The Kokoda Track in PNG is certainly getting a work-over from many with AFL connections. Following on from many recent forays, including a trip just lately from ex Fremantle Dockers and Adelaide Crows high flyer Tony Modra (as part of a McGuiness-McDermott Foundation trip), the Hawthorn Football Club will once again tackle the track. They will take their latest batch of recruits, and those unavailable when the Hawthorn last walked the track at the end of 2004, on the trip.

The New Zealand National Provincial Championships were played in Wellington at Martin Luckie Park on Saturday the 29th and 30th of September. Auckland continued their dominance at Representative level and were successful in taking out the title for the third successive time. According to NZAFL CEO Rob Vanstam "Every one of the six games played on the weekend was in the balance at some stage. The big improvers were Waikato and although yet to find their first NPC victory, they gained the respect of all competitors." For more from the NZAFL CEO see Auckland Takes Triple Crown, or read on.

The National Provincial Championship (NPC) is set for AFL Grand Final weekend and will be played in the capital city of Wellington. Four provinces will contest the Championships this year with Auckland, Canterbury, Waikato and Wellington the contenders.

Previous results (available here) have shown the well-established six club competition in Auckland to be the country’s strongest. Last year’s NPC saw the Auckland team clearly superior, with an improved Canterbury team runners-up. A disappointing Wellington team, who have slipped from their high standards earlier this decade, and the Waikato team, involved in their second campaign after forming as a competition in 2004, made up the numbers.

Tonga is a small country in the South Pacific hopeful of attending their first International Cup in Melbourne next year. To help finance the trip, the Tonga Australian Football Association is raffling two AFL Grand Final tickets. Raffle tickets are AUD$10 each and the draw will take place on the 28 September, Grand Final eve. This realistically restricts entry to those in Australia only, and means that if the winner lives outside Victoria, they will need to organise a flight for Saturday morning. More information is available from the TAFA website. General donations or sponsorship to support the national side are also welcome, as without significant fundraising the team will struggle to make the journey.

In related news, TAFA is still accepting Development Officer applications. The twelve-month position will begin in March 2008. Further details available here.

It may currently surprise some in the international footy scene that an internationally developed Australian Football player is participating in the Rugby World Cup in France right now! And he credits Aussie Rules for helping develop the skills that got him there. Also helping the Kiwis with their line-outs (throw ins from the sideline where players boost each other into the air to try to gain possession) is a former VFL/AFL ruckman who experienced both codes, and Rugby League, in the diverse Sydney sporting scene.

Recently we've reported on the Canada versus US women's footy match (see North American women's footy on SEN and US Freedom dominate in first women's international) and the Tiwi Islands girl who won the Yarra League U13 Best and Fairest (see Young Tiwi girl beats the boys to win junior league B&F). It's all part of the rapid growth of the game in this demographic. In Melbourne throughout the winter my local paper has had regular reports on the South Mornington Tigerettes, who play in the Victorian Women’s Football League. It is an area where those who may have traditionally thought of it as a male domain on-field have had their perceptions challenged.

There could be exponential growth in the near future and women's footy is certainly closer to being in a reasonable position to have a World Cup with full Australian involvement, than the men's game. One of the countries that might be ready for that is Papua New Guinea, which has also been proactive with its development of women’s footy which we touched on in PNG Representative preparations in place. Now we look at the recent history of the women's game up there in Australia’s closest northern neighbour.

Dunedin, the capital of the Otago Province in the South Island of New Zealand has seen a lot. Maori settlement was followed by the arrival of the Scots, who saw the hills which reminded themselves so much of home that they named their new town the "Edinburgh of the South" through to the goldrush years during the 1800's that brought many prospecting Aussies to their goldfields. Australian rules is now being reborn here, hoping to capitalise on a large student population from all over NZ, including former juniors from leagues further north.

The AFL Papua New Guinea, who oversee PNG’s junior programmes, and the AFLPNG Rules Council, who oversee the senior competitions, have announced their representative weekends for September. From these competitions the national squads will be formed to take part in the Queensland State Championships 2008 at junior level and for the International Cup 2008 at senior level.

Natasha Puautjimi from Bathurst Island (off the northern coast of Australia) become the first girl to unanimously win a best & fairest in an Australian rules football league when she beat more than 170 boys in her under 13s division in the Yarra Valley Football League in Melbourne's northern suburbs to take the league's best trophy. The gutsy and highly talented footballer polled 27 out of a possible 30 votes, and over 12 votes more than her nearest competitor.