The NAB AFL Under 18 Championships are the annual national Australian rules football championships for players aged 18 years or younger. The competition is seen as one of the main pathways towards being drafted into a team in the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). Originally known as the Teal Cup, the competition began in 1953 between Queensland and New South Wales, but now features teams from each Australian state and mainland territory. For the purposes of the competition, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory have combined since 1996 to form one team (NSW/ACT), and players from Victoria have been split into two teams (Vic Metro and Vic Country) since 1989. The tournament is currently sponsored by the National Australia Bank, having previously been sponso