All eyes on Kiwi Kurt Heatherley on Sunday with Brian Lake going down in Hawthorn’s Saturday night loss to Pt Adelaide. He was named in the best players for Box Hill as they defeated Coburg by 20 points, and may have been in the Hawthorn selectors minds to be upgraded to the senior list for a chance to play against North Melbourne on Saturday. 

 

The following is a press release from the Essendon Football Club looking at the upcoming 20th anniversary of the events which led to the changes of AFL racial vilification laws and the Michael Long inspired “The Long Walk”.

 

The Long Walk Launch

Twenty years on from their history changing moment on the MCG, Michael Long and Damian Monkhorst were reunited at the famous ground to launch this year’s The Long Walk.

The theme of this year’s The Long Walk is ‘Together’, and it was fitting that Long and Monkhorst shared their memories of the 1995 ANZAC Day Clash and the AFL’s vilification policy which was born out of the fallout. 

 

“This was a game changer in that moment for the positive and the right things that we see now. You see so many different cultures playing this great game and I don’t think we realise how much that moment changed our great game,” Long said.

 

During the semi-finals stage of the National Diversity Cup held here in Cairns over the past week, thee Queensland Kickstart team allowed me to sit with them in the coaching bench to watch and hear what goes on “behind the scenes”. It was a rewarding experience, and it went something like this…

 

“One…Two…Three…”. The players are sitting stretching their hammies, quads, calves and counting the hold. You can see in their eyes this drill is the start. It is serious now. They are about to run out for what might be their last match together. A loss and their championships are finished. A win and they live to fight on to the preliminaries.

 

They stand and the warm up continues. Clean hands. Close handpasses. Shouting, screaming, encouraging…getting pumped.

 

 

Eddie Sansbury calls them into line groups – forward, mids, defenders. He tells the forwards to push up field. They are not tall, so get up and get the ball. Make it happen.

The 2015 AFL National Diversity Championships have been completed in Cairns with western Australia being crowned Kickstart champions whilst Queensland made history to win their first cup at any of these championships taking out the All Nations Cup. The following pair of stories are the grand-final summaries for both competitions.

 

National Diversity Championships – All Nations Grand Final

 

The crowd at Cazalys Stadium in Cairns was treated to a tremendous match with the Victoria/Tasmania team – last year’s winners – taking on the well performed Queensland team that had never reached a grand-final at these championships.

 

Victoria/Tasmania made the early running with the breeze in the first half, but again the showers arrived to negate the wind effect. At times soccer became the sport of choice as both teams hacked the ball from end to end in the conditions.

 

A goal to Queensland just on half time levelled the scores and set up an exciting final stanza.

 

 

Today marked the end of the round robin preliminary matches for both the Kickstart state indigenous teams as well as the All Nations multicultural teams. The three days to date have seen a scintillating brand of football played in great spirit by the future stars of the AFL. Tomorrow the semi-finals commence to determine the 2015 grand-finalists.

The Kickstart results have seen the Western Australians once again assert their superiority at this Under 15 national level. This is the fifth year of this championship and Western Australia is yet to lose a title. There is little to suggest 2015 will be any different.

After their five matches, Western Australia are undefeated, a game and a half of their nearest rival, Victoria/Tasmania. Northern Territory hold equal third spot with South Australia, but had a higher percentage. Queensland and New South Wales/ACT are in fifth and sixth places respectively.

The Queensland Kickstart team were up against the Victoria/Tasmania team. After a half with the aid of a useful but not powerful breeze, Queensland faced a two goal deficit. To win from here would take a turnaround in fortunes.

So what is said at half-time?

Rhan Hooper, former Brisbane Lions and Hawthorn Hawks footballer, is head coach. He is assisted by former North Melbourne player Eddie Sansbury and his other lieutenants Dwayne, Travis and Keith.

The coaches get the forward, defensive and midfield units aside to chat amongst themselves about how things panned out in the first half. Players urged each other to lift and suggestions are offered.

A packed house of players, officials, volunteers and dignitaries filled The Tanks Arts Centre tonight to usher in the official welcome of the National Diversity Championships in Cairns. On a humid but pleasant night the assembled audience were treated to entertainment, formal welcomes and player interviews as a prelude to the real action on the football field over the next five days.

The evening commenced to the resonating power of the didgeridoo and dance from the Wuba Indigenous performing troupe before Rick Hanlon, AFL Cape York Programs Director and Master of Ceremonies for the night, acknowledged the traditional owners of the land on which we were meeting before introducing State Treasurer and member for Mulgrave, Curtis Pitt, and Marc Harbrow, brother of Gold Coast Suns star Jarrod Harbrow, who gave the traditional welcome on behalf of his people.

The idea of an AFL premiership match being played in Singapore is a long, long way from being a reality, but news from the www.afl.com website suggests that the Brisbane Lions are looking at the option.

 

According to the AFL’s website, “THE BRISBANE Lions' financial woes and restrictive deal with their home stadium, the Gabba, have driven the club to pursue options for a home and away match overseas.

 

Lions officials have started investigating a viable international option which has taken their focus to the Singapore National Stadium.

 

 

The stadium, opened last year, has a capacity of 55,000 and has hosted soccer giants such as Juventus. It has the dimensions to extend to host an AFL match.

The tropical North Queensland city of Cairns will play host to this year’s Kickstart Championships and All Nations Cup this weekend, which together comprise the AFL Diversity Cup. Last year’s event was held in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales. The North Queensland city of Townsville held the event in 2013.

The event presents the opportunity for Cairns to further establish its credentials as a regional venue for high calibre AFL events, following on from hosting AFL Premierships matches and other key national events such as the Women’s Championships in 2013.

According to the press release from AFL Queensland:

“AFL Cairns will host the 2015 Kickstart Championships and All Nations Cup (AFL Diversity Cup) at Cazalys Stadium from Friday 10th to Wednesday 15th April. The U15 Kickstart Championships is in its 5th year and the structure has been developed to provide a supported, talented player pathway that compliments the National U16 Championships. It aims to expose indigenous and multicultural players, coaches and umpires to an elite AFL program environment.”