WEST Coast fans last year vented their spleens on, among others, a trio of youngsters who were not coming up to expectations. That same trio tonight gave Eagles supporters heart. If Chris Masten, Brad Ebert and Scott Selwood are showing signs of turning the corner, maybe the entire team can follow.

The NAB Cup is like a parade at the yearling sales, such is the emphasis on youth, but sometimes you need to keep an eye on the older colts like Masten, Ebert and Selwood.

Masten showed pace around the packs and Ebert seized on opportunities. Selwood made mistakes but his application was among the qualities that underpinned the Eagles’ successful night.

Among those in their first game in the Eagles’ blue and gold, the understated Andrew Gaff showed poise to justify his selection at No.4 in last year’s NAB national draft, and Jack Darling showed the rambunctious spirit that attracted attention even before he was picked up in the draft. The Eagles’ recruiters would have been happy with their selection of chalk and cheese.

The Hawks had so many youngsters in their team that they did their warm-ups in the toddlers’ pool, but it was those same youngsters who showed the daring to shake up the Eagles and then zip past the Dockers.

Unheralded players like Shane Savage and Jordan Lisle have been with the Hawks a little while without much return, suggesting an ability to persist if nothing else. Tonight their persistence was rewarded.

Savage surged in the second half against West Coast, his audacious dash around the boundary in the dying seconds especially impressive. Lisle missed several chances to mark but still kept presenting and finally, in the dying minutes, he forced Eagles captain Darren Glass to flay at his arms during a marking contest. His goal from the free kick put the Hawks within a goal.

Forwards Luke Bruest and Sam Menegola and wingman Isaac Smith impressed with their coolness against Fremantle, while defender Paul Puopolo’s full-throated effort showed why the Hawks drafted him after four seasons at SANFL club Norwood. Tom Schneider (no relation to St Kilda’s Adam) showed more than enough nous to suggest that he’s a natural footballer.

The most celebrated young players from the weekend’s matches were the forward duo from Melbourne. You couldn’t imagine a more polar pairing than Jack Watts, a somewhat foppish former private schoolboy, and Liam Jurrah, a Walpiri tribesman from Central Australia, but it showed signs of working magnificently in the Demons’ wins over Adelaide and Port Adelaide.

Jurrah is an uncanny judge in the air, as shown by his effort to outstretch two Crows defenders to mark, and has feet like a cat, as shown by his balance when he kicked around the corner to pop through a goal. Watt has the enormous appetite for goal that underpins those few players who are natural forwards.

Coillingwood’s premiership team last year was outrageously young, and that quality was again obvious in the only demolition of the weekend, the Pies’ 43-point victory over Richmond on Saturday night. The Pies’ best in that match included Blair, Thomas, Beams, Dawes, Toovey and Buckley. Not one of those players is over 24.

The vanquished coach from that game, Richmond’s Damien Hardwick, was quite pleased after the loss because it had given his team the chance to learn from the best.
Hardwick made the point that his squad on Saturday night included 16 first- and second year players.

In a conclusion that will be foreign to no one around NAB Cup time, he said he was happy with his younger players.