Australian Under 18’s have defeated European Legion by 134 points in the EPG Easter Series held at Surrey Sports Park in London on Saturday April 7.

Lead by High Performance Coach Michael O’Loughlin, the AFL’s future stars dominated early, kicking 15 goals in the first half, with Troy Menzel, brother of Daniel at the Geelong Cats, kicking five goals in a brilliant individual performance.

The European Legion, coached by former Sydney Swan and AFL Ambassador Tadhg Kennelly and AFL Coaching Director Peter Schwab, matched the Australians in the third quarter with only one goal apiece resulting.

The Legion continued to compete fiercely up until the end of the match however they were out-classed by the silky skills of the Australian side.

Most valuable player awards were presented to midfielder Nick Vlastuin from the Australian team and defender Levi Fernandez from Great Britain won the award for European Legion.

The representative European side was made up of Under 23 players from Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Germany, Italy and Finland.

The Australian team comprised players from across Australia, all being members of the AIS-AFL Academy and are all eligible for the NAB AFL Draft in November this year.

The day also included the launch of AFL 9’s in Europe.

AFL stars, including Stephen Silvagni, Ang Christou, Glen Lovett, Brad Lloyd, AFL Ambassador Robert DiPierdomenico and AFL International Development Manager Tony Woods, all took to the field to showcase AFL 9’s which will be played throughout Europe in 2012.

RESULTS:

Australia U18       7.2 (44)            15.6 (96)          16.9 (105)        22.14 (146)

European Legion      1.0 (6)              1.0 (6)              2.0 (12)            2.0 (12)

GOALS

Australia U18: T. Menzel 5, J. Daniher 4, T. Membrey 3, L. Whitfield 3, J. Toumpas 2, J. O’Rourke, S. Mayes, B. Murdoch, J. Stringer, B. Grundy,

European Legion: M. Bartley, P. McBrearty

BEST

Australia U18: N. Vlastuin, L. Whitfield, S. Mayes, O. Wines, T. Menzel, J. Daniher

European Legion: Levi Fernandez, Sean Hurley, Jens Djernes, Muiris Bartley, Emmett Bradley, Connor Gough

The Australian Under 18 team will continue their European tour with the next stop being France where the players will visit the Australian War Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux and play a historic match in Paris against the European Titans.