The Shanghai Tigers have successfully claimed a three-peat of AFL Asia Shanghai Cup tournament victories by triumphantly clean sweeping the AFL Asia 2019 Shanghai Cup Open Division on Saturday. The Shanghai Tigers left all opposition in their wake with their classy blue-chip midfield, potent forward line and plenty of overlapping and forward thrusts from their rebounding defenders. The locally based Tigers were barely challenged during their preliminary games and were far too strong in the Open Division Grand Final defeating the Beijing Bombers comprehensively by 38 points. The Open Division match of the day was the often fiery game between the Beijing Bombers and the Singapore Wombats, the Bombers getting the better of the Wombats late in the game by 22 points.
Shanghai were too good all day, holding a clean sheet and comfortably defeating rivals the Beijing Bombers in the final.
Meanwhile, the AFL Asia Lions showcased their local talent in impressive fashion by taking out the AFL Asia 2019 Shanghai Cup Masters Division. The AFL Asia Asia Lions played an exciting brand of football under the tutelage of former AFL Premiership Player Ricky Olarenshaw. Tighlighted by the team’s use of their leg speed, run and gun style, ferocious tackling and team-first game plan. After narrowly going down to the Hong Kong Dragons Masters side in their opening match of the tournament by 4 points the Lions gained momentum and won their remaining games in a massive confidence boost ahead of their successful Curtain Closer Clash victory on Sunday against the Team AFL China Dragons at the Jiangwan Stadium.
The AFL Asia Lions used the Shanghai Cup as a very effective warm up to their curtain closer match after the Port Adelaide vs St Kilda game!
A big shout to the 6 females who participated for the Hong Kong Dragons Masters & China Reds teams, as your involvement and participation in the tournament was fantastic to see and also much credit must be given to the Hong Kong Dragons, as several of their players played all eight of the Hong Kong Dragons scheduled games between the two divisions throughout the day.
The Hong Kong Dragons are always a force to be reckoned with at any AFL Asia tournament.
The strength of the AFL Asia 2019 Shanghai Cup was the Junior Division, which consisted of 11 teams – 5 x Under 12 Teams, 4 x Under 10 Teams and 2 x Under 8 Teams. Whilst scoring wasn’t kept particularly with the Under 10 and Under 8 games the Foshan Power were too strong in the Under 12 Grand Final defeating a gallant Hong Kong Dragons outfit. The Junior Division players also enjoyed their scheduled matches during the half time break of the AFL Premiership Match between the Port Adelaide Football Club and St. Kilda Football Club on Jiangwan Stadium.
The juniors showed that the future of AFL on the continent is bright. The Foshan Power too good in the under 12s.
AFL Asia 2019 Shanghai Cup Results
Open Division
Beijing Bombers 7.6 (48) vs Hong Kong Dragons 3.3 (21)
Singapore Wombats 5.4 (34) vs Guangzhou Scorpions 1.4 (10)
Shanghai Tigers 7.9 (51) vs Beijing Bombers 4.5 (29)
Guangzhou Scorpions 8.5 (53) vs Hong Kong Dragons 4.1 (25)
Beijing Bombers 9.4 (58) vs Singapore Wombats 6.6 (36)
Shanghai Tigers 11.5 (71) vs Guangzhou Scorpions 1.4 (10)
Singapore Wombats 10.4 (64) vs Hong Kong Dragons 4.3 (27)
Beijing Bombers 9.7 (61) vs Guangzhou Scorpions 5.5 (35)
Shanghai Tigers 9.2 (56) vs Hong Kong Dragons 4.2 (26)
Shanghai Tigers 8.4 (52) vs Singapore Wombats 3.1 (19)
Grand Final
Shanghai Tigers 8.9 (57) vs Beijing Bombers 3.1 (19)
The Shanghai Tigers have defended their turf successfully for 3 years now.
Open Division Ladder – Completion of Preliminary Games
| Team | W | L | PF | PA | % |
| Shanghai Tigers | 4 | 0 | 230 | 83 | 273.8 |
| Beijing Bombers | 3 | 1 | 196 | 143 | 137.1 |
| Singapore Wombats | 2 | 2 | 153 | 147 | 104.1 |
| Guangzhou Scorpions | 1 | 3 | 108 | 191 | 56.5 |
| Hong Kong Dragons | 0 | 4 | 99 | 221 | 44.8 |
Masters Division
Hong Kong Dragons 6.2 (38) vs AFL Asia Lions 5.4 (34)
AFL Asia Lions 5.7 (37) vs Hong Dragons 1.3 (9)
AFL Asia Lions 8.10 (58) vs China Reds 2.3 (15)
Hong Kong Dragons 7.7 (49) vs China Reds 5.3 (31)
AFL Asia Lions 5.4 (34) vsChina Reds 2.3 (15)
China Reds 6.4 (40) vs Hong Kong Dragons 3.4 (22)
Masters Division Ladder – Completion of Preliminary Games
| Team | W | L | PF | PA | % |
| AFL Asia Lions | 3 | 1 | 163 | 73 | 223.2 |
| Hong Kong Dragons | 2 | 2 | 118 | 142 | 83.1 |
| China Reds | 1 | 3 | 101 | 163 | 62.0 |
