The Papua New Guinea national under 16s side completed their recent campaign at the Queensland state chapionships with a lot of positives and experience to take home. After being defeated 103-12 by the Northern Raiders (rep side of Brisbane's northern suburbs) and 114-19 by the Suncoast Power (from the Sunshine Coast area just north of Brisbane) in their first two matches, PNG managed a good win against the AFLQ Colts.

Although no players from PNG made the cut for the Queensland state squad selected from the tournament, AFLQ Talent Manager Mark Browning announced that four players from PNG will be brought to Brisbane for a four-six week block of training with the State squad.

Two overseas-born players from Pacific islands are resurrecting their AFL careers at new clubs. Samoan-born Aaron Edwards is blazing a trail with the Kangaroos at AFL level, while Fijian-born David Rodan is returning to form for Port Adelaide.

After the PNG national under 16s side, the Binatangs, won the last two Queensland Country championships tournaments, the AFL Queensland has now invited them to the all-Queensland state championships. The following article appeared in the PNG Post-Courier newspaper:

THE Papua New Guinea Binatangs will for the first time participate in the Queensland State championships. AFLPNG operations manager Peter Cates said this was because the Bintangs had been the Champions of the Queensland AFL Country Championships for the last two years.

“Due to this outstanding performance they have been rewarded by the Queensland AFL, and from 2007 they will participate as part of the Queensland State Championship. They will also come under the close scrutiny of AFL talent scouts.”

The Under 16 Binatang team is : Joseph Yara (Highlands), Greg Aki (Highlands), Daniel Rufus (Highlands), Raphael Malau (Highlands), Nelson Kerowa (Highlands) Kenneth Buka (Kimbe) , Jalal Gori (Kimbe), Neville Kaiwa (Kimbe) Charles Nalong and Peter Labi; (Lae) David Meli, Amua Pirika, Willie Hayufa, Vagi Vaina, Gagu Kaiyage, Eddie Tilik, Willie Dasi, Garry Kele, Simon Meakord, Wingti Pena, Jolam Tonga, Ferdinand Musi, Garrett Masab (Port Moresby), Nathan Baramun (Buka) and Junior Kauri (Gulf).

AFL Samoa development officer Michael Roberts sees big potential for Aussie Rules in Samoa, so much so that he believes it could easily become the second biggest sport on the islands. At the moment, there are school tournaments with around 3000 primary school students and 250 high school students to be held this year, a ten-team senior league and test matches against Tonga planned at both schoolboys' and senior level.

In fact, Roberts believes the game is growing too fast for their limited resources, saying "we could easily have another 15 highs schools and 20 primary schools on our books if we could only man such programs". With 6 AFL matches televised on Samoan TV each week he estimates around 60,000 of the national population of 200,000 people will have been exposed to Aussie Rules by the end of 2007, with the only thing holding back increased expansion being a lack of funds.

In a positive move for Australian football in the Pacific, the NZAFL website reports that a new Chief Executive Officer has been appointed to oversee the growth of the sport in New Zealand.

Robert Vanstam, a former Queensland State representative and a member of the coaching staff that led the NZ Falcons to their 2005 International Cup win, will take over the position vacated by Rob Malone. He has a background in business administration and operations management, and has identified player development pathways as a key priority for NZAFL to put in place. (Editor: The appointment followed a disturbing period in which the position was vacant leading to concerns about the game's direction in NZ).

Further positive news in New Zealand concerns a report that SKY Sports will continue to televise Australian football in 2007. Details are yet to be confirmed, but early indications are that as many as four games may be televised in full per week, in addition to the weekly highlights package currently on air.

For more details, visit www.nzafl.co.nz

Aussie Rules in Samoa is back and set to resume its competitions and programs in 2007 after a very quiet 2006. Despite seemingly dropping of the radar after the Samoan team competed at the 2005 International Cup, the growing interest in the game has remained and the newly named AFL Samoa (formerly SARFA) is keen to get senior and high school competitions underway.

The arrival of AFL Samoa National Development Officer Michael Roberts has assisted the organization in Developing Programs and creating opportunities for all Samoans to try 'Aussie Rules' football.

AFL PNG has appointed Peter Cates from Adelaide, as the new national operations manager. This appointment will certainly strengthen efforts and programmes already in place with junior development to develop a locally sourced PNG player to the AFL. 

A recent article in the Auckland press sheds light on one of New Zealand's young up-and-coming players and exposes some of the key difficulties involved in growing junior football participation in the Land of the Long White Cloud.