The AFL New Zealand National Draft will see Category 3 players selected from Regional (Satellite) Cities around New Zealand born 1997 or older.
AFL in New Zealand continues to develop around the country and the 2016 AFL New Zealand Premiership will bring together talented players from regions including Northland, Bay of Plenty and Waikato in an effort to provide a base of players for future growth in those regions.
At 193cm tall, Te Rei Clark from Whangarei standouts on the footy field. His height and defensive ability makes him the perfect defender. Clark was first introduced to AFL playing for Whangarei Boys High School in the Hawks Cup Secondary School competition and has gone on to represent the NZ Hawks at both U16 and U18 level. In 2013, Clark was chosen to represent a South Pacific AFL team to play in the Australian National Championships in Sydney.
Passionate on and off the field, Daniel Carston is mad about footy. The ex Rotorua Lakes High School student is able to play in both the forward line and backline during a game and has the ability to pop up anywhere on the field to collect the footy. At only 18 years old, Carston is striving hard to be a regular member of the senior NZ Hawks team.
18 year old Te Kopa Tipene-Thomas is best known for his aerobic capacity and elusiveness with ball in hand. From the small town of Moerewa in Northland, Tipene-Thomas was first discovered through talent identification at Bay of Island College and is one of the youngest players to represent the Senior NZ Hawks team when he was selected in the 2014 International Cup squad. In 2014, Te Kopa was the U16 Player of Year at the annual High Performance awards and backed up his achievements in 2015 when he was named U18 Player of the Year.
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