World Footy News

PNG are leaving no stone unturned as they seek to gather their strongest squad as defending champions at this year’s International Cup.

As detailed in this article AFL Asia-Pacific Manager busy in PNG, many of the Port Moresby District’s best players will be taking on the Australian Bolters including Spider Everitt, Aussie Jones, Mal Michael and Mat Rogers who will enhance the Queensland AFL selection.

In the Northern Selection camp on the weekend 5/6th March in Lae where the Highlands and Island regions will be in attendance there will be testing and 2 games. A combination of AFL International Development Mananger Tony Woods, AFL Asia-Pacifc Manager Andrew Cadzow, PNG Coach David Lake and his Assistant Walter Yagomina will view these events. Final squad selection will be made the following week of 35 players which will be cut to 30 by end of April.

The nation also has 18 Australian-based scholarship players who have arrived in Australia. They would be expected to make up the bulk of the final squad though according to Andrew Cadzow he doesn’t “expect the AFL listed blokes to play”. As per past Cups Cadzow expects the selectors will go very young and they may even play a couple of the AFL PNG Academy boys who are aged around 16 years.

When asked for his thoughts on this year’s International Cup sides other than PNG, Cadzow said he "expected New Zealand and Nauru to be on the money, Tonga big improvers and Samoa and Fiji to be competitive from the Pacific". Given that the Irish are currently looking to supplement their home grown squad with nationals resident elsewhere he thought “Ireland will be extremely hard to beat” . Cadzow is expecting a divisional draw which will “make for more games of good football” though as with such tournaments they can be decided as a result of “a war of attrition through injuries etc”.