The Nauru All Stars have started their two match tour with a big win over the The Zillmere Eagles by 12 goals.  

The young Stars stood out with their speed and agility around the field, which became too much for the Eagles. Young Jeremiah Kam, Niga Haulangi and veteran Timothy Teabuge dominated in defence while Donatello Moses and Yoshi Harris did most of the damage up forward. 

Vice captain Mallinson Batsiua using his strength and experience to dominate the centre clearances.

Yoshi Harris won the All Stars Coach's best on ground while Niga Haulangi awarded Zillmere Eagles vote for best player.

The following is a story from EMTV in PNG.  It details the great work being done by AFL PNG staff along with development officers from Australia as they conducted coaching clinics this week in Port Moresby.    

[youtube:iwEWQ1suKEY]

Below is the EMTV story from last month's ground breaking ceremony for AFL PNG ahead of the construction of the new footy facility including the field.

The construction of the new dedicated footy facility will feature a social area, changing facility, gym, and more.


[youtube:EGOgyvjcUng]

 

The selection of the best players from the AFL Nauru 2016 season have touched down in Brisbane ahead of their first match against the Zillmere Eagles tomorrow night (17th February kickoff at 6.30pm).

The team will then travel to Bendigo, Victoria and play against Strathfieldsaye Storm on Tuesday 21 February (also a 6.30pm start) at the Storm's home ground.

David Rodan was born in Fiji and left with his family to come to Australia when he was just three years old. He has become one of a small band of Fijian descent players in the AFL, a list which includes Alipate Carlile (Formerly with Port Adelaide), Nic Naitanui (WestCoast Eagles), Aaron Hall and Tom Nicholls (both Gold Coast Suns).

But Rodan is arguably the most successful Fijian player to date. A look at his record at AFL level bears this out. He played 185 games in his career over three clubs – starting with Richmond, then Port Adelaide and finishing with Melbourne. Over this time he amassed an impressive array of achievements including back to back Morrish Medals in the TAC Cup with the Calder Cannons (2000/2001), a grand final player with Port Adelaide in 2007, twice representing Australia in International Rules teams in 2008. He kicked 131 goals across his AFL career and polled 15 Brownlow votes, six of those in the 2007 season.

The end of a big week - once again, the following report provided by Ben Drew - AFL South Pacific Development manager.

Today was GRAND FINAL Day for the AFL U/15 Youth Oceania Cup in Fiji.

The weather was beautiful and the footy was terrific!!!

Huge thank you to Fiji Sports Commission & Coke for their partnership for the event! AFL Fiji, Siteri, Simon, Maciu, Matalita, Saula, Isimeli, Yabaki, Jiuta, Mere, Roko, Semesa, Va, Litia & everyone who has volunteered to run boundaries, do the goals & other jobs during the tournament. Once again AFL Fiji has been great in organising this event on the ground!

A reminder that Wednesday was a rest day, so after Tuesdays first day of four quarter championship matches - today saw the 2nd batch of four quarter games. The report below again provided by Ben Drew AFL South Pacific Development Manager.

Wednesday was a rest day and at 8:30am teams were sent to the Damadoor Aquatic centre for recovery session with Michael Hyndman from AFLQLD, the teams were then dropped off to Albert Park and taken through Social Media & Respect & Responsibility workshops. From 1pm Andrew Hughes from the AFL gathered all the coaches and took them through a coaching masterclass session.

A solid mark for Nauru.

Again - the below match reports are courtesy of AFL Pacific Development officer Ben Drew.

Today saw Day 1 of the Oceania Cup component of the festival. With teams transitioning to 4 x quarter football on a fantastic Suva day!

Day 1 of the 2016 Oceania Youth Cup tournament has again fired up with a round robin Lightning Carnival. The 4 nations able to attend this year have warmed up for the week ahead. The following report is courtesy of Ben Drew - AFL South Pacific Development Manager.

The Auckland AFL Grand Final was one for the ages - as the Waitakere Magpies held off the reigning premiers - University Blues - for a narrow 7 pt win

	Goals	Behinds	Total
Waitakere Magpies	11	10	76
University Blues	10	9	69

AFL New Zealand report that in ideal conditions the Magpies got off to a flier with 3 quick goals, and were on top early largely via the efforts of mids Carlos Donnell-Brown, captain Shane Leat and the experience Dave Rattenbury.