Border Mail Round 15 – Preview

After starting the season in the reserves, the pair have shown rapid development as the season has progressed.

So much so, they both made their senior debuts in round 10 against Osborne.

Both also played against Rand-Walbundrie-Walla on the weekend.

Dyer has now notched five senior appearances.

Koroi has had three.

AFL of Fiji chairman, Leigh Howard, made the trip from Fiji to Coreen last weekend to check on the boys progress.

Howard said he was impressed with the pair’s development, especially considering they had previously only played a handful of Australian rules matches in their native country.

“It has been a really good transition for them,” Howard said.

“Everyone at the club is raving about their progress and development.

“Certainly from my perspective, these boys have only played a dozen games in Fiji.

“To be able to come over here and play in a quality competition and be able to contribute is a credit to them.”

Howard has close family ties with CDHBU which played a major role in Dyer and Koroi joining the club.

“My father coaches the A and B-grade netball, while my brothers, Cody and Mathew, both play in the seniors.

“I approached the club to see if they would be interested in getting some players over from Fiji.

“They were very receptive to the idea and it’s now come to fruition.”

While most Fijian’s are blessed with natural athletic ability, Howard said football nous was the hardest part of Australian rules to teach.

“I think football awareness and learning how to run to open space, swing back around and learning the game in general,” he said.

“I coach in Fiji and when you are teaching a club how to play football, it’s really hard to teach things like after you take a mark, push back hard and weigh up your options.

“Footy smarts like that is hard to teach when the game is foreign to you.

“Telling them at the huddle, this is what you need to do, and the Fijian boys pick it up really quickly.

“The key is to keep the instructions simple and not burden them with too many at the same time.”

Howard said Fijian players were naturally good tacklers with many having grown up playing rugby league.

“Fijians have a no retreat, no surrender mentality when it comes to tackling,” he said.

“They are accustomed to running through packs and have no hesitation in doing that.

“So it is just a matter of fine tuning and teaching them how to tackle legally.

“Also there is a lot more running in football.”