World Footy News

The AFL national and rookie drafts have been and gone – so what’s going on with this December 2nd draft? Well – for starters it’s conducted by AFL New Zealand. Tomorrow evening, 7pm Wednesday December 2nd, will see the draft take place live via social media. The draft can be followed on twitter (#AFLNZPremiership).

The draft is to allocate players to one of 4 competing teams in the 2016 AFL New Zealand Premiership. Captains have already been announced for the Northern Suns (James Kusel), Western Crows (Jared Court), Central Giants (David Rattenbury) and Southern Saints (Michael Boyce).

According to AFLNZ 106 players have signed on from regions spanning Northland to Otago. A further 30 players are planned to be added to the list subsequently to finalise the squads. The draft will involve the first 7 rounds of selections with 48 players across those selections to be added to the squads currently only including captains. The remainder of selections will take place in January after the completion of provincial matches.

The Darwin Buffaloes had played in three games prior to this weekend where the result was decided by less than a kick. Wanderers Eagles had played in five. The two teams were separated by just two points last time they met, with the Buffaloes stealing the result. All the ingredients were there for an absolutely scorching game, given that Wanderers has lost their last match by a point after the siren last weekend to Nightcliff and Buffaloes snatched a last gasp four point win over the Crocs.

But Wanderers didn’t want to play that game. They had too much at stake, needing to get on the winning side of the leger and secure their place in the five. Their first half was impressive as they pressured the Buffaloes relentlessly to open up a huge 41 point lead at half time, keeping Buffaloes to just a goal for the half.

The AFL’s Rookie Draft held yesterday provided the final formality for two young Irish talents as they made their way onto the lists of both Hawthorn and the Sydney Swans. Conor Glass and Colin O’Riordin were both signed by their respective clubs back in October after the 2015 season was completed. The Rookie Draft was the final stage of their selection process.

Conor Glass is from Maghera in Northern Ireland and has been signed as an International Category B Rookie after his eye-catching displays of Gaelic Football as captain of the Derry youth team. Hawthorn have been tracking Glass for some time, assisting him to come to the club to meet the players and get a feel off the heartland of AFL footy in Melbourne. The Hawks used their final pick in the draft, pick 62 in the fourth round, to complete his recruitment process.

 

Essendon Football Club has used the 2015 Rookie Draft to secure Tiwi island product, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti. Another Northern Territory talent, Ryan Nyhuis, has also been snaffled by the Fremantle Dockers. The selections complete a wonderful week for Northern Territory talent after Richmond selected Territorian, Daniel Rioli, at the national draft on Tuesday.

 

 

McDonald-Tipungwuti was recruited to the Essendon VFL team back in 2013 after previously being a part of the Gippsland Power team for a couple of seasons. He was also a part of the successful NT Thunder NEAFL team in 2012 and also played the 2011/12 season with his brother Ephrem and cousins Adam and Albert at the Tiwi Bombers, the NTFL team located in the town of Wurrumiyanga on Bathurst Island.

In a remarkable AFL Rookie Draft held today, four players from Sudan made it on to the AFL lists of clubs for 2016. The AFL may never be in a better position to market the game in African countries after Gach Nyuon (Essendon), Rueben William (Brisbane) and Mabior Chol (Richmond) were added to club lists. Additionally, Majak Daw, arguably the highest profile Sudanese player so far, was re-rookied by North Melbourne as expected.

Essendon had been tracking the journey of Gach Nyuon (pictured left) for some time and it was little surprise that they called him as their first selection (fourth overall) this morning. Essendon has only recruit Matthew Leuenberger and young gun Joe Daniher that stand over 200 centimetres, so Nyuon will address the height issue, especially if a key ruckman is injured during the season. Nyuon is a raw talent but is super-exciting and highly athletic. His form with the Dandenong Stingrays in the TAC Cup saw him the premier ruckman of the competition and this continued for Vic Country and eventual All-Australian U18 selection.

The Tokyo Goannas triumphed in the AFL Japan Grand Final played out on Saturday 21st November at the Yokohama Country and Athletic Club.
In what turned out to be a 'come from behind' thriller, the Tokyo Goannas over came a Tokyo Bay Suns three quarter time 11 point advantage with a 4 goal to 2 goal last quarter to take out their seventh Top League Grand Final by a mere 2 points, final scores being 10 - 8 (68) to 10 - 6 (66).

It was a hard fought battle from the outset between the two powerhouse teams in the AFL Japan Top League East, with the Suns kicking away to 4 goal to one first quarter.

With a pair of goals each from Nakamura Hisaosame (Suns) and N. Payne (Goannas) the Suns maintained their 3 goal lead in the second quarter, 6 -3 (39) to 3 - 3(21)

Just last weekend, after six straight losses, the Tiwi Bombers’ season was unravelling faster than a woollen cardigan in the possession of a destructive kitten. They had not played poorly during the season, just not as well as their opponents. Something had to change in a hurry – and it did. During the week they had no wins and no points. By yesterday they had two wins and were now just two games adrift of the top five.

Courtesy of a ruling by the NTFL which saw the Waratah Warriors stripped of their two points for playing an unregistered player in their win over the Bombers , the Tiwi side were awarded their first points of the season. Days later the Bombers hosted the in-form Palmerston Magpies and delighted their home crown at Wurrumiyanga on Bathurst Island. Leading all day, and helped by an eight goal bag from Ross Tungatalum and some new southern recruits including Jydon Neagle, son of former Essendon great Merv Neagle, the Tiwi Bombers ran out 35 point winners. The loss for Palmerston was costly, dumping them back into fourth spot, albeit just a game behind the leadership logjam.

If ever you find a car in an old garage, covered in dust and blankets, but it has the legendary Rolls Royce symbol on the bonnet you just know it would be worth investing some time and effort into restoring it. After all, it is a Rolls Royce and it doesn’t have such a fine reputation for nothing. It is all class – no matter which model you might discover.

Much the same can be said for the Rioli name nowadays in Australian Rules football. Just mention the prospect of a Rioli at a national draft for player talent and suddenly talent scouts and managers become akin to Pavlov’s dogs. At the mere mention of the word “Rioli” they will all sit up on cue and salivate.

Such is the case at the 2015 NAB AFL Draft being held in Adelaide on Tuesday. Young Daniel Rioli is the next edition off the production line and he has tails and tongues wagging. Such is the value of his name alone that all clubs are likely to have pencilled him in as either a first round pick, or at worst an early second rounder. But Daniel is keen to ensure he is known, and drafted, on his own merits.

The BM Bulls reacted in a most severe way to their last start loss to the Dubai Dragons with a huge win over the Abu Dhabi Falcons in the Round Four match on Friday. Whilst it was a dark day for the Falcons, playing on the picturesque grounds of the exquisite Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, for the Bulls it was a landmark day of records, including their highest club score and biggest win in their short history. The setting for the match at the Emirates Palace might well be the most opulent location ever produced for an Australian Rules football match anywhere in the world.

For the record, the BM Bulls, with astonishing accuracy, defeated the Abu Dhabi Falcons by a whopping 127 points with the Bulls kicking 27 6 168 to the Falcons 6 5 41.

The Grand Final for AFL Japan will be played this Saturday 31st November, the match will be a battle between two powerhouses of Japanese footy.

Two-time reigning premiers Tokyo Bay Suns will battle it out against the multi-premiership winning Tokyo Goannas with the Goannas probably being the warm favourites as they made their way into the Grand Final by crushing the Senshu Powers last Sunday 22-14 (145) to 9-8 (62), whereas the Suns fended off the Komazawa Magpies in a memorable First Semi-final 14-8 (92) to 9-11 (65).

The Grand Final will begin at 4.25 pm at the Yokohama Country and Athletic Club, 11-1 Yaguchidai, Naka-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa.

The 2015 International Rules Series will be just one Test played at Croke Park in Ireland tonight at 19:00 hours Dublin time (Sunday morning Melbourne time). The big talking points pre-match will centre around the 95th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the horrific events at Croke Park, and the final match played by Australian goalkeeper Dustin Fletcher.

The match will be televised in Australia live and at other locations around the world on delay. Live streaming will also be available for subscribers to the WATCHAFL.AFL.COM.AU service.

The schedule is as follows.

THE VIRGIN Australia International Rules Series has an exciting future, says AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan.

He spoke after arriving in Dublin to watch the Test match at Croke Park on Saturday night, and dismissed critics of the venture, saying such concepts demonstrated the game's desire to be ambitious and aspirational.

The squad trained on Wednesday at Croke Park after arriving in a damp and windy Dublin on Tuesday following five days in New York.

McLachlan, who is due to meet formally with the Gaelic Athletic Association on Friday, said it was important the AFL was never insular in its thinking.