Indigenous pair Malakai Champion and Ricky Mentha are set to begin their AFL careers after being selected as Category B rookies at the conclusion of last week's AFL National and Rookie Drafts.
Champion has landed at West Coast while Mentha has joined the Melbourne after neither player was bid on by rival teams in last week's drafts.
Mentha is a versatile player from Central Australia who has been producing consistent performances for Coates Talent League club Gippsland Power since relocating to Victoria.
The 18-year-old caught the eye of scouts after producing strong performances for the Allies at the AFL National Championships and for the AFL Academy in a match against VFL outfit Coburg earlier in the year.
Mentha told the Demons that he was excited to begin his AFL journey at the club.
"I'm feeling very excited, it's been awesome and I'm very happy to be selected by the Dees," he said in an interview with the club.
"(Training at the club during last year's pre-season) was the best experience ever, I made some good connections and then meeting all the guys and seeing how professional they are was really cool experience.
"The way they carry themselves and how hard working they are at training and how they recover, things like that."
Mentha began his footy with Central Australian Football League club Pioneer and has represented the Northern Territory on multiple occasions at representative level.
He told Demons Media that he ultimately moved to Central Australia to explore greater sporting opportunities.
"There wasn't a lot of opportunities in Alice, so I made the move to Melbourne originally to try out basketball but footy somehow took over and it's been all footy since," he said.
"It was pretty hard moving because I barely knew anyone but my dad and brothers were down here and that's helped keep me busy and comfortable."
Mentha joined Gippsland Football League club Morwell and eventually progressed to playing for the Power.
He averaged 12 disposals from 14 games this year and played a variety of roles, including as a small forward and rebounding defender.
The Central Australian said that he is hoping to learn from and model his game on talented small forward, Kysaiah Pickett.
Champion – a silky-skilled small forward – has been highly regarded among West Australian junior pathway programs for a couple of seasons now.
He impressed in his five senior WAFL games for Subiaco this year, which included a three-goal performance on debut against West Coast.
The 18-year-old also had a strong AFL National Championships campaign, kicking six goals from four games, and three majors against Vic Metro.
Standing just 172cm, Champion's strengths are his speed, agility and ability to convert truly in front of goal.
In other news from the Rookie Draft, dynamic forward Ash Johnson has been re-listed by Collingwood, while injury prone defender Joel Hamling will get another opportunity at Sydney.
