AFL Tonga

As reported earlier, AFL TONGA has a new prize in its trophy cabinet, with the AFL Oceania Cup coming home with the National U16 team. After 4 months of intense training, the Tongan team showed there is nothing better than beating their Pacific neighbours at a game that is somewhat foreign in Tonga.

AFL clubs and their talent scouts, along with the Australian Institute of Sport High Performance Manager, Jason McCartney, were on-site to see the Tongans destroy their opponents in an almost lopsided Oceania Cup. AFL Scholarships were up for grabs, each worth $1000. Several NZ and PNG players had already secured scholarships prior to the tournament and are to be congratulated for their efforts. A spot in the Oceania Squad was also a driver for individual success, with the selected team competing in Sydney in July 2010.

After putting Fiji to rest with a solid win, Tonga’s confidence grew with the thought they might actually be able to match it with the other countries. The Fiji game was played in daft conditions, making scoring difficult for both inexperienced teams. Nauru was to be a big challenge, as their speed and skill level was probably a little better than the more physical bodies of Tonga. Little did this matter as Tonga piled on 7 goals to 1 and could have been more if Tonga had kicked straight.

The game against New Zealand showed that Tonga’s AFL development has come a long way in recent years, with clean ball handling and quick and direct movement the key for Tonga kicking a winning score. Tonga chased down a 1st quarter deficit to run all over the Kiwis in the remaining 3 quarters.

The game against Samoa had lost a little bit of its sting, with the Tongans building themselves up for the previous NZ clash. None the less, Tonga still fought until the final siren but just couldn’t get over the line. There is an old saying in football: “Bad kicking is bad football.” This rang true as Tonga amassed 11 behinds without registering a goal to Samoa’s 2 goals 5 behinds. Tonga generated 4 more scoring shots and dominated the game but couldn't dominate on the scoreboard!

The inaugural AFL Oceania Cup was deemed a huge success by AFL Oceania General Manager Andrew Cadzow and this tournament was a great stepping stone for the explosion of AFL in the Pacific! AFL FIJI put on a great event and they are to be congratulated. AFL TONGA would like to congratulate and thank all participating countries for the sportsmanship and great attitudes. All countries are now in training for this year’s AFL Oceania Cup.