Six teams took to the fields at Ron Harborne Oval on Friday for round one of the competition, which kicked off with an introduction to the sport by NSW AFL representatives.

Moree is the first town in the North West to introduce the AFL9s competition, which North Coast and North West AFL development manager Matt Crawley said is fantastic.

“We’re looking to use Moree as a test case to show other towns how good it can be,” he said.

“The idea of the sport is to engage with new participants; it’s a bit less confrontational than traditional AFL and t’s a great way for new people to engage with the game.

“It’s fantastic for the Suns to have something in the off-season and to keep momentum going.

“This will help keep the club at the top of people’s minds, so when people are thinking about a winter sport, hopefully some might choose AFL.”

Crawley said the competition got off to a good start on Friday and, with only a handful of players having played AFL9s before, most people were still learning the rules.

“We had all varieties of experience levels of footy, from people who had never played any sort of footy at all, to Suns players who had been playing for years,” he said.

“It was really social and good fun. 

“Everyone had a ball.”

Moree AFL9s competition manager Ash Jones said it was great to see so many new faces on Friday, which is what the club were aiming for.

“We got plenty of numbers come along and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves,” he said.

The Suns are now hoping to get enough people register to create an eighth team, so that all teams can play every week rather than one team having the bye each round.

“It’s not too late to join in,” Crawley said.

With a minimum of three females per team required on the field at all times, and girls receiving nine points instead of six when they score, more women are encouraged to take part.

If you are interested in joining a team, or would like to enter a team into the competition, call Ash Jones on 0488 047 287 or come along to Ron Harborne Oval at 6pm this Friday night.

For more information, go to the Moree Suns AFL Club AFL 9s Facebook page.

Round one results: