World Footy News

The AFL Middle East Grand Final "Prematch" was played last week, with the Heat edging out the Falcons in a thriller. Just two points separated the top two teams at the final siren.

The league’s Football Operations Manager, Cameron Hotton, kindly provided the following review:

In windy conditions at The Sevens ground in Dubai, Abu Dhabi came out ready to play and showed that it was possible to kick goals against the strong breeze – matching it with the more fancied Heat in terms of goals scored, but were two points behind on the scoreboard.

The second quarter saw the Falcons outplay the Heat yet again but probably didn’t kick as straight as the would have liked, kicking 3.5 for the quarter to the Heat’s 1.2. Both sides went in at half time with the Falcons holding a significant 13 point lead in a reasonably low scoring game – 42 points to 29.

The third quarter saw much of the same as the first half with the wind still strong, yet the Falcons still scoring as many goals as the Heat and this time kicking one more behind to win the quarter and increase their lead to 14 points.

When Abu Dhabi kicked the first goal of the last quarter, everyone though it was over. But they all forgot to tell the Heat players as their backline held strong and didn’t allow another score for the quarter. They were continually repelling attacks and sending the ball forward into attack. With the Heat having another 8 scoring shots, converting 3 of them into majors, 4 behinds and an out on the full, it was enough to get them over the line by 2 points.

They got themselves out of jail to keep their unbeaten AFL Middle East games streak alive.

Heat 10.11 (71) def. Abu Dhabi 10.9 (69)

The match also marked the end of the Home and Away season. Of some consolation to Abu Dhabi was the awarding of the league’s individual honours.

The Aussie Property MVP was awarded to Ben Williams of the Falcons over Paul Andrews and Damian Matacz, both of Muscat.

The Rider Levett Bucknall Leading Goal Kicker went to another Falcon, Marc Peterson. James Hope of the Dubai Heat and Stewart Hunt of Bahrain kicked the second and their most goals during the season respectively.

Other final round matches saw the Dragons defeat the Dingoes 18.13 (121) to 13.5 (83) and Bahrain finish off their inaugural season in style, clinching win number three against Doha.

Observant readers will recall that Bahrain was scheduled a bye for Round 7. Their win against Doha was technically a delayed Round 6 match. Doha had played their Round 7 match against Muscat a week earlier, which they also lost.

The final ladder is below, with Muscat managing to edge ahead of Doha on percentage and avoid the wooden spoon.