Local AFL star seeks sponsor

 By PETER SEVARA Jr

AFL star Stanis Susuve is looking for a sponsor to fund a course he plans to undergo in Australia.

Susuve said he was waiting for his boss Grant McKenzie, to find a sponsor or company to subsidise his Light and Heavy Diesel fitter course costs.

He needs a sponsor that is willing to assist with K31,000 which is equivalent to A$13,705 preferrably as soon as possible.  

“Right now I’m applying for a student visa,” Susuve said. 

The 176cm, 88kg Gulf lad left PNG shores in April 2009 as a 17-year-old and became the second Papua New Guinean to be signed by the Gold Coast Football Club after Amua Pirika and the first internationally developed player to compete in the TAC Cup.

 He represented Queensland at both the Under 16 and Under 18 level. He has played for the Suncoast Lions, the reserve side for the Brisbane Lions in the first division of the semi-professional Queensland State League, Queensland’s premier Australian Football league. He originally won a scholarship to play with the Zillmere Eagles in the same competition where he once kicked 15 goals in the reserve grade premiership and won the club’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. He was invited to the AFL/AIS Draft camp in 2007.

Susuve represented PNG at senior level in the 2008 International Cup team where he received a premiership medal and was selected in the 2008 All-International squad.

Last year he was picked up by Coolangatta FC under the care of Grant McKenzie in the Division 2 State League team in Gold Coast. 

He is now in Port Moresby keeping fit with his “homeboys” the SLS Gerehu Cowboys in the Capital Rugby Union (CRU) tournament.

“I was told that on Sunday,” Susuve said when asked if he was travelling to Kimbe for the Pacific MMI-sponsored tournament. 

He said the last six years in Australia was a great experience and he was honored to represent PNG in two international World Cup finals.