The New Zealand Under 16 team will depart for Fiji on Thursday to take on five other Oceania nations in the inaugural Oceania Cup.

The team has been finalized with former Collingwood AFL player Fatui Ataata, coaching the side and current New Zealand Senior player, Andrew Crighton as his assistant.

The team has representatives from 14 different schools and the four major playing regions of Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Waikato are all represented.

Sami Tuitupou from Papatoetoe College has been named as captain of the team, with his deputies, recent Hawthorn signing Kurt Heatherley from St Pauls College Hamilton and Brody Cleave from St Peters College in Auckland.

The tournament is focused on the under sixteen age group with dispensations for up to 6 players to be over that age. The New Zealand team has focused on the younger end of the scale to ensure that new athletes are given every opportunity to adapt to their newest sporting endeavor.

The team has an average height of 182 centimetres which is taller than the last senior team to represent New Zealand at the International Cup and with an average age of only 15, there is scope for the participants to have another visit to the Oceania Cup next year and the year following.

With AFL New Zealand’s intentions to commence a national academy in 2010, the opportunities to monitor the progress of young athletes will provide talent spotters the opportunity to monitor and provide input.

The World teams participation in the Australian National Under 16 Championships, is an immediate goal for all participants of the Oceania Cup and the likelihood of further International Scholarships is a huge incentive to participating nations to have their High Performance pathways in order.

The team is as follows;

  Players List                  Region         School