Round 1 of the NAB National Under 16 Championships was played out across the weekend at the Blacktown International Sports Park in Sydney.

The AFL South Pacific Under 16s squad had a warm up game last week at the same venue against local Sydney side Sydney Hills (pictured below); with South Pacific prevailing 10.6.(66) to Sydney Hills 7.2.(44). A good lead in to their first tournament game against the Australian indigenous Flying Boomerangs on Sunday.

In a major step forward for the AFL PNG Coca-Cola talent pathway the Under 14 Binatangs today defeated North Queensland at Broadbeach to take out the 2013 Queensland Championships.

Match 3	Final
Binatangs	10.6.(66)
North Queensland	2.0.(12)

PNG - Best: Samuel Kenjau, Cobern Gamuna, Paniel Penias, Jemasol Paira, Thomas Wakon, Sylvester Wesley, Saburo Gerard, Iama Rawali.
PNG - Goals: Sylvester Wesley 2, Saburo Gerard 2, Justine Murawa, Valentine Janguan, Cobern Gamuna, Kepas Matrus, Paniel Penias, Eddie Manzin.

A week ago the AFLPNG Under 14 Binatangs set off headed for sunny Queensland for the Queensland State Championships.

It is with tremendous pride that AFL PNG announced that their Coca-Cola Under 14 Binatangs had successfully won their way into the tournament Grand Final.

The AFLPNG press release below :

Coca-Cola Binatangs ready for Queensland Championships

AFLPNG’s under 14 Coca-Cola Binatangs will depart this Thursday for the Gold Coast in Queensland to participate in the 2013 Queensland State Championships. The squad of 27 Young boys has been drawn from the Highlands (Goroka and Mt. Hagen), Islands (Kimbe/Hoskins and Kavieng) , Northern (Lae and Kainantu) and Port Moresby. Selection was via the Coca-Cola National Championships held in November last year at Lae’s Igam Barracks.

The following is from an AFL PNG press release

Shem Tatupu was this week featured on Hawks TV with Mark Mckenzie discussing Shem's development as the club prepares to have him on board full time at the end of this year as an international rookie.

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Shem Tatupu has recently been in Melbourne as part of his International Scholarship with the Hawthorn Football Club.

In a move that could be likened to "Selling ice to the Eskimos" Shem has been out and about in Melbourne taking footy clinics at a variety of schools.

In an interesting article http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sp...ars-in-AFL his journey so far makes great reading.

The following is an AFL NT media release.

AFL Northern Territory is pleased to announced the recruitment of NT Thunder Ruckman and NTFL Rising Star winner, Neil Vea Vea, to the role of Multicultural Ambassador for the Northern Territory.

“In the newly appointed role Neil will be charged with a variety of Multicultural Program activations across the Territory, as well as providing key mentor and leadership support to up and coming multicultural players with in the NT,” said AFLNT Participation Manager Adam Moedt.

Vea Vea, 19, of South Sea Island descent (Vanuatu), feels privileged to be able to play a part in delivering the multicultural programs with in the Northern Territory.

Ruby Leete is a well known name in women’s football in the north of Queensland. The Papua New Guinea born star grew up in Port Moresby and moved to Australia in 1996. Once settled in her new home of Cairns, she soon picked up the Aussie sports bug, first playing tennis, then netball, then rugby league. However it was only in 2009 after someone at her rugby club invited her to have a go that she got hooked on AFL.

Leete learnt her trade under premiership winning team North Cairns Tigers, and supported by her netballer’s jump and firm hands, the club continued to dominate week after week in the growing Cairns league. However, after playing for the Tigers for two seasons, Leete eventually decided to switch to her current team, South Cairns Cutters.

The NZ Hawks have completed a clean sweep in their series against the South Pacific Academy, defeating the South Pacific with a big last quarter at Hutt Valley Oval.

With the average age of the Hawks 22 against an Under 18 team this is a result that shouldn't surprise. However with the scores tied up at three quarter time it took a monster quarter with the wind on the open expanses of the Hutt Valley Oval for the Hawks to take control.

For further details, read Hawks make it two from two on the AFLNZ website.

During the half time break a fantastic game of AFL 9’s was played by various male and female media and sporting personalities. In all honesty as an observer I can say the skill level was quite high!

To see this game surrounded by a number of grid games involving children lends credence to AFLNZ’s belief that it is reaching a wide audience.

For more on the half time entertainment and photos of the event please view AFL 9's a hit with sports stars