World Footy News

The New Zealand National Provincial Championships were played in Wellington at Martin Luckie Park on Saturday the 29th and 30th of September. Auckland continued their dominance at Representative level and were successful in taking out the title for the third successive time. According to NZAFL CEO Rob Vanstam "Every one of the six games played on the weekend was in the balance at some stage. The big improvers were Waikato and although yet to find their first NPC victory, they gained the respect of all competitors." For more from the NZAFL CEO see Auckland Takes Triple Crown, or read on.

The Wellington League put on a great event played in fantastic spirit and without a single serious injury which is always a pleasing result for a tournament of such magnitude. Vanstam added that "The umpires had converged from across the country to provide great support and were not required to deal with a single report for the weekend."

Andrew Congalton, victorious Auckland Coach and current NZ Falcons captain reported that the ground was a bit smaller than they were used to, and this probably contributed to the lower scores and closer games. With smaller grounds, combined with the ever-present wind and disciplined defence from all sides it can make the game relatively scrappy and not really conducive to a free-flowing spectacle.

Congalton was pleasantly surprised by both Waikato & Wellington as the pre-tournament talk suggested that Wellington would be under-done through lack of club footy and Waikato would be struggling at this level as a result of a lack of regular competitive games. He added "Waikato showed the most improvement, and Wellington showed the best effective teamwork - both should be congratulated on their efforts." In respect to his own side he felt that unfortunately "We only carried out the game-plan on average one quarter per game, and therefore were often relying on individual efforts to maintain winning momentum." Players Congalton was particularly impressed with were 17yr old Matt Duffy, who showed signs that he has great potential as a key forward, and Mike Tagg, who proved to be a very effective tall running player. Matt Callaghan, Marcus Jones and Paul Gunning continued to show the form which secured their starting positions in the 2005 International Cup Final.

Wellington

Wellington captain James Kerse said that overall they were pleased with the tournament. He said "We should have beaten Auckland. We got the first goal and pretty much had the lead with 5 minutes to go. A few rushed behinds, and some bad disposal from defence gave Paul 'Guppy' Gunning a chance to nail the winner and he did." Overall Kerse thought that "We just lacked the combinations that come with time spent training and playing together, considering we had not managed one outdoor training session as a team." This is not surprising given that the Wellington season has not commenced and the local competition fizzled a bit during the 2006 season and they are just putting in place a League committee structure. Kerse said the game against Canterbury was close at times but an early fourth quarter goal to Wellington saw them take it out of range from the CAFL outfit.

Kerse was pleasantly surprised by how competitive the Waikato outfit were. "Waikato targeted us as being their first NPC win. They turned up as a unit and were firing from the start. Waikato were harder at the ball, more accurate with their disposals and probably should've won the game to be fair. We did just enough, and I think going forward, given that we are able to win ugly, that should hold us in good stead with such a new squad" Kerse finished by stating that they were pleased with their members selected in the initial train-on squad. With Severinsen, Hema, Roff, Ferguson and Kerse all former International Cup players, Leolofi who has attended an AFL Draft Camp, recent 17 year old NZ Junior Falcons at the Barassi Tournament in O'Connor and Heka and newer players Rattenbury and Reeves it was a fair reflection of the talent in the squad.

Canterbury

Predictably, Canterbury coach Ben Nolan was rather disappointed with his team’s results. In the preceding NPC Canterbury had appeared to be a competition on the move recording their first win over Wellington in nearly two decades and putting together a rather skilled and experienced squad. Nolan said "We struggled to get going in all games and it cost us on the scoreboard. All games were winnable at some stage but we only managed to beat Waikato. We had high hopes going into the tournament and didn't play up to our potential which was a shame."

The loss of flashy forward and International Cup player of repute, James Bowden, to a shoulder injury in the first game was noted as a reason for Canterbury’s disappointing result. Nolan remarked "That cost us for the rest of our weekend. His presence on the field would have been enough to lift the boys and provide those moment of brilliance he is famous for." Despite this, he added "I thought we competed very well in the forwards and the backs but lacked ball winners in the middle. Our wings (Jarod Court and Shane Browne) both made the NZ squad for the first time and were good all weekend. Our best player was the out of retirement Geoff Thomas who has been a significant team member of both of NZ Falcons' International Cup teams. He managed to win ball all over the ground and proved he is worthy of a place in the Falcons yet again. Other notables were Alban Beaumont and Dave de Cuevas. Alban got selected in the NZ squad again and will look to make the Falcons for the first time. He played well across the middle of the park. Dave showed that a big man is crucial to take good marks and kicked 3 goals in one quarter against Wellington to give us a chance of a win."

Waikato

Rob Neish was enthusiastic about Waikato’s performance. "The Waikato boys went down there to play our best footy possible. Without a lot of big targets around the ground, we opted for a style of play where we placed a lot of pressure on the ball. The resulting turnovers created some good attacking opportunities for us and we had a fantastic time". He continued "I was impressed with how well the guys committed themselves to the one on ones. I think all our opponents knew they were in a contest.

Believe it or not, the player of the tournament, Phil Mouritz had his first touch of an Aussie Rules ball this season at the warm-up for the first match." Though this would sound unbelievable to those not associated with international football the possibility of unearthing genuine talent is ever present from conversion players. That is why Ireland is scoured so thoroughly for talent and why AFL Clubs continue to list players with very little background in the sport through the rookie draft in particular.

Neish felt his team’s highlights for the tournament were "Mark Patterson who started in the back pocket and then progressed to become a dynamic ruck-rover who was very strong in the centre square and in one on one contests, Mitch Mace who moved from the wing to become a dynamic on ball player and Moss Doran who recently returned from Victoria to show what he'd learned and was probably at his best when playing as a power forward." The player who stole the show for the boys from cowbell country was their Englishman, Doug Shearing who had converted from soccer 3 weeks earlier and who snapped a couple of goals, chased down opponents and won aerial contests. The Waikato outfit was a balanced unit as reflected by this comment from Neish "I think our tournament was probably best summed up by trying to pick best players after each match and quickly getting to nine or ten names. We were disappointed not to have won our first NPC match. We didn't go to Wellington to compete, we went to win matches and we felt we lifted our play to the level where that was achievable."

National Team Selection

An initial squad has now been chosen for the New Zealand Falcons 2008 International Cup campaign to be held in Melbourne in September 2008. The squad includes 24 players that have previously represented New Zealand. Pleasingly for those football followers who would hope that football is becoming more established in these international countries was that according to Rob Vanstam "Some outstanding teenage debutants were on show for their provinces. Matt Duffy from Auckland, Cameron Heka and Isaac O’Connor from Wellington, who all showed great potential and were rewarded with their inclusion in the squad."

The tournament also saw four New Zealanders return home from Australia to compete in the tournament. Moss Doran (Sth Warnambool), Scott McNally (Prahran), Matt Callaghan (Thornlie) and Paul Gunning (Warnbro) were all selected in the initial squad. As with most international countries NZ certainly aspire to get their players into Australian competitions to improve their game but the flip side is that sometimes they are lost to the national squad as they make their home in Australia and lose the drive to make the effort to return to NZ to meet selection criteria. It will certainly strengthen the NZ team at the 2008 International Cup if these players initially selected in the squad are able to meet all the requirements involved in representing the Falcons and gain full selection in the team. In addition experienced campaigners Byron Roff, Mike Severinson, Josh Hema (Wellington) and Geoff Thomas (Canterbury) join the perennial inclusion Paul Gunning ( Auckland) in an athletic squad that will undergo an extensive build up to the Cup in pursuit of follow up to New Zealand’s success in 2005.

Perhaps of interest to international football followers is the absence of a large Australian contingent at these Championships. With around 120 players involved, and probably another 20-30 players who didn’t attend the Championships of at least comparable standard, there were only approximately 10 Aussies involved as players. Added to that were that 3 of the Representative Coaches are also Kiwis shows that the game is certainly growing in NZ.

Results

SATURDAY 29th SEPTEMBER

GAME 1

Auckland	3.2	3.2	3.3	5.6.36
Wellington	2.1	3.4	3.4	4.5.29

Goals: Auckland M Hacket, J Burns, M Duffy, D Rattenbury, P Gunning Wellington I O’Connor 2, L Reeves 2

GAME 2

Canterbury	1.1	3.2	6.3	8.6.54
Waikato	3.4	3.5	4.8	5.9.39

Goals: Canterbury J Bowden 2, S Allison 2, R Bradley 2, A Cheeseman, J Court Waikato M Doran 2, M Moran, D Shearing, J Quinn-Casey

GAME 3

Wellington	2.4	4.7	4.7	6.13.49
Canterbury	0.2	0.2	3.3	4.4.28

Goals: Wellington J Hema 2, J Kerse, L Reeves, S Smith, J Trenbeth Canterbury D De Cuevas 3, J Hopkins

GAME 4

Auckland	2.2	5.5	5.6	8.7.55
Waikato	0.3	0.3	2.3	3.4.22

Goals: Auckland M Hacket 2, J Burns 2, P Gunning, B Wade, M Dunlop, A Rattenbury Waikato P Mouritz, D Mouritz, M Patterson

SUNDAY 30th SEPTEMBER

GAME 5

Wellington	2.3	3.4	4.7	4.9.33
Waikato	0.2	2.3	4.4	4.4.28

Goals: Wellington B Roff 2, I O’Connor, J West Waikato P Mouritz 2, D Shearing, M Moran

GAME 6

Auckland	1.4	2.7	3.8	4.9.33
Canterbury	1.1	1.1	1.3	1.3.9

Goals: Auckland B Horne 2, M Hackett, J Burns Canterbury R Bradley

LADDER

Team	W	L	PTS	For	Ag	%
Auckland	3	0	12	124	60	206
Wellington	2	1	8	111	92	121
Canterbury	1	2	4	91	121	75
Waikato	0	3	0	89	142	63

TOURNAMENT WINNERS: AUCKLAND

NPC BEST AND FAIREST: Phil Mouritz Waikato

LEADING GOAL KICKERS: Joel Burns and Matthew Hacket Auckland

TEAM BEST PLAYER AWARDS:
Canterbury: Geoff Thomas
Auckland: Marcus Jones
Wellington: Mike Severinsen
Waikato: Mitch Mace

Initial New Zealand 2008 International Cup Squad Selection

Canterbury
Richard Bradley, James Bowden, Shaun Allison, Scott McNally, Geoff Thomas, Joseph Hendry, Alban Beaumont, Shane Browne, Jarrod Court.

Auckland
Marcus Jones, John Maling, Morgan Jones, Andrew Congalton, Matt Callaghan, David Corey-Toussaint, Ben Horne, Mike Tagg, Matt Duffy, Paul Gunning, Andrew Crighton.

Wellington
Guy Ferguson, James Kerse, Graham Rattenbury, Josh Hema, Isaac O’Connor, Cameron Heka, Andrew Leolofi, Mike Severinsen, Lenny Reeves, Byron Roff.

Waikato
Dougal Henderson, Phil Mouritz, Moss Doran, Mark Patterson, Matt Van Wyck, Mitch Mace, Luke Kneebone, James Quinn-Casey, Rick Te Wharau.

With additions likely to be made from quality players who were unable to attend the NPC Championships for valid reasons and also due to Provincial seasons being only half way through, or in the case of Wellington, not even commenced, there appears to be a very strong argument that the NZ Falcons are extremely well placed to defend the 2005 International Cup crown.