Big men fly at Cazaly’s in Cairns

Plain Clothes Senior Constable Dan McEntee from Cairns CIB trying to offload a pass in the tough game against carnival champions from Victoria Photo: Brett Pascoe Photography

Last week Cairns hosted the 2016 National Police Football Championships at Cazalys Stadium.

The big men fly up there at Cazaly’s Photo by Brett Pascoe Photography

The Australian Police Football Association (APFA) managed to field six state teams (Queensland, NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and WA) for the National competition, however the boys all took it very seriously.

Fierce rivalry was on display with some past AFL players such as Matt Moody (Brisbane Lions) and Aaron Hennemen (Essendon) along with SANFL player Tom Carroll and other WAFL players all stepping up for their respective states.

Pride was on the line each time the boys strapped on their boots with each team playing a series of three games. The championship decider was chosen by the team with the highest win/loss percentage.

Senior Sergeant Greg Giles from Cairns said our Queensland Crocs Police Team started off well with a 8.9 (57) victory over Tasmania’s 6.8. (44).

“Whilst we had good local talent in the competition, I’m sad to say our Queensland Crocs didn’t make it to the final match”, Senior Sergeant Giles said.

The plan didn’t go our way on day two when our 1.5 (11) didn’t quite match up to Victoria’s 18.10 (118) tally.

Victoria and South Australia battled it out for the opportunity to hold aloft the winning trophy with Victoria taking control of the game to come out victors with a 12.9 (81) win over South Australia’s 6.8 (44).

Queensland Football Championship President Stewart Manning said many of the games were played in honour of police officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving on duty.

“Cairns was the perfect place to hold the Football Championships, Cazalys is an A-Class venue, whilst the tourist attractions and weather has been perfect”, Mr Manning said.

Cazaly’s in Cairns is an A-Class Venue and was the perfect venue to host the 2016 National Police AFL Championship Carnival Photo by Brett Pascoe Photography

Shaun Harrison from Victoria took out the Lewis/Allemand Medal for Best and Fairest Player of the competition whilst a number of officers were named as part of the All Australian Team of 2016.

The team included, Tasmania’s Glenn Dawson and Jamie Harriss, Greg Adams and Andrew Wright from NSW, Tom Carroll, Matt Williams and Dylan Reinbrecht from SA, Dylan Kirk, Matt Leece, Brad Fry, Matt Moody and Anthony Pender from WA, Dean Kelly, Daniel Mendes, Shaun Harrison, Matt Wade, Paul Davis, Darcy Barden (Captain) and Matt Whitty (Coach) from Victoria, Anthony Chandler, Peter Jarvie, Justin Allan and Kayne Nund from Queensland.