World Footy News

There will be no repeat of the scenes in 2010 when Collingwood and St Kilda played out a draw in the first Grand Final that year.  Players collapsed and fans scrambled as everyone realised they would all be back to do it again the following week. 

Footy clubs around the world also realised that the grand final party they had just held, would be back on the following week.  For many clubs their best fundraising activity of the year - holding a live grand final viewing party - could be done all over again.  Other benefits for overseas viewers (beyond the benefits of having one more game televised live) were that they would be a chance to get a ticket if they wanted to make a late dash to watch the replay in person.

The story gained great media coverage around the world too, enhancing the image of the tough physical game that would come back and do it all again the following week.

But this will not happen again it seems.  The AFL announced on Tuesday it would no longer use a replay for any drawn match in the Toyota AFL Grand Final.

 

The Western Crows, captained by Jared Court, entered their last and the final match of the AFLNZ premiership season with the title already assured following the loss earlier in the day by the Southern Saints. The Crows were able to finish in style with a 24 point victory over the Northern Suns.

The 9 round competition brought together (via a draft) the best available talent in New Zealand. The 4 premier sides were initially based around captain and coach.
Western Crows: Coach Rob Malone; Captain Jared Court
Southern Saints: Coach Andrew Congalton; Captain Michael Boyce
Central Giants: Coach Shannon Wall; Captain David Rattenbury
Northern Suns: Coach Chris Mundell; Captain James Kusel.

 

The following article from the AFLNT (AFL Northern Territory) details the selection of the top 100 footballers from this often underrated footballing goldmine. The AFL has been graced over the years by names such as Rioli, Long and Burgoyne – all heralding from the Northern Territory.

 

Following months of robust discussion and committee debate, we are pleased to announce the top 100 footballers for the Northern Territory Government AFLNT Team of the Century.

 

The list includes NT football identities that established their careers on the national stage and also pays respect to the local men who made their name in the Territory.

 

Featuring in the Top 100 is Michael Long, winner of two AFL Premierships with the Essendon Football Club, a Norm Smith Medallist and Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee. Long heralds from local club St Mary’s where he was also a two-time premiership player.

BC Footy is thrilled to announce Burnaby lakes will host the Canadian nationals this year on May 21-22.

The innaugural installment of the tournament will feature men's and women's teams from across Canada competing for national bragging rights.  The Canadian Nationals will be a competition between provinces rather than clubs.  

Selection trials have already been carried out across Canada to determine selection of the men's and women's teams.  British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Atlantic will be the competing teams - with the Atlantic team being made up of players from Ottawa, Montreal, Sherbrooke, Quebec City, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

 

Croatian international, Josip Habljak playing at Sturt SANFL dominated the ruck against West Adelaide reserves with a 31 hit-outs perfomance in a side that lost 18-8 (116) to 10-19 (79).

Champion Data stats for the game records 17 clearances from his hit-outs and his opposite number recording 12 clearances from 21 hit-outs.

The "Pain Train" also had 3 Kicks, 7 handballs, for 10 disposals, 1 contested mark and 1 uncontested mark. He had 9 contested possessions and 2 uncontested possessions and he managed to kick one behind and record two score assists. 

Portland is one of those teams that we haven't heard too much about. This year in the USAFL the Steelheads move from third to second division and are looking to maintain momemtum.

 

Portland's womens team, the Sockeyes currently have 9 members and are looking for some external competition. Both the men and the women play in a four team metro league. They manage about a 9 game season with three 18-a-side games against the Seattle Grizzlies.

The first hitout for the Portland Steelheads and Sockeyes on a Wednesday evening at Duniway Park saw a small but enthusiastic turnout. The location was conveniently across the freeway from downtown Portland but the weather threatened downpour as it did, if only moderately.

The games are done and dusted at the 2016 AFL London Pre-Season Cup, and the warning bells would already be ringing for AFL London teams as the powerhouse West London Wildcats won the Men’s title. The GB Swans took the honours on the day in the Women’s draw and the Wandsworth Demons were triumphant in the Supers (Over 35’s) competition.

One of the very interesting features of the event was the appearance of the Northern Storm representative team from the AFLCNE (Central & Northern England). Whilst the team went down to the Putney Magpies, London Swans and Wimbledon Hawks in their three pool games, the squad did their league proud playing in what is often regarded the strongest competition for Australian Rules football outside of Australia and being very competitive.

With the completion of Round 7 in the CNFA competition in France, results have effectively seen a separation between the top four teams and the bottom four. Barring something quite miraculous in the remaining two rounds, the Toulouse Hawks, Paris Cockerels, Paris Cockatoos and Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes appear destined to fight out the finals series in June.

Results so far in Round 7, split across last weekend and this weekend, have seen:

Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes 105 d Bordeaux Bombers 62
Paris Cockatoos 158 d ALFA Lions 47
Toulouse Hawks 176 d Perpignan Tigers 13
Paris Cockerels 154 d Strasbourg Kangourous 31

At the recent National Diversity Championships in Townsville, I was allowed access to the Northern Territory Kickstart teams coach’s bench during their Preliminary Final against the Victoria/Tasmania team. It was a match of two well performed teams, and the winner would go on to play the Western Australia juggernaut in the Grand Final. There was a lot riding on the match, but their coaches were generous in letting me have a close up view of what happens inside that inner sanctum of coaching.

Northern Territory coach, Shannon Motlop, knows a thing or two (or three) about footy. After a 54 game career at the North Melbourne Kangaroos, including an AFL premiership in 1999 with them, he went on to be recruited by the Melbourne Demons as a replacement for Troy Broadbridge who tragically died in the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. Stints playing and coaching across country Victoria added to his repertoire of practice.

There has been plenty happening of late across England and Scotland as local competitions gradually build towards the start of their respective 2016 seasons.

 

The Haggis Cup was played last weekend at the CSE Peffermill Playing Fields in Edinburgh, Scotland. After a hotly contested event which featured Scottish teams – Greater Glasgow Giants, Glasgow Sharks, Falkirk Silverbacks, Kingdom Kangaroos and the Edinburgh Bloods – AFL London club the Wimbledon Hawks, ARFLI’s own Leeside Lions, the Netherland’s Amsterdam Devils and a combined Huddersfield Rams/Tyne Tees Tigers team (AFLCNE), it was the Wimbledon Hawks victorious.

 

 

In the men’s final the Hawks downed the Greater Glasgow Giants to take the 2016 Haggis Cup. In the women’s competition it was the Saltires defeating the Wolves.

In 2015 it was the debut of Jason Holmes and now the second full graduate of the AFL's US Combines looks set to debut in the AFL for Collingwood. After Mason Cox attended the 2014 AFL Combine in Los Angeles the AFL couldn't rush him out here quick enough where he auditioned for a number of clubs and settled on Collingwood as his choice of club.

Today Collingwood upgraded him to the senior list for the injured Matt Scharenberg.  And tonight they have named him on an extended interchange bench for the match against Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday.  There is no guarantee he will play in the final 22 and could have another week in the VFL.

The match will not be shown in the US on TV but it can be streamed via www.Watchafl.afl.com.au

The Essendon Bombers have upgraded their Irish International Rookie, Conor McKenna for their Round 4 clash against Geelong in the “Country Game”, a new idea from Bomber legend Kevin Sheedy. In recognition of the contributions of country and farmers across Australia, Sheedy has created a match between Essendon and Geelong to help raise rural awareness by staging another marquee game – think ANZAC Day match and the “Dreamtime at the G”.

 

The following article is from the www.afl.com.au  website.

 

IRISHMAN Conor McKenna will play for Essendon against Geelong on Saturday after being elevated from the club’s rookie list.

 

He made his debut last season against Richmond in the second-last round and also played the following week against Collingwood.