Port Power take on Salle Dogs in Lae AFL final

THE Salamanda Port Power take on the Salle Dogs in the Lae AFL grand final on Saturday with both clubs having been established in 2009 and have been consistent performers.
They have built themselves up from the juniors into senior men and women.
The development of players in both teams have been from junior level and they have been groomed into mature senior players.
Salamanda Port Power boast of two of three Lae-based Mosquito players from the International Cup 2017 in Nane Rae and Joshua Pisep, who are expected to have a large influence in the final.
Power are under the guidance of Elliot Tokalu, who is a former junior representative himself and has experience playing in Queensland.
The Dogs are under the guidance of founder and head coach, Jonathan Ila, who maybe wheelchair-bound but is a God-fearing young man who has overcome the odds to earn the respect of teams in the Lae AFL and around the country as well as in Australia.
The Ila’s underdogs are out to spoil the party for Power who are vying for their sixth consecutive premiership.
Ila is able to boast of the achievements of his club and coaching as he has coached players, mainly juniors from scratch to representative players especially in the junior divisions as seen a couple weekends ago in the Under-12 and U15 divisions where the former prevailed to win their division and the latter lost to Power.
Ila maintains a mantra for his club which has been taken from AusKick’s motto “where champions begin” and this mindset has ensured the club has been able to maintain its competitiveness season after season.
Ila also attended the IC17 with his whole family from Lae as the head coach of the PNG Flames — the country’s women’s team.
The final is expected to be a fast-flowing and physical game as seen in the consistent rivalry built up over the years between both teams.
The first bounce is scheduled at 2pm at the Eriku Oval and with the public welcome to see to some of Morobe’s premier AFL talent in action.
The Lae AFL fraternity has encouraged the community to come out and support the teams and to enjoy the day as senior, women’s and junior teams compete for titles.