City AFL kicks off

 By MELTON PAIS
PORT Moresby’s AFL season kicked off its pre-season on Saturday at the Taurama Barracks Oval.
The Esiloan-sponsored competition was forced into a late start because of the unavailability of a venue to stage games.
Fields at UPNG, Murray Barracks and Colts have been rendered unusable due to renovation work for the Fifa Under-20 Women’s World Cup in November.
AFL PNG senior football operations manager Rex Leka said they were working closely with the PNG Sports Foundation to complete the ground works on the Colts Oval so that POMAFL matches could be brought back there to complete the season.
“The turnout at the Taurama Barracks on Saturday was low for the start as many teams had to travel in,” Leka said.
He said last year’s 10 clubs —Koboni, Suns, Magpies, Giants, Dockers, Kokofas, Cats, Tigers, Bombers and Defence — had indicated they would field teams this season.
Reigning premiers Koboni took on the Cats in a close tussle, while last year’s runners-up Taurama Suns beat Gerehu Magpies.
“The game brought in a lot of flare with Jeffery Namete, Ben Tirang, and Ferdinand Musi leading the Suns charge, while Paul Tika, Alphonse Gelu Sebastian Gelu and Michael Vitolo tried hard for the Pies,” Leka said.
The day saw the four women’s teams — Magpies, Dockers, Kokofas, Koboni taking the field.
Leka said the city AFL board wanted other women to join their competition, with the incentive being spots on the national women’s team, the Flames, for representative fixtures next year.
“AFLPNG is working with the AFL Australia to get the Flames to next year’s International Cup in Melbourne,” Leka said.