World Footy News

File footage of a Binatangs squad from a previous year

The twenty five young AFL players returned home to PNG last week after an exciting and successful inaugural tour to Queensland for the Queensland Under Fourteen State Championships. The PNG Binatangs won 2 and lost 2 matches, a great result for a side that hadn't played together as a team until their first match of the tour, and was touring to a foreign land for the first time. National Operations Manager Peter Cates said "The boys that were part of the U14 Binatangs were selected at last years Junior National Championships and have been undergoing training under local AFLPNG supervision in their provinces, until they came together as a squad, just prior to flying to Australia".

The team arrived in Brisbane on Friday 29 Jun07 and played their first game, as a warm up match, on Saturday 30 June against Sandgate Districts. The result was surprising given that the Binatangs had never played as a team before. The results were: PNG Binatangs 8.8 (64) def Sandgate Districts 0.0 (0)

The Squad then travelled down to the Gold Coast for the QLD U 14 Championships. Their first game was against the highly fancied Western Taipans. The Binatangs commenced with a strong performance against the pre-tournament favourites and although outsized, the PNG boys' work rate and tackling kept them in the game early on and, although competitive, the Binatangs lacked the height to dominate the game against the eventual finalist. Final scores were:

PNG Binatangs 4.5 (29) def by Western Taipans 10.10 (70), PNG's best: Nelson Henaoe, Bruce Sylvester, Elliot Takulo, Theo Garvuri, Brendan Gotuno

The second game on the Gold Coast was against the Country Kookaburras and the Binatangs showed great improvement but were let down by their short kicking. The scores do not reflect the closeness of the game as the Kookaburras kicked three late goals as the Binatangs tired in the last quarter. Although defeated, the Binatangs were in front for three quarters before injury to key players saw the Kookaburras slip away to a 4 goal win. Until this year when they were invited to play as their own team, the Binatangs' best had previously competed as part of the Kookaburras squad. Final Scores were:

PNG Binatangs 4.6 (30) def by Country Kookaburras 8.11 (59), PNG's best: B.Beno, T.Garvari,T.Wapo, J.Gabi

The final game was against the Queensland Colts and after a week of playing Aussie Rules at this level the Binatangs, the crowd favourite, hit the field full of confidence. Through domination of the ball at ground level the Binatangs were able to defeat the Colts. "Hard running and good team work was the secret" coach Mesa stated. Once again the score is no indication of the supremacy of the Binatangs and they were again let down by wayward kicking. Final Scores were:

PNG Binatangs 5.13 (43) def Queensland Colts 5.2(32), PNG's best: Marcel Kaago, N.Henaoe, R.Sagowa, G.Lawrence, R.Stegman and J.Luba

The Australian tour for the U14 Binatangs concluded with selected boys playing a night game under lights for the Coolangatta Football Clubs U16 side and then the team played an invitation match with the U14 Coolangatta side as a curtain raiser to the senior teams. The coaches, Mesea Dorogori and Nathan Napki were invited to play in the senior teams and did so successfully. The coaches also remained in Brisbane for a further two weeks as observers at Sandgate High School's AFL Academy of Sport. Their experience will be utilised at the De LaSalle, AFL Academy of Sport in Port Moresby

Cates said the tour was a great success and that "These under 14 boys will now form the nucleus of the future Binatang squads and we will add some height and develop those necessary skills to make us even more competitive at future Championships."

All players and coaching staff had a fantastic experience and AFLPNG CEO Andrew Cadzow is already getting organised for the next few years. "Both the Under 16 and 14 Binatangs have shown that PNG has a great talent for this game called AFL. With our National Championships in Lae in September, followed by the National Talent Camp in November we will continue to improve and in the next couple of years we hope we will see another Mal Michael playing at the highest level."

For more on the tour refer to:-

City sides dominate opening day

Juniors shine in AFL

Stingrays claim state under 14 title