As we approach the month of December, for many of us, we’re sorting out our Christmas presents and wondering if Christmas cards are either still the done thing, or even whether we’ve left it all a bit late. For the good folk of the Pacific AFL community, final preparations are being made for the Under 16s Oceania Cup to be held in Tonga across December 14-20. And with that, the “Fiji Power” squad has been finalised.

The entire Hawks playing squad and coaches will touch down in Christchurch, New Zealand this Thursday, before making their way to the Mount Cook vicinity, one of the Country’s most picturesque and elevated training locations. The high altitude adventure training camp will see the Hawks in NZ for five days.

The players will be put through high-intensity physical activity, including mountain bike riding, high-altitude running and hiking and white water rafting. The players will also focus on team building activities.

Established international football powerhouse New Zealand have just completed a clean sweep in a 3 test Pacific Cup series over newcomers Tonga. The first two games were close to 100 point drubbings from the slick Kiwis but Tonga went down by the lesser margin of 10 goals when they were assisted by NZ’s only International Cup winning coach, Jim Lucy, in the third test.

The series received coverage on the local TV which can be viewed here http://www.facebook.com/video/video.p...amp;ref=mf

This saturday, November 20, AFL Fiji is running a Melbourne based fundraising night to help send the Fiji Power U16s to Tonga for the AFL Oceania U16 tournament in December. Details as below:

AFLPNG is looking for footy loving Aussies based in Port Moresby interested in participating in friendly matches on a monthly basis. As the number 2 ranked Australian football nation in the world, any Australians looking for a game should find a pretty high standard in Papua New Guinea's capital.

Send your name to info at afl-png.com or call AFLPNG on 3254943. The hope is to host the first match by March 2011. All organised by AFLPNG and the Southern Sharks Development Staff.

The Junior Secondary Schools Hawks Cup Cluster competitions have been completed for the New Zealand North Island. The Hawks Cup sees Junior Secondary School teams across New Zealand compete for North and South Island honours and positions in the New Zealand Under 16 team.

The competition has been buoyed by the announcement that the Senior Secondary School competition has been sanctioned by New Zealand Secondary Schools Sports Council and will enter the sanctioned sports calendar as of March next year.

All the North Island results below, courtesy of the AFL New Zealand - nzafl.co.nz

AFL Tonga will play AFL New Zealand Hawks in a three game series at Parrs Park Oratia West Auckland commencing Saturday November 13th at 4.00pm, competing for the “Pacific Cup”.

THE AFLPNG Talent Camp will take place on Friday 3rd December in Goroka. Approximately 100 kids will make their way to the Eastern Highlands Province and be put through numerous tests, both physical and mental by Australian AFL staff.

Whilst the senior Oceania Cup in New Zealand has disappointingly fallen over, PNG is gearing up for the youth Oceania Cup to be held in Tonga during December. Coached by Pint Kar the boys are already focused training several times a week. Competing against NZ, Nauru, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and the Solomon Islands, PNG’s Head Coach is quietly confident that they will be very competitive throughout.

“We have a strong presence of academy players who are well-drilled and well-trained so we are confident of success come December. The PNG Talent pathway has created many opportunities for these kids to play football across the world, and they are all benefiting from it in many ways outside of football”.

A very excited Lachlan Keating of the Canterbury Australian Football League and the Christchurch Bulldogs provided this story to WFN....

For the first time in history the Christchurch Bulldogs met the Eastern Blues in a grand final. The Bulldogs were premiers in 2009 and the Blues were champions from 2006 - 2008 and with both teams featuring several players with high-level experience the scene was set for a torrid battle.