The development of Australian rules in New Zealand takes another significant step forward in September with the best young athletes from around Aotearoa (the Land of the Long White Cloud) (aka New Zealand) coming together to compete in the Barassi International Australian Youth Football Tournament in Canberra.

The team has been selected from throughout the country with an even spread of players from Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury with some outstanding athletes being recruited from other sports. The selection process began in earnest at the National Provincial Championships held earlier this year in Auckland and the NZAFL High Performance Committee is confident of a strong showing at the tournament.

This report courtesy of the NZAFL's Jim Lucy.

AFL PNG is the leading organisation for Australian Football junior development outside of Australia, in terms of both pathways and sheer numbers. It is encouraging to see that girls footy hasn't been forgotten amongst the push to AFL success.

For those wondering about how Papua New Guinea's bright young star, Stanis Susuve, went for the Queensland under 16s in the Australian national titles recently, read on.

Queensland Country showed New Zealand no mercy as they vented their disappointment at missing the Division 2 final of the Australian Country Championships. Played over a full time match length in good conditions, the reigning International Cup champions were sadly no match for their strong opponents.

Perhaps not unexpectedly the Australian Country Championships have provided a harsh reality check for supporters and officials of international footy. The 2005 International Cup winners, New Zealand, have gone down convincingly in their three qualifying matches against the top country footballers from around Australia.

The New Zealand Falcons have arrived in Australia for their debut at the Wesfarmers Australian Country Championships. First up they've played a practice match against strong Victorian country team Maffra, before heading up to the Gold Coast where they will compete in the second division against top opposition, including a host of players with AFL connections. Australian eyes will view the Falcons as a measure of the strength of international footy.

Australian Football has long received coverage in Papua New Guinea, but it's pleasing to see increasing amounts of media. A story on 6th July - "Aussie rules expands globally" - by Mike Hedge in the main PNG newspaper The National covered much of the ground that WFN has been bringing to its online audience. In an excellent rare mainstream media summary of the game, Hedge reported: "While the reaction to the success of the Socceroos is proof that Australians have embraced the world game, there is more and more evidence that the world is embracing the Australian game". The story mentions many of the Australian Football programs around the world.

Despite a tight budget preventing Papua New Guinea from sending a complete team to the Under 14 Queensland Country Championships and a gruelling travel schedule, the Binatangs still managed to produce four players to be selected for the Country Kookaburras squad to play in Queensland's state championships.

As recently reported on worldfootynews.com, the New Zealand AFL has lost its CEO with Rob Malone moving into a new position in Rugby in that country. With the AFL recently re-affirming its committment to international development, potentially exciting times are ahead for the Kiwi leagues. Also on offer is a part-time position as National Umpires Director.