Champions League Team Previews
In the lead-up to the 3rd annual AFL Europe Champions League, hosted by AFL Netherlands in Amsterdam on Saturday 1st April, we’ll be taking a quick look at the teams who’ve qualified for the premier club tournament held in Europe.
Next up we have the Oslo Crows, Port Malmo Maulers, French Cup Champions, the Bordeaux Bombers, AFL Italia’s, North West Eagles, and the Women’s Mixed Team.
Oslo Crows
How did you qualify for the 2017 Champions League? Quick recap of your 2016 season…
The league is Norway is very small. The Oslo Crows club is split into two teams, Oslo West and Oslo East. Ås University field the final third team in the league. In previous years, Oslo West and Ås have dominated the league. For the 2016 season, thanks to a strong recruiting push, Oslo East pulled ahead early in the season and stayed there before winning the Grand Final against Oslo West.
How has the preparation for the 2017 Champions League been going?
During the winter the Oslo Crows train indoors as our home pitch is covered in snow and ice. This year we were only able to get access to a school sports hall approximately the size of a basketball court. In other words, our short game has become fantastic! Watch out for short, sharp kicks and hand passes and plenty of sprinting!
What are your teams expectations for the 2017 Champions League?
We are highly ambitious and now with the team to back those ambitions, anything is possible! We’re going to play hard, fast footy and make Norway proud. Particularly against teams representing the countries our national team lost to in the Euro Cup!
Player to watch?
Watch out for our two flying Vs, new recruits Victor Scherman, who previously played for the Paris Cockatoos, and Vemund Solberg Rustad, who played for PINTS football club in Darwin. Both are strong in the ruck and hard to pin down. The form a strong part of the core team strategy of keeping the ball constantly in motion.
Port Malmo Maulers
How did you qualify for the 2017 Champions League? Quick recap of your 2016 season…
We won the Swedish Cup in Norrtälje and knocked off a hard fought Södermalm in the finals.
How has the preparation for the 2017 Champions League been going?
We have been training indoors during winter mainly focusing on skills and fitness.
What are your teams expectations for the 2017 Champions League?
We enter the Champions league as a dark horse. If we are playing good and have a bit of luck go our way we could defiantly be contenders, though in saying that making the finals will be a good goal for us.
Player to watch?
Two time best and fairest winner and captain Chris Mårtensson. He is a versatile player that can have a big impact anywhere on the field. He is big, strong and fast with great leadership qualities and he will lead the Maulers to victory.
Another one too look out for is DAFL’s leading goal scorer Ben Polmear. The goal scoring veteran will be will be a handful for defenders and he will be looking to kick a bag at this year’s tournament.
Bordeaux Bombers
How did you qualify for the 2017 Champions League? Quick recap of your 2016 season…
We qualified for the Champions League by winning the French Cup. The beginning of our 2016 season was difficult because many of our players were new and they lacked experience. By early September, our team was playing well – we are always in a race for the final half of the championship.
How has the preparation for the 2017 Champions League been going?
Our organisation for the trip to Amsterdam hasn’t seemed too difficult, and our players are motivated and excited to participate in the Champions League.
What are your team’s expectations for the 2017 Champions League?
Our goal is to enjoy being on the field and win as many of our matches as possible.
North West Eagles
How did you qualify for the 2017 Champions League? Quick recap of your 2016 season…
We won the only official game in Italy last year, in Pisa we defeated The ROMA Blues, and it was a sort of challenge round.
How has the preparation for the 2017 Champions League been going?
We’ve been training since late January on regular basis, so everything is going well at the moment.
What are your team’s expectations for the 2017 Champions League?
We are newcomers so we only hope to add to our experience some important matches and give all we’ve got to give and have fun.
Player to watch?
Niccolò De Giorgi and Filippo Alloisio have both played games in European Selections taking on the Australian Academy Side in London and Copenhagen, but Filippo had a bad injury that forced him on the sidelines for the whole 2016 season.
Women’s Mixed Team
How did you qualify for the 2017 Champions League? Quick recap of your 2016 season…
Due to the invited SARFL Representative team being unable to field a full squad, the team spot has been transitioned to a Rogue Women’s team with an open invitation to players across the continent. The team has therefore been formed with girls of 5 different nationalities with many hoping to get in as much game time as they can in their run up to the International Cup in August.
What are your team’s expectations for the 2017 Champions League?
Due to the team’s inability to qualify for the final, our aim will be to provide some strong competition for the other teams in the tournament through leadership from GB Swans Caroline Sellar.
Player to watch?
A player to watch will be newcomer to the sport, Alex Peill, who has was selected for the GB Swans after only playing 2 games so she will be keen to put her training in to practice. Though we are a team built from a variety of players with a mix of experience, we will still be looking to put out a strong contest, displaying some good footy!
