World Footy News

As expected, Papua New Guinea has contributed a large number of nominations (17) to the initial Pacific squad to compete in the AFL NAB Under 16 Championships in western Sydney in July this year. The original squad was named after the Oceania Youth Cup in Fiji in December 2009, but PNG were a late withdrawal. With a very successful junior program including the Coca Cola Pathway, the addition of future PNG Mosquito stars to the team will strengthen it considerably.

The AFL has also confirmed that the squad, variously described as the Oceania, Pacific or Pacific Islands team, will in fact be called the South Pacific, better reflecting its makeup.

The current squad (and likely final numbers in brackets) is made up of:

Papua New Guinea 17 (8), New Zealand 9 (4), Tonga 8 (4), Samoa 6 (4), Nauru 6 (3), Fiji 6 (2) for a total of 52 in the squad, to be trimmed to a final 25.

The South Pacific coach has not been named yet. Former Sydney Swan Michael O'Loughlin will coach the World XVIII, consisting of players from outside the South Pacific zone. More details of those nominations tomorrow.