player James Soialo is playing Aussie Rules for the North City
North?s rugby player James Soialo is playing Aussie Rules for the North City Demons and adds a ?impact factor? to the competition, says Demons coach Sandy Malcolm . ?He is a pretty outstanding player, he has all round ball skills, a great physical presence and speed,? says Mr Malcolm. The Demons have started well in the Wellington AFL competition, winning outright their first match with the Saints and just losing out in the second round. Mr Malcolm says Aussie Rules is a great summer season sport for rugby players and even the All Blacks have an AFL training coach. ?It?s a great form of fitness; enhances the skill of kicking and catching, you can roam across the whole field. ?People have positions, but there is a lot of running involved,? he says. The Demons main rivalry is with the Wellington Bulldogs, a team they played in last year?s final and lost out to. The Hutt Valley Eagles AFL club trains at Sladden Park in Petone and are benefiting from a NZ AFL programme that introduces school kids to the game. A competition within secondary schools in New Zealand has been launched called the Hawks Cup. ?We have a couple of players that have come from local schools. ?There is more incentive now to get those players involved and we are hoping next year will see more players coming through,? Eagles secretary Michael Mercer says. The NZ AFL is also offering financial incentives to clubs for singing up younger players. All Wellington AFL competition games are held in Porirua, where the four clubs from the region gather to face off. Mr Mercer says the Eagles are the youngest team in the competition and play a distinct type of game. ?We play quite a fast running game, a lot of passing and running. ?This is probably a little from inexperience, and the faster kicking game comes with experience,? he says. Teams need a squad of around 24 people to field 18 men on the field, and for the past 10 years the Wellington competition has consistently supported four teams.
