first Statewide Knockout Open Schools Football Cup in 38 years.
The star 18-year-olds showcased their immense talent to play starring roles in Henley ending Prince Alfred College’s two-year unbeaten run at Norwood Oval on Tuesday night.
After a tight first three quarters in a fiercely contested match, Henley broke Princes' resistance to win by 25 points, 6.10 (46) to 2.9 (21).
Henley led by nine points at the final change before running away with the game.
Joint captain Lukosius — from SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens and tipped to be the first of a strong bunch of South Australians to be selected in November’s national draft — led from the front to win the Colin Steinert Medal as best afield.
Playing mainly across halfback, key position player Lukosius had 18 disposals and hauled in nine marks, including five intercept marks.
Rankine, from West Adelaide, also was good, finishing with 18 disposals, including 14 contested, kicking 1.2 and laying nine tackles in a strong all-round performance.
The pair also played key roles in SA winning this year’s AFL under-18 division one championship for the first time since 2014.
Henley’s win was redemption for losing last year’s grand final to Prince Alfred by three points following a last-gasp Princes' goal.
It was the school’s sixth championship and first since 1980.
“It’s been a long time between drinks and means so much to the boys and the school and I can’t be more proud of them,’’ Henley specialist sport football manager Ben Kane, a former Hawthorn, Glenelg and Sturt player, told The Advertiser.
“We knew this game was going to be a dogfight because both teams had good depth and there wasn’t going to be too much difference in talent between them.
“We knew it was going to come down to our effort, contest and pressure and we just wore them down and wore them down.
“We got really close last year and all the guys who played in that game and have left the school as Year 12’s were here and came in and sung the song with us in the changerooms.
“I know they feel just as much a part of it as the boys who were on the park for this game because they really helped set the bar a couple of years ago as far as the standards of school football and our football program for Henley, including the resilience side of football, which I believe has held them in good stead going forward.’’
While Kane praised Lukosius’s “team’’ contribution, he hailed his squad’s evenness while pinpointing Rankine, State under-16 players Cooper Horsnell and Luke Edwards (the son of Crows great Tyson Edwards), Noah Hannigan, Mitch Wellington, Jackson Mead (son of Port Adelaide’s inaugural AFL club champion Darren Mead), Patrick Hillard and Tex Dowdell as other standouts.
“It was just a great team effort and a credit to all the boys because a lot of the them played SANFL football on the weekend,’’ he said.
Prince Alfred, which claimed the Messenger Shield after beating Rostrevor in their college clash earlier this month, was led brilliantly by captain Tom Sparrow.
The South Adelaide midfielder was enormous with 23 disposals, including 16 contested, eight marks and six tackles.
He will find an AFL home in November.
All-Australian under-18 player Will Gould, from Glenelg, who is too young to be drafted this year, had 13 disposals and took three marks.
Kysiah Pickett — the nephew of Power and North Melbourne premiership player Byron Pickett — was impressive, showing class and power in the midfield.
SCORES
HENLEY 2.2 3.5 3.8 6.10 (46)
PAC 1.2 1.4 2.5 2.9 (21)
GOALS — Henley: Hannigan 2, Horsnell, Schreiber, Rankine, Nunan. PAC: Pointon, Dudley.