South Australia opens its U18 national campaign on Saturday against a combined Allies side stacked with potential first round picks.

The Allies have been included in this year’s Division One carnival to allow recruiters to compare the best of the players from Queensland, New South Wales and the Northern Territory with Division One prospects.

SA will be at home for the first three of its four games, with Saturday’s match starting at 10.30am at Football Park.

There has been little hype so far this year about the leading SA draft hopefuls but that could change with a successful championships.

Midfielder Jonty Scharenberg, the brother of Collingwood’s Matt, made his league debut for Glenelg last year and was in the AIS Academy with Steven Slimming, captain Jack Graham and ruckman Peter Ladhams.

SA Under 18 coach Brenton Phillips said the side was close to full strength, with only three players missing with injury.

Many of the potential early picks on show on Saturday will be Club Academy players available to Gold Coast, GWS and Brisbane through the draft bidding system.

Jack Bowes (Gold Coast), Brisbane’s Jacob Allison and GWS pair Will Setterfield and Harrison McReadie could be top ten picks while Zach Sproule, Harry Perryman, Kobe Mutch (GWS), Brad Scheer and Jack Rolls (Gold Coast) are also highly-rated.

Todd Marshall, a 197cm forward from Deniliquin, is one who is available in the open draft and could climb into the top ten.

Western Australia will host Vic Country on Sunday in the other Division One game this weekend.

SA v Allies teams

SA

B: Sam Walker, Thomas Schmusch, Andrew McPherson

HB: Steven Slimming, Brennan Cox, Mitchell Hinge

C: Jackson Lee, Jonty Scharenberg, Alex Villis

HF: Corey May, Callum Coleman-Jones, Kym Lebois

F: Tyson Stengle, Darcy Fogarty, Will Hayward

R: Peter Ladhams, Jack Graham, Jake Comitogianni

Inter: Jordan Sweet, Ben Jarman, Dakota Nixon, Tye Bedford, Jake Pitman, Lee Minervini, Aiden Musolino

Allies

B: Lachlan McKenzie, Declan Watson, Elliott Himmelberg

HB: Jack Rolls, Harrison McReadie, Isaac Cumming

C: Josh Williams. Harry Perryman, Fletcher Carroll

HF: Sam Fisher, Zachary Sproule, Ben Davis

F: Mitchell Maguire, Todd Marshall, Brad Scheer

R: Max Lynch, Kobe Mutch. Jack Bowes

Int: Connor Ballenden, Jack Powell, Jacob Allison, Rohan Armstrong, Tony Olango, Jamie Hampton, Daniel Charlesworth