World Footy News

Today marked the end of the round robin preliminary matches for both the Kickstart state indigenous teams as well as the All Nations multicultural teams. The three days to date have seen a scintillating brand of football played in great spirit by the future stars of the AFL. Tomorrow the semi-finals commence to determine the 2015 grand-finalists.

The Kickstart results have seen the Western Australians once again assert their superiority at this Under 15 national level. This is the fifth year of this championship and Western Australia is yet to lose a title. There is little to suggest 2015 will be any different.

After their five matches, Western Australia are undefeated, a game and a half of their nearest rival, Victoria/Tasmania. Northern Territory hold equal third spot with South Australia, but had a higher percentage. Queensland and New South Wales/ACT are in fifth and sixth places respectively.
The highlight match of the Kickstart Cup was certainly the clash between the higher fancied Victoria/Tasmania team against the New South Wales/ACT team. The game finished in a pulsating draw as a battle of defences ensued, keeping the Cairns crowd glued to the match and gasping with delight at the end result.

In a show of strength today, Western Australia flexed their muscle ahead of the coming finals by dispatching a very good South Australian side. They will go into the finals series as very short priced favourites to claim their fifth title from five attempts. On form their likely grand-final opponent will either come from the dashing Territorians or the determined and well drilled Victoria/Tasmania team.

In the All Nations Cup, the Queensland team has surprised many by finishing in first place after the round robin stage, separated by percentage only from both South Australia and Victoria/Tasmania. The Northern Territory team finished fourth followed by New South Wales/ACT and Western Australia.

The South Australia v Northern Territory match on day Two proved to be the highlight so far. The Territory boys held the lead all match before being pipped by South Australia with nine seconds left on the clock.

The Kickstart and All Nations Cups will move into overdrive tomorrow for the semi -finals ahead of Wednesday’s grand-finals before the teams say farewell to Cairns and return home.





Images from the 2015 National Diversity Championships in Cairns (Photos courtesy Brett Kennerley)