World Footy News

It seems the Brisbane Lions have developed a real appreciation of the prospects of international football players. This month Papuan Donald Barry, 21, began training with the Brisbane Lions as an international scholarship listed player. The Lions sat on the announcement for some time and worldfootynews.com was waiting for the official word before running a story. Brisbane has now gone public, and two younger PNG players have also been scholarship listed.

Barry left his family in Port Moresby to play for Manunda Hawks in Cairns in 2007, Coolangatta and the Lions reserves in 2008 and Mt Gravatt seniors in the strong AFL Queensland competition last year. After forcing his way into the Mt Gravatt side in Round 2, he played every game until he had to miss the grand final with a hamstring strain, with local media noting prior to the match that he would be missed.

Barry was a rugby league fanatic in Port Moresby with his role model Andrew Ettinghausen. This was until he was 17 and got a taste for footy. You can read more in PNG gets a bright AFL face in Lions Rookie Donald Barry, in which he describes the early weeks of training at AFL level as a shock to the system. There's also a highlights package of Barry playing in Queensland on Youtube.

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On Brisbane's website the story Barry lands at the Lions notes that:

The Club has also signed a further two International Scholarship players - Brendan Beno and Ezra Kautu - who remain back home in PNG working closely with the AFL PNG Academy.

The Lions have been at the forefront of helping develop players from the Pacific region and are one of only a few clubs who are helping fund the development and schooling of PNG talent off-shore.

Beno and Kautu - both currently 15 year-old - are scheduled to visit Australia in May this year to represent PNG in the Queensland State U16 Championships.