It has been no secret since the season finished that Pearce Hanley would likely leave the Brisbane Lions and early on the Gold Coast Suns were the likely new home for the Irishman. 

After 129 games for the Brisbane Lions he has become the best Irish player in the competition famous for his hard running off the hard back line.  But this season something appeared wrong.  And as the Lions continued to struggle at the bottom of the ladder Hanley appeared disinterested.

It is not known publicly for sure where the problem lay, be it with coach Leppitsch (who has now departed the club) or with particular team-mates. At any rate it is hoped a new start at the Gold Coast will see him return to the form of the previous few seasons.

 

Grand Final re-matches, barnstorming come-from-behind victories, exciting debuts, scintillating footy and the sounds of leather hitting boots. No, we are not talking about the battlegrounds of the MCG or Etihad Stadium – this is footy in France, and the new season has kicked off in stunning style across the nation.

Last year the Perpignan Tigers won many admirers with a break out season which saw then just miss out on finals action. They won more yesterday when they launched a stunning comeback against the Toulouse Hawks in the double header at the Stade Robert Barran (Robert Barran Stadium) in Toulouse. For the most part, Toulouse held sway across the first three quarters, but the Tigers were far from finished and stormed home to win an absolute thriller by just four points. Final score saw the Perpignan Tigers 86 down Toulouse 82.

The following article is from Callum Twomey at the www.afl.com.au website.

THREE clubs are in the race to sign Irish prospect Mark O'Connor, who finished his stint in Australia with an excellent run at the NAB AFL Draft Combine.

Geelong, North Melbourne and Melbourne are understood to be keen to sign the 19-year-old, who travelled to Melbourne from Ireland for last weekend's combine at Etihad Stadium.

O'Connor trialed at five clubs (the three chasing his signature plus Essendon and Carlton) during his two-week stay, but has headed back to Ireland to make a decision on where he wants to start his AFL career. He can be signed as a category B rookie.

The AFL Europe Euro Cup in Lisbon, Portugal, has been completed with the Croatian Knights triumphant in the men’s tournament and the Irish Banshees taking out the women’s crown. The organisers of the event in Portugal did a wonderful job to showcase the best footy that Europe has to offer and congratulations are in order for their tremendous work.

The Croatian Knights won their second AFL Europe Euro Cup, and their first since downing the Netherlands in Milan, Italy, in 2010. They defeated the Irish Warriors, back in the final again for the first time since winning the title in 2012, in an incredible final that was decided in extra time. Scores were locked at 35 all at the final siren, but the Knights went on a 10 minute extra time assault to eventually win the title 53 to 39.

The Farum Cats have withstood a mighty fight from the Copenhagen Barracudas to take out the 2016 DAFL Grand Final last weekend. In the end the margin was a solid 28 points, but it was a match of changing fortunes.

But for some inaccurate kicking, the ‘Cudas might well have led at quarter time. They had eleven scoring shots to six, but the Cats made the most of their chances to keep scores level at the first break.

Cats 5 1 31 v Barracudas 4 7 31

The Cats opened the game up in the second quarter with a five goal to one performance. After their wasteful first quarter, the ‘Cudas found it hard to regroup enough to hold the Cats, kicking just one goal and four behinds for the quarter while the Cats rattled on five more goals.

In less than a week, the teams of Europe will hit the fields in Lisbon, Portugal for the 2016 Euro Cup. Already players would be jumping out of their skins waiting for that siren to blow and waiting for that first touch of the leather to calm the nerves.

One team that has more excitement than most is the Portuguese l national team. Drawn in Pool C to play matches against Germany, Norway and Scotland as well as positional matches for final event placings, the Portugal team has also released its playing strip for the event.

Footy history in Sweden added a new chapter to its history last weekend when the Norrtälje Dockers club went on to win the club’s first SAFF (Stockholm Australian Football Federation) premiership in just their fifth season. It caps an amazing year for the club which had already broken new ground reaching their first finals series, culminating in the greatest prize of all.

The club was formed in 2012 and according to the club’s own vision “many hours have been put in by many people to build a club that had a vision of becoming Stockholm’s strongest on and off the field.”

The downed the reigning premiers, the Södermalm Blues with a final score 12 12 84 to 7 4 46.

Carlton today announced the Kate Shierlaw of the Wimbledon Hawks will be one of their rookie players for the inaugural season of the AFL Women's league in 2017.

Shierlaw is originally from Adelaide and is a huge Carlton fan, but only began playing Aussie rules this year in London for the first time.  Kate is the first woman to be signed to an AFL club from a club outside Australia. 

Senior women’s coach Damien Keeping said of Kate "(she) is returning to Australia from the UK which demonstrates her passion and dedication to the game.

 

“Although she has only recently taken up the sport, Kate is a tremendous athlete with a strong work ethic and deep desire to develop and hone her football skills.”
 

The Glasgow Sharks’ successful season went one step further last weekend when they visited Newcastle to take out the 2016 Tyne Tees Cup. Just last month the Glasgow Sharks took out the AFL Scotland premiership - Glasgow Sharks Crowned AFL Scotland Champions – and the trip south has netted them another trophy for the cabinet.

The competing teams for this year saw the Glasgow Sharks, Tyne Tees Tigers and Scotland’s Kingdom Kangaroos in the men’s competition. In the women’s draw the England Vixens took on the Wandsworth Demons and the Glasgow Sharks.

 

The Zaprude Giants are the toast of Croatia after last weekend’s victory in the CEAFL (Central European Australian Football League) Championships held in Prague, Czech Republic. After having headed the table after victories in the first two rounds held in Croatia and Austria, something special was needed by their competitors to stop a Giants title – it didn’t happen.

 

 

Headed into the Prague leg of the tournament, only the Giants, Sesvete Blues from Croatia and the Styrian Downunderdogs from Austria had enough accumulated points from the previous events to be overall winners, but the Giants did little wrong as they again won the day and the overall title.