The AFL Queensland Girls State Championships have played out in Brisbane this weekend. In its eighth year, the competition has shifted south, from Cairns to the AFL Queensland Administration and Training Centre, Yeronga. This is the second season the competition has been for under-17, transitioning from the previous Under-16 format. Amongst the sides participating is the AFL PNG Coca-Cola Under 17 Kurukums – being the first time PNG has been represented in this tournament.

With some girls only arriving from Port Moresby about an hour before the game – the Kurukums were up against it against the bigger and stronger South West Magpies side. It should be noted that over half of the Kurukums are under 15 years of age and that the PNG squad is actually the youngest of the (for the first time) 8 sides in the tournament.

Reigning Brownlow Medalist Gary Ablett Junior and his brother and Geelong Premiership player Nathan Ablett will be in Port Moresby this week. They will be undertaking various activities for their church group, and it's charity - The Gateway Children's Fund.

As the end of October draws near and Australian based AFL fans wonder whether 2 or 3 weeks is the right length for the trade period or whether the Irish series is worth persisting with or not – we could be forgiving for thinking there’s not much going on in footy. Certainly the same can’t be said for AFL Fiji who have been working feverishly on many fronts.

We continue Lisa 'Kiwi' Roper's review of the recent tour by the Australian Under 16 girls team, the Breeze and their matches against the NZ girls team, the Kahus. 

Game 2 was a different affair. Both coaching panels deciding that two mixed teams would further the playing development of the Kahus and leadership of the Breeze. What should have been an even contest ended up with the team coached by both assistant Coaches winning by a large margin and the Head Coaches copping plenty, as the spirit between this Trans-Tasman contest was more of great friends than the usual rivalries across all sports.

We asked Lisa 'Kiwi' Roper to give us her thoughts on the recent series between the Breeze (Under 16 Australian Girls Australian Football team) and the first ever female team in New Zealand - the Kahus. Living in NSW and playing and coaching the Australian form of football for many years (including playing over 200 games, and being in 10 grand finals in 12 years including two for NSW) she will always be a proud Kiwi. The greatest shame of this story is that womens footy only comes to NZ now. But looking on from the sidelines on this tour it seems Kiwi is happy to be looking forward to what the future holds for the Kiwi girls of today and tomorrow.

 

St Kilda has secured the services of young Hawthorn midfielder Shane Savage plus the Hawks' first round selection (pick 17) in the 2013 NAB AFL National Draft in exchange for Saints ruckman Ben McEvoy.

Savage played 15 of Hawthorn’s 22 home and away games in 2013 for a career total of 56. He was an emergency for the club’s recent AFL Grand Final win over Fremantle.

The 22-year-old Kiwi will be a valuable addition to St Kilda’s midfield as well as becoming an ambassador of the club’s increasing presence in New Zealand, having being born in Auckland where he lived until his family moved to Australia when he was two years old.

Last weekend the first ever game of AFL played by women in NZ was held against the visiting Australia Breeze Youth Girls Team.

Though the result was a sound thrashing for the Kiwis nevertheless Women’s football has to start somewhere in NZ and now it has.

The result really was inconsequential as with all of the development programs through primary and secondary schools in NZ administered through AFL NZ such as KiwiKick, Hawks Cup and Play AFL 9’s the opportunities are there for the females in NZ to become increasingly involved.

Stand outs for the Kahus (Hawks in maori) on the day were Kayla Paniora, Firth Bidois, Claudia McMeekin-Currin and Kiana Laing.

The Victorian Amateur Football Association have continued their winning ways in New Zealand, beating the U-18 New Zealand Hawks 105-60.

The match was a fitting finale for the tour, with the result reflecting both the competitive nature of both matches, and the superior skill of VAFA.

For the Hawks, there were a number of strong performances. Rhys Panui-Leth, a former International Scholarship holder for Hawthorn, played a match befitting the honour of captaining his country, through his leadership in the midfield and poise in front of goal. Alex Barnsley was also a threat throughout the game, using physicality fearlessly to put pressure on his opposition.

During the game stars in the first match Kade Riddell and James McKenzie were again to the fore both kicking brilliant goals for the Hawks. By the end of the third quarter the Aussies were up tellingly 90-42.

AFL New Zealand have hosted in conjunction with the 2013 AFL Grand Final, an annual Community Awards function.

The event was an opportunity to recognise and thank the many people and partner organisations that have contributed to the success of AFL New Zealand over the past year.

The many different aspects of AFL New Zealand’s strategies and programmes were put on display throughout the Community Awards. Encompassing and recognising the contributions of primary and secondary schools, regional sporting trusts, media organisations or AFL New Zealand High Performance participants and parents, the awards covered the breadth of the AFL community.

The VAFA U 18's are currently in NZ and have played the first game, in a 3 match series against the NZ Hawks.

For the first time the NZ team opposed to the Victorians is of the same age range, with previous tours being against a NZ team with older boys. As the talent pool in NZ has increased, the need for this advantage has decreased.

Once again the Victorians were too good but players who stood out in the NZ Hawks/ South Pacific Academy game on Anzac Day as the curtain raiser to the Sydney Swans/St Kilda game were once again prominent. Hawthorn scholarship holders Ben Miller and Siope Ngata were standouts as were Kade Riddell and James McKenzie who kicked 5 goals.

With the final scorse 103- 51 the Kiwis were by no means disgraced.