AFL’s on the rise in the Pacific

AFL.com.au

THE AFL’s international expansion has been given a major boost this week with an Oceania team taking part in the Under-16 Joss State Zone Trials for the very first time.

A squad of 24 travelled to Sydney from Vanuatu, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Fiji, New Zealand and Tonga to play the best up and coming AFL player for their age from NSW and the ACT.

The team was selected following last year’s AFL Youth Oceania Cup which was attended by AFL Ambassadors Israel Folau, Karmichael Hunt and Nic Natanui as well as Talent Manager Kevin Sheehan.

AFL Asia Pacific Manager Andrew Cadzow said AFL is growing in momentum overseas highlighted by a win for Oceania in their first match at the state trials.

“With 12 million people in the Pacific, I think there’s a real chance that there’s going to be a lot of AFL players coming out of the Pacific in the next four or five years … I think international footy is going to boom,” Cadzow said.

“From Papua New Guinea all the way down to New Zealand the talent is literally how AFL is played – they’re explosive, line breaking players.

“They’re that small forward, the one that can not only kick a goal but defensively can also close the game down.

“Their closing speed, not only to tackle but to break clear, is like the Indigenous boys.

“The other upside is their physicality – they love to wrestle, tackle and compete.”

For the majority of the Oceania players, this is the first time they’ve been exposed to 18-a-side footy, first-rate ovals, AFL goal posts and even learned about nutrition.

One of the standouts for the team was their captain Kurt Heatherley who was the first player to sign an international scholarship with Hawthorn in 2009.

Heatherley, 16, was first noticed by the Hawks while playing basketball for New Zealand. This year the talented sportsman, who also excels in rugby and cricket, made the move to Melbourne and is improving rapidly.

Cadzow said the expansion of the national competition presents club recruiters with the perfect opportunity to scour the Oceania for athletes.

“Internationally, there’s serious opportunities for participation, there’s serious opportunities for media rights, there’s serious opportunities for talent,” he said.

“There’s 18 clubs now so all of a sudden the talent pool needs more talent and the opportunity via the international scholarship there’s the opportunity to have eight to ten boys on your list that you can nurture along.”

Currently 20,000 people play AFL in Papua New Guinea and nearly 40,000 throughout the Pacific. In New Zealand, participation rates have soared growing from around 200 to 10,000 in only three years.

With the likes of David Rodan, James Gwilt, Alipate Carlile and Nic Natanui having already come from the Oceania region, it may only be a matter of time until the next star is running around in the AFL.

“These boys will go back home knowing there’s a pathway, knowing next year they can come back for South Pacific and knowing there’s championships at the end of the year in Fiji, they’ll go back and play footy in their home country,” Cadzow said.

“In some places there’s not much footy, in others there’s a lot but it grows very quickly.

“They’ll all go back converted and go back and try and improve. They will improve magnificently even being in a country where there’s not much footy.”