AFL Asia would like to officially congratulate Rami Chan (Hong Kong Dragons & Lantau Lizards),
Manisa McCalman (Malaysian Warrior Women’s), Tyler York (Thailand Tigers) and Liu Rong (China
Reds & Guangzhou Scorpions) on being announced as the 2019 AFL Asia Rising Star Award recipients!
AFL Asia heavily invests in our Local Development strategies and the programs our clubs and leagues
have in place. In conjunction with the AFL & Watch AFL, each recipient of the 2019 AFL Asia Rising Star Award will receive a complimentary 12-month free Watch AFL subscription, which we are certain that they’ll thoroughly enjoy!
Each recipient was selected after being nominated by the club and thoroughly deserve their award as
indicated by their key achievements, which were provided by their clubs below.
Rami Chan – Hong Kong Dragons & Lantau Lizards (SCAFL Team)
Rami has been playing with HK Dragons for 3 years and more importantly has been a valued member of
the Committee for the past 2 years. Rami is instrumental in helping us drive local (HK) player
engagement and participation. He drives our relationship with HK and Chinese govt. departments,
translates our promotional flyers to be bi-lingual, the list goes on and on. His playing highlights include
kicking a goal at the 2018 AFL Asia Champs and winning the 2018 South China AFL competition with the Lantau Lizards. What he lacks in ability he makes up in passion for the game. Community footy clubs are built on guys like Rami. We love him to pieces. – Jake McCauley, HK Dragons President.
Manisa McCalman – Malaysian Warrior Women’s
Manisa was a stand-out performer at the inaugural 2018 AFL Asia AFLW Championships was
subsequently named in the All Asia Team and was also rewarded for effort by being awarded the
Malaysian Warrior Women’s Runner-Up Best & Fairest. Manisa is the only female in the club to have
come through the Auskick program into the seniors. One of our star players and aged only 17. Manisa is a fantastic player, teammate, young sportswoman and person! – Rebecca Simpson, Malaysian Warrior
Women’s Key Contact.
Tyler York – Thailand Tigers
Tyler is a product of the Thailand Tigers Auskick and Junior Program. He was named captain of Thailand Tigers domestic team at the age of 17 and has played senior footy for the past 3 years for the Thailand Tigers. Tyler’s family are footy crazy and he has 4 younger siblings coming through the ranks. Add to that he is a stand up young guy, who shows the rest of us old blokes how it needs to done and leads from the front. – Alan ‘Yoda’ Sutherland, Thailand Tigers Marketing & Sponsorship.
Ed-Tyler will become the youngest AFL Asia Lions player to pull on a Lions guernsey and will also become the first Thailand Tigers representative in the side. The AFL Asia Lions will take on the Team AFL China Dragons in the Curtain Closer to the Port Adelaide vs. St. Kilda game, as well as play together in the Shanghai Cup.
Liu Rong – China Reds & Guangzhou Scorpions (SCAFL)
Liu Rong join the Guangzhou Scorpions in September 2017 in preparation for the 2018 SCAFL season. He came from a basketball background so his hand skills (marking and catching the ball) and ability to read the play was already very good, so handball and kicking skills were the main focus of his development. I was very impressed with how quick he has developed both skills on both sides of his body.
I was a little unsure where to play Liu Rong in the first game with the Scorpions so I started him on the
bench. After 5 minutes I swapped him with one of our centre players and that is where he stayed for the
rest of the season. His speed over 10 metres is nothing like I have ever seen, he is quick, agile and hits
the packs at pace. He also has a huge vertical leap that has seen him hold his own against much bigger
players when I played him in the ruck for a couple of games. His handball and kicking skills improved out of sight during the season which saw him turn into one of our most consistent deliverer’s of the ball. Liu Rong improved and impressed so much that he won our Best and Fairest player for 2018 in his first
season. This is an outstanding effort given that he had never played a game of Aussie Rules 10 months
earlier. He is an impressive young man with a brilliant attitude who will go far in both football and life. –
Darren Stuart, Guangzhou Scorpions Coach.
