World Footy News

The finalists for the 2017/18 NTFL season will be decided by one particular final-round match next weekend, and the equation is simple – the winner of the clash at Tracy Oval between the Tiwi Bombers and Waratah will play finals. The loser will commence planning for next season. After weeks of jostling, a final round epic will decide fifth place.

Both teams lost over the weekend, to make things even more interesting, but the Tahs lost by less and hold the psychological edge over the Bombers after stealing fifth place from them. With all other finalists now guaranteed, the script is now perfectly written for a thrilling finish.

Waratah answered the eternal question on the weekend as to whether there is such a thing as a “valuable” loss. The answer was a resounding “Yes” with their narrow three-point loss to ladder leaders, Southern Districts, being enough to leap-frog the Bombers. Waratah were after a win, and played that way. They hurled everything at the Crocs. After a first half where the teams needed to be prised apart with a crowbar, Waratah then kept the Crocs goalless in the third term to snare a 22-point lead. However, Crocs fought back with a big final quarter to steal the match with a goal on the final siren to break Waratah hearts, but not their spirit.

The Western Bulldogs overcame the Lions in hot conditions in front of 5,300 football fans. In the second season of the AFLW the Dogs remain undefeated and the Lions have zero wins to start this season. The Dogs had been fantastic all day and their slick ball movement and gameplay all over the ground getting them get over the line. They unfortunately let themselves down in front of goal, as they were only able to score three goals for the entire match.

Image Source: Twitter @BulldogsW

It was a tight opening term with the first score a behind only coming with 6 mins left on the clock from Katie Brennan. Izzy Huntington played tough in and around the contest, as she cracked the packs and took strong marks. At quarter time the Lions led the Dogs by one point with neither team able to score a goal in the opening term. It was a real arm wrestle in the heat. Ally Anderson from the Lions was able to rack up nine possessions in the first. She was the only player able to get more than four disposals.

The Fremantle Dockers won by 13 points over the Pies in front of a massive record crowd of 41, 975 at their new home the Optus Stadium. This crowd was the biggest crowd in the history of Women's sport in Australia.

For the first half of the first quarter, Collingwood were on top in all areas especially slick and clean in their forward half. As a result, they were able to kick two goals. Emma King from the Pies slotted the first goal at Optus Stadium and shortly after Christina Bernardi was able to score goal number two for the visitors. However in a tight and open first quarter, the Dockers led by six points at the end of the first after three goals in a row.

Image Source: Twitter @freodockers

 
 

Melbourne were dominant at Casey Fields this afternoon with a percentage boosting win over the reigning premiers Adelaide in front of 3,800 footy fans. The Dees were all over the Crows who were not able to put a halt to the Dees immense pressure.

It did not start well at all for the Crows, because before the siren even sounded for the match to begin there banner fell apart on one end with the post falling off on the right due to the strong breeze and the crowd could not believe it. This trend unfortunately continued for the Crows who were unable to get on top of a Demons team that was exceptional and played top notch football.

 Image Source: Twitter @melbournefc

The Blues notch up win number two by 21 points in front of 4,952 fans at Drummoyne Oval in Sydney. There was thunderstorms at quarter time that put a halt to proceedings for about 20 minutes.

The Blues were inaccurate and wayward in front of goal, as they scored 3 goals and 12 behinds on their way to be remaining undefeated in this year's AFLW.

Image Source: @carltonfc / aflphotos.com.au

On Thursday, a wonderful announcement was made by the Osaka Dingoes AFL Club and AFL Japan. They have gained a partnership with the Kobe-based Canadian Academy.

In an agreement,

- Complimentary ground bookings have been offered by the Canadian Academy to the Osaka Dingoes and AFL Japan in a certain months in 2018.

- Canadian Academy's PE staff members will get opportunities to gain coaching and training skills for their students, with the training and development coaching program conducted by Matt Gale, the President of AFL Asia and the Osaka Dingoes.

With Nauru celebrating its 50th anniversary of independence in 2018, the Jubilee Cup has kicked off the festivities early.

The cup was a round-robin tournament featuring some of the most talented young footballers on the island, with 11 different sides all competing for the cup -- plus island-wide bragging rights. The initial tournament ran from January 17-20, organized into pools A and B, culminating in the grand final on the 27th.

Image Source: AFL Nauru

The AFL Europe Fitzpatrick Cup was played out last weekend, and the following article from the AFL Europe website details the event. Once again, the UC Bombers have proved to be the university to beat, raising the bar even higher in 2018. 

A mixture of rain, wind, hail and sunshine met participants at the 5th Fitzpatrick Cup hosted by the University College Cork (UCC) on Saturday. ‘The Farm’ played hosted to the annual universities tournament for the second year running in what proved a typically mild February day in Ireland. 

Eleven teams made the journey to this year’s Fitz with eight men’s and three women’s varsity teams battling it to be crowned university champions of Europe.

The Irish city of Cork will be the host of the 2018 Euro Cup. Better known to some for the Blarney Stone, Blarney Castle, captivating architecture and the River Lee, the city is also home to two very successful Australian Rules football teams. A bit over 250 kilometres south-west of Dublin, Cork is home to both the Leeside Lions and the UCC Bombers, and the city in the province of Munster might just be the Irish epicentre of footy at the moment.

The Leeside Lions are the current ARFLI titleholders, going back to back last year. Last weekend, the UCC Bombers also went back to back in the men’s and women’s competitions at the 2018 Fitzpatrick Cup for universities.

The AFL Europe website stats that, “AFL Europe is excited to announce that this year’s Euro Cup will be held in Cork, Ireland.”

After the weekend’s round of matches, three clubs will be fighting for two remaining finals berths as the battle for finals hots up. St Mary’s, Waratah and the Tiwi Bombers will go into the final two rounds of the home and away season very aware that if they blink they can miss finals. What makes it even more compelling is that each of the three play against at least one of the others in the run home.

The Bombers have two cutthroat games to make the finals. They play both St Mary’s and Waratah – their rivals for a finals spot. St Mary’s have perhaps the better run home, playing against the Bombers next weekend but then meeting the Palmerston Magpies in the final round and a chance to lock away another finals challenge. Waratah have the toughest draw, up against ladder leaders – Southern Districts - and then a final round clash for likely fifth spot with the Bombers. It is a fascinating script.

The Bulldogs were victors over Freo by 26 points Sunday afternoon in front of 8,500 fans at the home of the Western Bulldogs the Whitten Oval. A woeful Freo were only able to trouble the scorers in the third term, as they were only able to score their first goal at the 3 and a half minute mark of the third via Amy Lavell.

Katie Brennan starred for the home team with 3 goals and Lavell slotted 2 goals for the Dockers. Ellie Blackburn was the leading possession winner for the Dogs with 23 touches. 2017 best and fairest winner Dana Hooker along with Kara Donnellan had 12 disposals each for the Dockers.

This match showed the rest of the teams in the AFLW competition that the Dogs will not be a team to be taken lightly this year.