World Footy News

The Great Britain Bulldogs have named a squad drawn mainly from England's Southern and Central-North West leagues for their upcoming 2010 European Championships campaign. With the EC2010 coinciding with the AFL London finals series, a number of the GB regulars will be playing for their domestic clubs early August, which opens the opportunities for new faces among the Bulldogs.

GB coach Mark Pitura says the squad was chosen mostly from the teams that competed in the Brit Cup in Southampton on July 3rd, and is a good mix of youth and experience, lead by veterans Adam "Skippy" Bennett from Reading and Rob Fielder from Chippenham.

"As you can see, most players come from regional teams outside of London. A few exciting players to watch are Martyn Hinchey (Southampton Titans) in the ruck, 6 foot 6 Full forward Lee Tarn (Chippenham Redbacks) and goal sneak Mark Todd (Reading Kangaroos)."

The Bulldogs will be hoping for a strong showing at the Championships, having a history as being one of the "Big 3" alongside Ireland and Denmark, and being the only European nation ever to have defeated the Irish.

The re-branded Scottish Clansmen travelled abroad for the first time to the Four Nations Cup on July 3rd and 4th in Fontanafredda, northern Italy. The tournament was part of a Festival of Rugby and included the hosts Italy, Croatia and the Czech Republic.

Scotland has entered tournaments before, such as the EU Cup, but this was the first time the squad was exclusively players who are eligible for selection under the new Euro Cup rules. Having previously only played two Tests against Wales, the Clansmens' management team felt that this trip would be perfect preparation for the upcoming rematch against Wales, the first Test series against England and the Euro Cup in October.

The performances as much as the results have set the bench mark high for the remainder of the International season, with a competitive defeat to the highly rated Croatia and a comprehensive win over the Czech Republic. Scottish Head Coach Stevie Connor had his squad well prepared and highly motivated and the experience gained in Italy will be vital for the Clansmen in the upcoming matches.

While the signing of Rugby League star Israel Folau to the AFL's Greater Western Sydney expansion club made plenty of headlines this year, some of his family back in Tonga might also be set to create footy news in future.

Folau's 16 year old second cousins Peni Mahini and Simote Taunga are in the South Pacific squad currently competing at the national under 16s championships, and have caught the eye of talent scouts.

"Mahini's a great athlete and he's really competitive with the way he goes about it," the AFL's national community development manager Dean Warren said. "Simote is a little bit further away from a development point of view but has great athletic ability; his skills are just a little bit off the others at this point in time.

"They've only played less than 10 games but if they stick at it, Peni in particular with a bit of development and a really good program, has the athleticism and the raw ability to do it.

"Whether they take that opportunity is yet to be seen. The AFL needs to continue to provide them with the opportunities and the development pathway to realise that, and hopefully a number of AFL clubs have seen them play now."

For the full story story, read Folau's cousins begin AFL journey on afl.com.au.

There is so much happening in PNG football that at times it gets hard to cover it in full. As such here is a brief rundown of some of the things happening within the country. Really, it represents an amazing growth in the sport when so many of their finest players are already in Australia playing footy!

Some of the highlights include structured footy kicking off in a new province, junior growth in Port Moresby and Lae, and the AFL Academy.

Representatives of the Hawthorn footy club have recently been in NZ again. Hawthorn players spent three days in New Zealand, holding clinics at schools and meeting AFLNZ representatives.

To read about their whirlwind tour, see HANZ-UP! tour of New Zealand.

The following are the official AFL results from Round Two of the NAB AFL Under 16 Championships for Division Two.

Tasmania 5.3 8.12 12.17 15.18 (108) def World XVIII 1.0 2.0 2.0 3.1 (19)

Goals
Tasmania: Cody Weedon 5, Brennon Kendall 2, Kyle Clark 1, Joby Reynolds 1, Jimmy Craik 1, Jesse Lonergan 1, Samuel O’Byrne 1, Sam Siggins 1, Jarrod Hibberd 1, Bryden Goninon 1
World XVIII: Peter Ajang 1, Prince Nematswerani 1, Sean O’Kennedy 1

Best
Tasmania: Jarrod Hibberd, Jesse Lonergan, Matthew Ling, Cody Weedon, Samuel O’Byrne, Bryce Walsh, Chae Evans
World: Joseph Lo Buluk, Kane Clark, Sean O’Kennedy, Mathias Biron, Alex McPhee, Jono Elliott, Lucas Devincenzi


Queensland 4.3 5.9 7.9 7.15 (57) def South Pacific 1.1 1.3 5.4 6.6 (42)

Goals:
Queensland: James Ives 2, Shaun Crook 2, Brody Haberfield 1, Michael Wyld 1, Ryan Johnson 1
South Pacific: Larry Nao 3, John Ikupu 1, Slim Collins 1, Tuaefe Kafoa 1

Best:
Queensland: Jock Oats, James Ives, Alex Sexton, Tom Davidson, Michael Wyld
South Pacific: Theo Gavuri, Greg Aki, Wingti Pena, Dylan Wolfgramm, Liam Ackland, Slim Collins

Early scores coming in from today's 2010 NAB AFL Under 16 Championships. We'll update as we get more information.

NSW/ACT 15.8 (98) defeated Northern Territory 9.9 (63)

1/4    Tasmania   World XVIII
 1st      5.3 (33)        1.0 (6)
 half    8.12 (60)        2.0 (12)
 3/4    12.17 (89)       2.0 (12)
 final   15.18 (108)      3.1 (19)

World XVIII goalkickers - Sean O'Kennedy (Ireland), Peter Ajang (Kenya), Prince Nematswerani (South Africa)

1/4    Queensland   South Pacific
 1st      4.3 (27)          1.1 (7)
 half      5.9 (39)          1.3 (9)
 3/4      7.9 (51)          5.4 (34)
 final     7.15 (57)        6.6 (42)

South Pacific goalkickers - Kafoa Tuaefe (Tonga), TBC

The second round of the 2010 NAB AFL Under 16 Championships got underway yesterday, with Vic Metro defeating Vic Country by 36 points and South Australia defeating Western Australia by 27 points.

Division Two Round Two matches are on today Wednesday, July 7 in NSW at Bruce Purser Oval, Rouse Hill and Blacktown Olympic Park:

NT v NSW/ACT: Bruce Purser Oval, Rouse Hill, 11am
Tas v World XVIII: Bruce Purser Oval, Rouse Hill, 12.30pm
QLD v South Pacific: Blacktown Olympic Park No.2, 6pm

Full results for Division One Round Two follow...

The official Record (program) for the 2010 NAB AFL Under 16 Championships is available for download from the AFL website. It features a preview of the tournament, full squads for all the teams (including the South Pacific and World XVIII) and a summary of some of the international programs around the world.

You can download it here.

The following are the official AFL results from Round One of the NAB AFL Under 16 Championships for Division Two.

South Pacific 1.5 3.6 4.8 7.12 (54) def World XVIII 1.0 3.0 3.3 3.4 (22)

Goals
South Pacific: Slim Collins 3, John Ikupu 2, Aviata Siuta 1
World: Peter Ajang 1, Prince Nematswerani 1, Joseph Lo Buluk 1

Best
South Pacific: Dylan Wolfgramm, Slim Collins, Yoshi Harris, Liam Ackland, Wingti Pena, John Ikupu, Theo Gavura
World: Kane Clark, Emmanuel Irra, Jono Elliot, Mathias Biron, Alex McPhee, Sean O’Kennedy, Joseph Lo Buluk

Read on for results from Tasmania vs NT and Queensland vs NSW/ACT

The South Pacific entered the first round of the NAB AFL Under 16 Championships as warm favourites to beat the World XVIII squad, and they proved to be deserving of that position, stretching their lead at every break, though really only breaking free in the last quarter, to win by 32 points. Match report below, photos to follow soon.

With bright sunshine and near perfect conditions in Western Sydney's Blacktown and the new AFL facility looking a picture, the teams lined up before the game, the highlight being the South Pacific giving a spirited multinational equivalent of the Haka, listing in turn the countries the boys come from: PNG, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Nauru, Fiji, Solomon Islands and New Zealand, all called out in turn with a lot of gusto.

Today Division Two of the Under 16 Championships commences with the long awaited official debut of the World XVIII and South Pacific sides. Yesterday the tournament kicked off with Division One powerhouses Victoria Metro, Victoria Country, Western Australia and South Australia. The opening wins went to WA and SA.

Round one matches to be played today, Sunday, July 4 at Blacktown Olympic Park:

10am World XVIII v South Pacific
12.30pm Tasmania v Northern Territory
3pm Queensland v NSW/ACT