World Footy News

New Zealand Falcons representative Liam Ackland has secured a trial with the Glenelg Under 18 team next month. Glenelg is part of the South Australian National Football League and home of many champion AFL and VFL footballers, with Stephen Kernahan and Bryce Gibbs immediately springing to mind for this Carlton supporting correspondent!

Liam attended the 2008 International Cup as a sixteen year old. This forum was a great opportunity for potential youngsters to perform in front of a myriad of talent scouts from the AFL clubs. Amua Pirika from Papua New Guinea was soon signed by the Gold Coast consortium and is now playing for Southport in the Queensland AFL competition and the Gold Coast in the TAC Cup.

After securing a position in the 2008 International Cup squad, Liam was afforded the opportunity of attending an Australian Institute of Sport Scholarship camp in Canberra last December through funding contributed by AFL New Zealand (newly renamed from the similar "New Zealand AFL") and the AFL itself. The AIS camp provides the best young talent from throughout Australia to be monitored by all of the 16 AFL clubs. NZ has had a sprinkling of attendees at events similar to this and they have always presented and performed well.

The links with Australian-based clubs continues to grow, with New Zealand Falcon player Moss Doran snapped up by 2008 AFLQ premiers Mt Gravatt. Mt Gravatt Vultures coach David Lake has had success with a number of International players, with Papua New Guinean representative Donald Barry also achieving good results.

New Zealand talent was once again given the opportunity to shine at the Under 20 National Provincial Championships held in Christchurch in March, where talent scouts from Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Swans and Geelong were in attendance to earmark potential talent.

Although no players fell into this category at the inaugural championships, the processes are now in place to provide participants with the opportunity. October is set down as the next major occasion for representative footy within NZ when the traditional 4 leagues of Auckland, Canterbury, Waikato and Wellington are joined by the NZ U 20 team to decide who will have the bragging rights as the best team for the following year. Unfortunately, at this stage, the NZ Falcons lack an opponent for the best of the tournament to challenge with the haka and then on-field, as the national side.

Ackland’s trip to South Australia to trial with the Glenelg Under 18 team will be funded through his local club the Mt Roskill Saints as well as his own finances. Despite the many gains being made in the international market the self-funding required to make these initial steps will always be a barrier that is challenging, though perhaps no longer insurmountable given the growing awareness of the talent outside of traditional markets.

For more on this story, see the articles NZAFL Senior NPC to have a new flavour and Ackland secures Glenelg trials,