World Footy News

AFL Media Release

The AFL today announced former Sydney Swans star Tadhg Kennelly will assume the role of head coach of the Allies, which will compete in Division 1 of the 2016 NAB AFL Under-18 Championships.

The Allies, comprising players from NSW/ACT, Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, will join Vic Metro, Vic Country, Western Australia and South Australia in Division 1 of the 2016 Championships.

The five teams will play four matches each during June in 2016

The AFL General Meeting on March 17 will receive two nominations with strong AFL Club experience to replace retiring Commissioners.

The AFL Commission meeting on Monday accepted the recommendations of the Nominations Sub-Committee to nominate Andrew Newbold and Gabrielle Trainor to the AFL Commission to replace Chris Langford and Sam Mostyn (pictured left at the IC11 opening event).

The Nominations Committee was chaired by AFL Commission Chairman Mike Fitzpatrick and included AFL Commissioner Richard Goyder, along with the President of the Richmond Football Club, Peggy O’Neal and the Chairman of the Port Adelaide Football Club, David Koch.

If Ian Mitchell has anything to do with it, Australian Rules football will become the premier football code across England. The Wolverhampton Wolverines president, and captain of the England Dragonslayers national team has lived a double life, combining his senior development roles with a wonderful junior program that might yet become the blueprint for future schools development across Europe.

In a recent interview, Ian detailed the his journey in school footy – past, present and future – and it makes for a fascinating story of determination and vision.

“Sometimes, when going about daily life it can be too easy to carry on from day-to-day without ever stopping to reflect on what is happening. Writing this has given me that opportunity and it makes me realise I should do it far more often than I currently do.”

The 2016 AFL NAB Challenge series kicks off this Thursday night with reigning premiers Hawthorn playing wooden spooners Carlton in Launceston. 

Please see below for the local and international broadcast schedule.  Note that all programming is subject to change and may occur without notice at the whim of the broadcast networks. Please check local guides for confirmation.

 

NZ imports Kurt Heatherley and Shem Tatupu (pictured) have been named in Hawthorn's 29-man squad to take on Carlton in the opening match of the 2016 NAB Challenge pre-season series on Thursday night at Aurora Stadium in Launceston.

Tatupu finished the 2015 season strongly for Box Hill in the VFL and if he plays it will be his first NAB Challenge match and an important step towards making his AFL debut for the Hawks. Track watchers at Waverley have noted the big man's form on the track showing great improvement from previous seasons.

Often lost amongst the crash and bash of senior based footy – men’s or women’s – is the layer of talent that stands to receive the baton after the existing playing groups have become too old to keep running. In so many ways, the kids are THE most important people in the game. It is all very well to have great players, administrators, umpires and so forth now. But ensuring that the pipeline runs deep into the future is vital.

That is why there is nothing quite like seeing the smile on a kid’s face when they have a footy in their hands. The future is so much more secure when we can see the love of the game growing in the next generation – and the next.

Back in December 2015 it was reported that four Borneo Bears National players had been invited to join the Darwin Waratah’s to train and play in the 2015-2016 NTFL season.

"One of the major highlights for 2015 which was organized and championed by Bears President Tommy Commerford and Bears Coach Shane Kruger, was a cross country AFL development agreement between the Borneo Bears and the Darwin Waratah’s".

Today in the NT News we see how this experiment has progressed, "WARATAH’S bold experiment to bring four Borneo-born footballers to the Top End paid dividends yesterday when utility Timbul Kukuh Santoso played his first league game. The 22-year-old “Borneo Express’’ roamed between half forward and half back, producing a 12 possession game that showed he is comfortable at that level."

The Vietnam Swans will host the 17th AFL Asian Championships at RMIT Saigon campus on Saturday 15 October, 2016.

Confirmation was announced at the AFL Asia Annual General Meeting which was held on January 27th 2016.

This will be the first time that the Swans will have hosted “Asian Champs”, which saw over 400 competitors travel to Bangkok in 2015.

The new two-division format with a 12-a-side second division focussing on a commitment to promote local development was hailed a big success in Bangkok and will be continued in Saigon.

The brutal truth is that the top four won and the bottom four lost. One round out from the finals and we are left with a very compelling and confronting truth. In a season which has seen so many close games, the irony is that most of the ladder positions are already signed, sealed and delivered with wide gaps between almost all sides on the ladder except, thankfully, for the battle for fifth place.

As it stands, the Southern Districts Crocs will win the minor premiership, St Mary’s and Wanderers will meet in the Qualifying Final, Waratah will win the wooden spoon and the Tiwi Bombers will avoid the spoon by miss finals. These are now all givens. Buffaloes will play someone in the Elimination Final, and whether it be Nightcliff or Palmerston will be the most intriguing part of next weekend’s final home and away round.

The 2015/16 season for the Waratah Warriors in the Northern Territory Football League has largely been one to forget.  Whilst the fixture shows a winless season to date, the club has used the year as a developmental period to grow the next crop of star players ready to again see finals action. Part of their experiments involved the opportunities given to four Borneo players, one of which played his first senior game recently. The following article from Grey Morris at the NT News gives the details of their journey.

 

 

NTFL club Waratah gets some international flavour with

Timbul Kukuh Santoso making his Premier League debut

 

 

WARATAH’S bold experiment to bring four Borneo-born footballers to the Top End paid dividends yesterday when utility Timbul Kukuh Santoso played his first league game.

The AFL Middle East Grand Final will be a replay of last season’s clash between the Dubai Dragons and the BM Bulls. The Bulls had already secured their place when they secured a grand final berth downing the Doha Kangaroos for their third win for the season, enough for a guaranteed berth.

The Dubai Dragons needed to win this round’s game against the improved Dubai Dingoes in the local derby to claim the other grand final spot. For the Dingoes, they also needed victory to have a faint chance of reaching the final.

But the Dragons snuffed out the Dingoes chances with a solid win, downing the Dingoes by 50 points with the final scores: Dubai Dragons 11 14 80 d Dubai Dingoes 3 12 30.

After s self-imposed hiatus for the 2015 season, one of the ARFLI (Australian Rules Football League Ireland) foundation teams, the Dublin Demons, will return in a merger with the North Leinster Giants. The move will is a bonus and a boost for both clubs, but also for football in Ireland as it returns the men’s competition to its full complement of teams.

The new entity will be basing itself out of Islandbridge in Dublin and training will commence soon in preparation for the upcoming 2016 season. Details of playing strips and other aspects of the merger, such as team name and nickname, will be announced as the season start gets closer.