World Footy News

The Adelaide Crows soared to a 45-point win over the Carlton Blues at the Adelaide Oval in the 2019 AFLW Grand Final.

Now, the Crows are the only team to win two AFLW premierships.

It was the Blues first AFLW grand final.

The Crows hosted the Blues at the Adelaide Oval in front of a record crowd of 53, 304.

Crows superstar Erin Phillips’ day came to a sad end late in the third term, as she injured her ACL and was stretchered off the ground.

Meanwhile, teammate Chloe Scheer tore her ACL in the match as well.

Blues star forward Tayla Harris also injured her knee after a knock to it. 

Image Source: Michael Wilson

The ALFA Lions have downed the Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes this weekend and in the process have all but secured another finals battle. Disappointed they missed the finals last season, the Lions had set their target to see finals this season. Now they have effectively done so and can prepare for the next phase of the season.

That phase will be a “top of the table” clash with the Paris Cockerels in the final round. There could be no better preparation going into finals that a clash with another potential grand finalist. Their biggest advantage is that the clash will be at their home ground Lyon.

Their victory against the Cergy-Pontoise Coyotes by 36 points had two effects. Firstly, it locked in their own finals booking, but it also placed the Coyotes in a dangerous situation.

It can only be a matter of time before a UCC Bombers incarnation becomes a fully-fledged AFL Ireland team. Whilst still a university team, the Bombers showed again they have the talent to compete at a higher level, downing the Leeside Lions for the first time since 2017 in the Rebel Shield’s second leg.

The following is a small article from the Leeside Lions Facebook page, detailing the day.

In a fixture that traditionally marks the start of the AFL season in Cork and the closing of the college season. The Rebel shield again failed to disappoint. With the Lions holding a 17 point advantage over their opponents the UCC Bombers from the first leg a fast start was needed by the Bombers to breathe life into their challenge and fast start is exactly what they got racing into a four goals to one lead in the first quarter.

The highly anticipated AFLW Grand Final teams have been released below.

Adelaide vs Carlton, Sunday 31st March 12:30pm at Adelaide Oval

Adelaide Team

Position	Name	#	Name	#	Name	#
Backs	D.Cox	31	S.Allan	39	J.Mules	23
Half Backs	M.Rajcic	32	C.Randall	26	A.Foley	3
Centreline			E.Phillips - C	13
Half Forwards	D.Ponter	15	C.Scheer	4	C.Cramey	22
Forwards	E.Jones	2	S.Thompson	14	D.Varnhagen	9
Followers	J.Foley	24	A.Hatchard	33	E.Marinoff	10
Interchange	H.Martin	6	A.Considine	16	J.Sedunary	17
	S.Li	19	R.Forth	27	N.Gore	7
	H.Martin	8	N.Gore	7	S.Riley	8

In: - N.Gore, S.Riley 

Out: - None

Carlton Team

Position	Name	#	Name	#	Name	#
Backs	J.Van Dyk	36	K.Harrington	9	N.Stevens	21
Half Backs	C.Dalton	15	C.Wilson	20	G.Pound	6
Centreline			B.Davey - C	1
Half Forwards	L.Brazzale	12	B.Moody	16	T.Lucas-Rodd	18
Forwards	D.Vescio	3	T.Harris	7	B.Walker	14
Followers	A.Downie	30	M.Prespakis	4	S.Hosking	10
Interchange	G.Gee	19	J.Edwards	25	J.Hosking	11
	A.Mullane	8	K.Loynes	2
	R.Hicks	24	N.Plane	32

In: - R.Hicks, N.Plane 

Out: - None

 

Marc McGowan reports on the www.afl.com.au website that the next wave of Irish talent is on it’s way ready for potential drafting/rookie listing later this year.

The newest batch of potential Irish AFL recruits will land in Melbourne in April, while another will privately audition for Sydney.

Ronan Devereux, Ross McQuillan, Peadar Mogan and Luke Towey are the chosen ones out of the 20 Irishmen who tested in front of recruiters at the AFL Europe Combine in Dublin in December.

They will complete more testing during their fortnight in Australia, with the hope of being signed or drafted to an AFL club for the 2020 season.

 

The Swans' list and recruiting boss, Kinnear Beatson, made the trip to Dublin for that Combine and has invited 193cm, 92kg Irishman Barry O'Connor to the Harbour City.

In yet another amazing example of Asian expansion, the Mongolian Wolves Australian Football League is under way. Whilst only in their early stages of development, the league already has kicked goals – men’s footy and also kids – and has grander plans.

According to the league’s Facebook page, the league was given the green light when the league announced, “[we are] excited to announce that the Mongolian Australian Football League has been accepted as an official foundation member league with AFL Asia. This affiliation provides us with a range of great resources, support and events and we look forward to working with the AFL Asia team to grow the sport and provide opportunities for participation in Mongolia.”

Since then, the MAFL has already instigated junior development. “We are excited to announce that the AUSKICK junior football program will be conducted at the International School of Mongolia starting week one of the next school term (after the summer break) as part of the schools CCA programs.”

After a highly successful inaugural season, the Colombia AFL 2019 season is about to commence. Following on from an initial season where two smaller tournaments saw the DC Aguilas and Bogota Bullants claim premierships, the league has revamped into one big season, starting this weekend.

Also new for 2019 are international matches, with clashes against both the Austin Crows from Texas and the Denver Bulldogs from Colorado which will add enormously to the game. Combined with the annual Andes Cup against the Santiago Saints from Chile, Bogota is fast becoming an Australian Rules football link between North and South America.

According to Colombia AFL, “we’ve got a season of round robins until September, then finals. The teams are now anchored in Colombian members - so our Colombians were all drafted to a team and the foreigners get allocated as top ups on the day to keep it even.”

Belfast Redbacks last weekend hosted the Leprechaun Cup for men and women. The tournament is the big season catalyst needed for clubs ahead of the start of the AFL Ireland season which isn’t far away. The following report from the Belfast Redbacks details the day with all scores, with the host team, the Redbacks, taking the men’s title and the University Shamrocks the women’s.

Saturday 23rd of March saw the annual Leprechaun Cup being held at Boucher Road playing fields with 5 men's teams and 4 women's taking to the field of play.

The London Swans and South East London Giants made the trip over from across the water and fielded teams in both the men's and women's competitions. The Galway Magpies, the South Dublin Swans and the Belfast Redbacks brought the number of men's team to five.

The girls from the newly formed West Lothian Eagles made the trip to Belfast for the first time and the last team in the ladies competition was the Irish University Shamrocks team.

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The Adelaide Crows thumped Geelong by 66 points at the Adelaide Oval on a mild day in Adelaide.

It was a superior effort from the Crows, as they made light work of the Cats all day with their tough and relentless pressure.

With the 11 goals kicked by the Crows, 7 of them were kicked by individual goal scorers. 

The Cats struggled to get any flow and momentum to impact the game.

It was a great performance down back for Cats defender Meg McDonald who kept the dangerous Stevie-Lee Thompson quiet all day.

The Crows will host Carlton at the Adelaide Oval in the AFLW Grand Final next week. 

Image Source: AFL Photos

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It is slow and gradual, but it is relentless. More and more Hollywood and entertainment heavyweights are taking our great game to a world stage, perhaps nowhere more so that the United States.

In the past twelve months, a slew of Hollywood (or entertainment general) figures have visited Australia and ensured they spent time learning more about our game.

Last night, as part of the first AFL premiership match at the newly renamed Marvel Stadium, Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Matt Damon (remember his small role as Loki in Thor: Ragnorak) cheered on the Thor-themed Western Bulldogs.

Carlton pulled off a solid upset win by 36 points over a Fremantle Dockers outfit that were outclassed all game long at the Ikon Park on a hot day in Melbourne.

From the wooden spooners last year to making the AFLW Grand Final for the first time.

The Dockers had an exceptional season, but the Blues played their best game of the season so far and the Dockers could not get any flow into their usual reliable formidable game plan. 

It was the first ever AFLW preliminary final at Ikon Park.

The Blues did not disappoint their home crowd with their stifling  pressure and cleaness with their ball skills around the entire ground.

It was the walking wounded for the Dockers during the match.

Image Source: Mike Owen