Binatangs so close

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The National, Monday 19th December 2011

By LESLIE OMARO
PAPUA New Guinea Binatangs finished the 2011 Youth AFL Oceania Cup tournament in third spot after thrashing Tonga by 14 goals on Saturday in Suva, Fiji.
John Jim Lavatu, Luke Savere, Jacky Tony and Christopher Mong led the goal scoring feast as the Binatangs restricted Tonga to just one goal in the 15.7 (97) to 1.1 (7) victory.
It was sweet revenge after Tonga beat PNG by one goal on Thursday to deny the Binatangs a spot in the grand final and a chance to defend the cup they won last year.
An elated coach Walter Yangomina told The National from Fiji last night that the Binatangs’ overall performance and good conduct had attracted interest from AFL scouts.
“The boys played well and made amends for that loss against Tonga in their first match.
“The weather was good on Saturday. The pitch was dry and boys just went out there and played and showed their skills.
“We won the Lightening Cup after scoring most points to top the table and the boys beat New Zealand and Nauru in that tournament.
“The boys played in that first tournament – the Lightening cup – and were a bit rusty but managed to beat New Zealand who were the eventual winners of the tournament, in that first match.
“So regardless of where they finished their overall performance was really good.”
“I was also happy with their conduct. They really looked after themselves well when we had limited number of interchange players on the bench.
“There were also lots of comments from the staff that were looking after us because the boys handled themselves pretty well.
“Regardless of what happens on and off the field the boys just kept behaving well and it reflects the type of preparation we had before coming into this tournament.
“Some of the represenatives from the AFL clubs also stood up and took notice of some of our boys so we will be making some announcement in the New Year regarding that,” Yangomina said.
The Binatangs arrive at 12.30pm today.
Meanwhile, the Flying Boomerangs 10.12 (72) defeated U18 South Pacific 3.4 (22)