World Footy News

Canterbury Cobras reeled in their third consecutive Championship on the weekend to commemorate a weekend of firsts.

Day One saw the Otago Riot participate in their first ever Senior Championship on the back of their appearance at the March 2012 Under 20 NPC in Canterbury.

The inclusion of a fifth team is the first addition to the programme since 2004 when the Waikato Thunder joined the competition adding to the traditional involvement of Canterbury, Wellington and Auckland.

This growth at the top level in terms of representative teams is a huge plus for what AFLNZ have been doing with their High Performance programs. Without a doubt the Board of Governance must ensure that the elite level achievements in terms of growth are underpinned by healthy local competitions in Wellington, Waikato and now Otago, whether of traditional 18 a side football or of a AFL 9’s nature. The dropping away of the competition in Wellington is of particular concern and one that those with any sense of history should address immediately.

The draw saw each team involved in four games rather than three and the introduction of 22 minute halves to ensure playing time remained at three hours per team for the weekend. AFL New Zealand has targeted the introduction of Northland into next year’s championship that will have a new date moving away from the Labor Day weekend and to December 7th and 8th 2013.

Day Two saw the first rain day in recent memory at an NPC fixture and players were presented with an opportunity to compete in a variety of conditions after a sunny and windy Saturday. The games were contested fiercely with the first game of the day a great contest with Wellington defeating arch rivals Auckland by a solitary point.

This set up a great finish for the tournament with the winner of the Canterbury and Wellington game destined for a championship victory. The first half was a very level contest and finally as the game progressed Canterbury put on two consecutive goals with seven minutes remaining in the match. Wellington battled hard to retrieve the deficit but the Cobras showed enough class in all conditions to take a deserved victory and their third consecutive title.

The last game of the itinerary saw Waikato Thunder and newly introduced Otago Riot battle for what would be both province’s first NPC win. A spirited contest supported well by the spectating teams saw Jim Lucy’s Thunder finally achieve their long awaited victory.

Results – Saturday 20/10/2012

Game 1

	Goals	Behinds	Full
Auckland	14	11	95
Waikato	2	1	13

Best
Auckland: Horne, Roughan, S McKenzie, A Crighton
Waikato: Cooper

Game 2

	Goals	Behinds	Full
Wellington	12	9	81
Otago	0	3	3

Best
Wellington: Wosniak, Kealy, Morgan
Otago: Miller

Game 3

	Goals	Behinds	Full
Canterbury	8	7	55
Auckland	3	2	20

Best
Canterbury: Howard, Andrews, Carden
Auckland: A Crighton

Game 4

	Goals	Behinds	Full
Wellington	9	8	62
Waikato	3	4	22

Best
Wellington: Kusel, Poole, Schrivers, Wozniak
Waikato: Fergusson

Game 5

	Goals	Behinds	Full
Canterbury	3	7	25
Otago	0	2	2

Best
Canterbury: Howard, Howison
Otago: Miller, Bailey

Sunday 21/10/2012

Game 6

	Goals	Behinds	Full
Wellington	1	4	10
Auckland	1	3	9

Best
Wellington: Morgan, Cox
Auckland: Horne, M Gregson

Game 7

	Goals	Behinds	Full
Canterbury	7	2	44
Waikato	1	4	10

Best
Canterbury: Andrews, Howison, Howard
Waikato: Caldwell

Game 8

	Goals	Behinds	Full
Auckland	5	7	37
Otago	2	2	14

Best
Auckland: Gabriel, A Sucu, Moyle
Otago: Toomer

Game 9

	Goals	Behinds	Full
Canterbury	3	4	22
Wellington	1	3	9

Best
Canterbury: Howison, Howard, Carden
Wellington: Kusel

Game 10

	Goals	Behinds	Full
Waikato	3	5	23
Otago	1	0	6

Best
Waikato: Kneebone, Brown, Fergusson
Otago: Kay

Final Positions

Canterbury
Wellington
Auckland
Waikato
Otago

Tournament Best and Fairest: Steve Howard (Canterbury)
Tournament Leading Goal kicker: James McKenzie 9 (Auckland)

League Best and Fairest winners

Canterbury - Andrew Howison
Wellington - James Kusel
Auckland - Michael Boyce
Waikato - Aaron Fergusson
Otago - Ben Miller

Thanks to the AFLNZ website for much of the report.