With the first-ever Oceania Cup fast approaching, WFN has been talking with the six nations sending their best young talent to Fiji come the second weekend of December.

The tournament will see Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Nauru and hosts Fiji fielding under 16s teams, with matches played over the three days from Friday 11th of December until the following Sunday at Cathedral College in the Fijian capital Suva.

The Oceania Cup is also expected to produce the core group of the World 18 for next year's Australian junior state championships, opening the door for Pacific talent to be on AFL club lists within a matter of years, as well as a catalyst for a senior Oceania Cup next year.

In our first team preview, we spoke with the Hon. Mathew Batsiua M.P., president of the recently reformed AFL Nauru, about the junior squad (pictured at left) ready to represent the tiny, but footy-mad Pacific nation.

The stunning array of good news stories for international footy continue, with a report from Fiji confirming that a squad of 36 players are in training for the Oceania Cup to be hosted there in December. It's a major step for the country as until just months ago there was no active program other than the Western Bulldogs' scouting mission.

Local Dylan Wolfgramm is a player and development officer, and helping with the team is Inoke Ratu, one of the Bulldogs' international rookie listed Fijians.

The squad is getting plenty of local press and the report in the Fiji Post, by Dale Carruthers, suggests the Oceania Cup will feature teams from Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, and will be held on December 12 and 13 in Fiji. We'll have a preview in the next few weeks.

In case you missed it in our previous article, Hawthorn has announced it's first International Rookie. He is Kurt Heatherley who is a fourteen year old New Zealander with a basketball background.

The announcement today on the Hawthorn website goes on to say "Kurt Heatherley, from Tauranga - 220km SE of Auckland, will become the first of these young players to join the Hawks. A highly regarded young sportsman in New Zealand, Kurt will undertake specialist training and coaching with the Hawks - both in Australia and New Zealand - between 2010-2012.

Kurt will participate in various AFLNZ player programs at U/16 and U/18 levels in the Oceania Region ahead of being eligible to be listed as a player with Hawthorn in 2013..."

The full announcement is below.

Although we've previewed some of this already, Wednesday 11th November will be remembered in AFL New Zealand circles as hugely momentous and not just for the commemoration of the end of the First World War.

AFL New Zealand and the Hawthorn Football Club officially launched the HANZ Up programme for player development within the country. ‘HANZ (an acronym of Hawthorn and New Zealand) Up’ is a programme instigated between the two bodies which is truly multi-faceted and simply one of the greatest events thus far in the promotion and development of football outside Australia.

Hawthorn President and former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett will be hosting the evening alongside Geoff Dickson (Chairman AFLNZ) and Dean Warren (AFL Oceania GM). Three Hawks players in Trent Croad, Brent Renouf (Premiership players of 2008) and Shane Savage (all born and bred NZ) will attend. Renouf’s family is well known in Wellington with the foyer of the Town Hall, the Renouf Tennis Centre and Renouf Stadium linked to his father’s uncle, Sir Francis Renouf.

‘Hanz Up’ fits in beautifully with New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key’s direction that he wants more Kiwis to be active and therefore is to be included among the sports promoted through KiwiSport.

In the second part of an article about the recently completed AFL New Zealand National Provincial Championships, WFN presents the story as told by Wellington's Assistant Coach Mark 'Langers" Langdon, with just a short footnote from a very proud former long-time Wellington Coach!

Hawthorn FC's New Zealand venture scored the back page of Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper this morning, with a lengthy article detailing the Hawks Cup and the related "HanzUp!" schools program.

As World Footy News reported earlier, the Hawks in conjunction with the NZAFL are founding a national schools tournament, with the Hawks investing in excess of A$50,000.

The full article is available at Hawks cast recruiting net across Tasman.

While Melbourne footy fans can be notoriously hard to convince that footy's international potential is worth exploring, the comments on the story make for interesting reading. Maybe an AFL side in NZ isn't too far off - or at least a few Hawks games not just in Tasmania, but across the Tasman Sea.

Ever wondered how hard it could be to get a representative team to the National Champs?

Here is a brief rundown of the Wellington Tigers journey to the AFL New Zealand National Champs held in Auckland on the 24/25 October, as provided to WFN by Wellington Assistant Coach Mark Langdon.

Over the last weekend of October, the Victorian Amateurs Under 18 Representative side went on the footy trip of their lifetime - off to Auckland to play the New Zealand Falcon under 20s. Though there would be a significant age disparity in the Falcons' favour, the Victorians were tipped to have the edge in skill level.

Despite a concerted effort from the New Zealand AFL, Aussie Rules remains far from a mainstream sport and many of the Junior Falcons would lack real understanding of the game, though it is likely they would have a high level of natural ball skills.

The young Ammos went on to win the series 2-zip, though it would be very fair to say the New Zealanders would be pleased with their efforts.

Game 1

VAFA Under 18s	8.11 (59)
NZ Falcons Under 20s	5.6 (36)

Game 2

VAFA Under 18s	16.11 (107)
NZ Falcons Under 20s	12.12 (84)

For a related story profiling some of the young Victorians ready to embark on their trip, read Snowdog's Pups to take on New Zealand.

The AFL Fiji was officially launched last Friday, with AFL Oceania Development Manager Andrew Cadzow telling the local press that he predicted the Fijians had the potential to be a top ten finisher in the 2011 International Cup.

In an interview in the Fiji Times, Cadzow said "In the last International Cup, 16 countries participated and come 2011 tournament 24 countries are set to take part. There is no doubt whatsoever on Fiji to make the top 10 countries by then."

"This region (Oceania) is a magnificent region for this sport. We are looking at 10,000 people playing the sport in next 18 months... Currently, the Oceania region has a very low participation in the sport but we will see amazing statistics in next three years."

"We will have the Fiji U16 squad (for the Oceania Cup later this year) selected on Monday. We couldn't get players from the whole of Fiji but definitely we will expand our search throughout the country by next year."

"We will also have a national senior squad by next year. We are really excited about the development of the sport."

Western Bulldog hopefuls Solomoni Loki and Inoke Ratu also rated a mention in the local media this weekend, with an article entitled Local AFL hopefuls told to improve kicking game detailing their struggles with the Australian game's unique skill set.

Carlton today signed the 17 year old PNG speedster Peter Labi who is currently 189cm tall and weighs 84kg. Labi was a member of the PNG Mosquitoes that claimed the International Cup at the MCG in 2008 and in 2009 has been playing with AFLQ side Mt Gravatt after three years of football in PNG.

This season he has played 13 games for Mt Gravatt including three finals and playing on the losing side in their grand final loss to Morningside. He also played five games with the Brisbane Lions' reserves as a top-up player.