Graeme Wilson is a highly qualified and experienced diplomat. He holds a Master of Arts degree in French from the University of Melbourne, and a Master of Arts degree in international relations from the University of Southern California. He speaks French, Spanish and Bislama. He also runs Auskick in the Solomon Islands.

AFL Fiji is still relatively young, but, the mainstream coverage in the Fiji Times – “Great Talent” continues.

In October 2009, AFL FIJI held a Schools Carnival at Corpus Christi, Suva. Four secondary colleges competed in the 15-a-side competition. Laucala Bay defeated Suva Grammar and received the David Rodan Cup. The carnival also served as a selection process for the the Oceania Cup training squad.

Andrew Cadzow, AFL South Pacific Manager, has been in Fiji again helping to arrange the 2010 instalment of the David Rodan Secondary School AFL competition. It will again be held in October.

So much continues to happen in PNG, with this article focusing on Junior Footy in Port Moresby, AFL International Manager Tony Woods' recent visit and the interest of the Gold Coast Suns in PNG footy.

Vanuatu is a South Pacific island nation to the east of Australia, sitting between Australia and Fiji in the vicinity of New Caledonia. It has a population of around a quarter of a million, and the capital city is Port Vila, situated on the island of Efate.

Australian Football in Vanuatu was alluded to a couple of years ago with some mention of Auskick in the capital – and as it turns out there is still a small but growing community that represents AFL Vanuatu.

Justin Johnson is the president of AFL Vanuatu and can be contacted via justininvanuatu@gmail.com from anyone wishing to get involved. WFN communicated with Justin recently.

Recently Hawthorn Football Club played host to Trent Croad Scholarship holder Kurt Heatherley, 15, and his brother Jason, 18.

Kurt, the first AFL International Scholarship player from New Zealand to be listed with the Club, has been on one of his regular visits to train with the Hawks in Melbourne as part of his commitment to the Club.

For more info on how the boys found their week please read http://www.hawthornfc.com.au/news/new...fault.aspx

While the signing of Rugby League star Israel Folau to the AFL's Greater Western Sydney expansion club made plenty of headlines this year, some of his family back in Tonga might also be set to create footy news in future.

Folau's 16 year old second cousins Peni Mahini and Simote Taunga are in the South Pacific squad currently competing at the national under 16s championships, and have caught the eye of talent scouts.

"Mahini's a great athlete and he's really competitive with the way he goes about it," the AFL's national community development manager Dean Warren said. "Simote is a little bit further away from a development point of view but has great athletic ability; his skills are just a little bit off the others at this point in time.

"They've only played less than 10 games but if they stick at it, Peni in particular with a bit of development and a really good program, has the athleticism and the raw ability to do it.

"Whether they take that opportunity is yet to be seen. The AFL needs to continue to provide them with the opportunities and the development pathway to realise that, and hopefully a number of AFL clubs have seen them play now."

For the full story story, read Folau's cousins begin AFL journey on afl.com.au.

There is so much happening in PNG football that at times it gets hard to cover it in full. As such here is a brief rundown of some of the things happening within the country. Really, it represents an amazing growth in the sport when so many of their finest players are already in Australia playing footy!

Some of the highlights include structured footy kicking off in a new province, junior growth in Port Moresby and Lae, and the AFL Academy.

Representatives of the Hawthorn footy club have recently been in NZ again. Hawthorn players spent three days in New Zealand, holding clinics at schools and meeting AFLNZ representatives.

To read about their whirlwind tour, see HANZ-UP! tour of New Zealand.

In a story of one who had the talent, but was lost to footy, Rhys Casley has recently been unveiled as the new captain of NZ’s National Softball team. Softball in NZ is a major summer sport and is very popular with a large percentage of the population.

Rhys was a football prodigy who came to Wellington football as a 15 year old. He was one of those kids that the plodders of the world like me love to hate (I mean envy). Multi-talented, he already was in the key position of Number 8 for his schoolboy rugby team, a provincial champion athlete and already in junior national softball teams. Even at that age he had a big frame and now at the at about 193 cms and about 90 kgs what a key position player he would have made!!!

AFLPNG continues to develop its off-field efforts with the appointment of Tristan Tancredi to assist in its public relation duties and marketing.

Tancredi was raised in Melbourne, Australia. Tancredi’s main focus is to assist in developing the AFL code in PNG through media involvement as well as marketing.

This involves promoting the AFL throughout the provinces that are involved with the AFL code such as Lae, Morobe Province, Kimbe, West New Britain Province and Mount Hagen, Western Highlands Province.

This will increase community involvement and participation. Tasks that will assist in reaching these objectives include the redesigning of web content, increasing media awareness through newspapers, TV and interaction with local sporting communities.

Tancredi is a media and communication graduate from Melbourne University in Australia. He will be in PNG on a 12 month contract through AusAid funding program called Australian Youth Ambassador for Development (AYAD). For more see this article from the PNG's Post Courier newspaper.