World Footy News

The AFL today announced the 2012 North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) season fixture has been finalised in the following press release.

Now in its second year, NEAFL is expanding to a 19 team competition with the introduction of the Sydney Hills Eagles and Sydney University to the Eastern Conference. The Northern Conference will remain at ten teams for next season. 

To kick off the year on March 24 will be the highly anticipated curtain-raiser match between the UWS GIANTS and the Sydney Swans in the Eastern Conference. In the Northern Conference, the inaugural NEAFL Grand Finalists NT Thunder and Morningside will officially launch the new season.

 

NEAFL will again be spreading far and wide with venues in Canberra, Sydney, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Darwin, Alice Springs and Wagga Wagga hosting the 172 home and away season matches. The finals series will take place over five weeks with the NEAFL Grand Final to be played on the weekend of September 22/23.

There will be 14 cross-conference matches between state-league clubs in season 2012 with each club hosting and travelling once for the fixture.

NEAFL will again be shown to a wider audience with 24 curtain-raisers to AFL matches scheduled throughout the season across both conferences.

There will be 18 matches played between the four AFL Clubs’ reserve sides – Sydney Swans, UWS GIANTS, Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast Suns.

In a first for NEAFL will see the Eastern Conference playing the Northern Conference in a state representative match on May 26.

In its inaugural year, the quality of the NEAFL competition is highlighted by the 11 players listed by AFL clubs* through the NAB AFL Draft and NAB AFL Rookie Draft.

AFL National Second Tier Manager Simon Laughton said after weeks of preparation the 2012 draw has been finalised and all clubs are happy with the outcome.

“We are extremely pleased with the 2012 NEAFL draw as the competition provides all clubs with increased opportunities and exposure,” Laughton said.

“NEAFL is evolving and developing and the reach of the competition is highlighted by the seven cities and multiple venues that will host matches throughout the 2012 season.

“For the players, they can now see the defined pathway from NEAFL to AFL Club lists with 11 players being recruited from the competition this year plus two upgraded rookies who benefited immensely from the improved second-tier league.

“In its initial year, this is a remarkable achievement and as the competition continues to grow and prosper we’ll expect to see even more NEAFL players running around in the AFL in the near future.

“NEAFL is truly enhancing the profile and quality of second tier football in the northern markets.”

All NEAFL news, fixtures and results can be found at www.neafl.com.au.

Key features of the 2012 NEAFL season include:

 

·         Two new clubs Sydney Hills Eagles and Sydney University, making it a 9 team Eastern Conference and a 10 team Northern Conference competition

·         21 rounds and 18 matches for all teams, plus a 5 week finals series

·         172 home & away matches

o   46 in Canberra

o   34 in Sydney

o   34 in Gold Coast

o   45 in Brisbane

o   12 in Northern Territory – 8 Darwin and 4 Alice Springs

o   1 Wagga Wagga

·         14 Cross Conference matches between State League clubs based in NSW, ACT & Qld. Each club host once and travels once against teams from the other conference

·         24 curtain raisers to AFL matches

·         18 matches between AFL clubs

·         State representative match on 26 May – NEAFL Northern Conference v NEAFL Eastern Conference

* NEAFL players listed by AFL clubs in 2011 include:
Dayne Zorko (Broadbeach to Brisbane Lions), Tom Bell (Morningside to Carlton), Stephen Wrigley (Labrador to Brisbane), Josh Hall (Gold Coast/Townsville to Gold Coast Suns), Jackson Allen (Morningside to Gold Coast Suns), Alex Sexton (Redland to Gold Coast Suns), Sam Michael (Redland to Brisbane Lions), Peter Yagmoor (Morningside/Cairns to Collingwood), Harry Cunningham (GWS Giants to Sydney Swans), Jack Lynch (Sydney Swans to Sydney Swans) and Richard Newell (Brisbane Lions to Brisbane Lions). Alik Magin (Gold Coast Suns) and Nathan Gordon (Sydney Swans) were the two upgraded rookies who played in NEAFL in 2011.