During the buildup to the 2025 IFAF Asia-Oceania Flag Football Championships, IFAF looks back to the 2023 tournament with a feature on each of the four finalists in the men’s and women’s competitions.
New Zealand’s men’s team returns to the Asia-Oceania stage where in 2023 in Malaysia they announced themselves to the flag football world, with the silver medal the reward after an impressive debut tournament.
By contrast, the Kiwis failed to live up to their billing a year later when they missed out on the last-16 knockout bracket of the IFAF Flag Football World Championships in Finland, eventually finishing 19th overall with a 33-29 win over Korea.
This year in Ningbo, New Zealand faces traditional rival Australia and Australia twice in the group stages in a bid to win the Oceania crown and then take on the best the Asian teams have to offer for the overall gold.
“We have great respect for every team competing in this tournament, for our pool; Australia reached the semifinal in 2023, was highly competitive in Finland last year,” says head coach Mychal Fabela.
“American Samoa will no doubt bring their best every snap with talented players as well, however our main priority is internal, we are focused on how we prepare and how we execute.
“Playing an opponent twice presents its challenges; both teams have the opportunity to make adjustments, learn tendencies, and respond strategically. Other than the adjustments we’ll make following the first matchups, our approach won’t change: focus on our assignments, trust our system, and perform to our standard every single snap.”
In 2023, NZ Mako produced the shock of the Asia-Oceania tournament at the semifinal stage in one of the most thrilling games witnessed in Kuala Lumpur. A 40-33 win, in a game that saw multiple lead changes, halted the juggernaut that appeared to be heading towards the gold medal, previously unbeaten Japan.
In the championship game, despite throwing everything they had remaining in the tank at the quest for gold, NZ Mako were edged 31-25 by a relentless Thailand team.
The Kiwis led 13-6 at halftime and were then held at 13-13 and 19-19 before seeing a 25-19 lead reeled back in with two minutes remaining as torrential rain drenched all within the EV Arena Shah Alam. Not until the final play of the game were New Zealand finally beaten and despite the heroics of some the stars who had emerged, their reward was the silver medal. Commentators on the live broadcast had compared regular touchdown scorer Jack Preston to James Bond, such was his ability to produce the goods when the odds were stacked against his team, but even 007 couldn’t have changed this dramatic outcome.
Captain Preston returns to lead New Zealand for a third time as they aim to turn silver into gold.
