Mornington Peninsula players Adam Harris, Luke Settineri and Liam Wood will travel over to NZ from Victoria this week to play in the AFL New Zealand Premiership.
The three players are representatives of the Mornington League, based 60km south of Melbourne and return to New Zealand after first visiting the country with the Mornington Peninsula BlueScope Steelers Under 16’s in April of 2018, playing against the Level 2 New Zealand Academy team in Wellington.
Fellow Mornington Peninsula resident Max Urwin, who has New Zealand Grandparents is also heading over as he strives to be selected in the New Zealand senior squad to play against the AFL Academy at Marvel Stadium on April 27th.
They are the third group of players to come back to New Zealand after Matt Mayne and Khyal Jacobson were the pioneers in 2017 followed by Charlie Dixon and Matt Bennetts last season.
Their involvement will be as Development Players and follow a similar pathway to AFL New Zealand Academy who are introduced to Senior football through New Zealand’s premier competition.
“For a number of years now, Kiwis have had to move off shore to experience quality football. The aim of the AFLNZ Premiership is to provide a pathway that allows New Zealand’s elite players the opportunity to compete in a meaningful competition without the need to move to Australia. We are hopeful on attracting more players from Australia to compliment the development of AFL.” AFLNZ CEO Robert Vanstam.
As part of their experience the two boys will also have the opportunity to undertake work experience with AFL New Zealand over a two week period.
