Rugby: AFL high-flyers ready to take off in Wellington

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A sly smile creeps across Jill Lindsay's face.

The AFL operations manager, in Wellington to promote today's Hawthorn-Western Suburbs clash at the WestpacTrust Stadium, reckoned that New Zealanders have decided "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

"It was interesting when we went to the ground yesterday, and there was this beautiful lush green grass, and all the seats were yellow," Lindsay said.

"I thought that Wellington had converted the stadium to green and gold for Australia. With some recent successes on the sporting field that Australia's had, I thought they must have sort of bowed to us a little."

Maybe for one night only, Jill. Footy fever is set to descend on the Capital for the Ansett Cup pre-season clash, with organisers expecting a crowd of at least 20,000.

The bulk of the players flew in last night - though several have been in Wellington for the past couple of days doing promotional work - and they're all set to stay at the same hotel.

But don't expect relationships to be quite so amicable come game time, Lindsay says.

"At the game, everything's aside, and it's almost like war. There's no beg-your-pardons out there.

"We keep them separate in the game situation, and they come out different races, because it can become a bit feisty and the players are a bit aggro."

The AFL injects almost $200,000 into the New Zealand AFL each year, and is committed to developing the game in this country.

Although Lindsay believes the concept of a New Zealand team competing in the AFL is a bit far-fetched, she does think that by continuing to teach skills to school children, we might see more Kiwis playing top level in Australia.

The obvious example is Auckland-born Hawthorn 19-year-old Trent Croad, whose grandfather was an All Black.

Expect to see some aerial dynamics on show - 12 of the Hawthorn squad members, and 11 of the Western Bulldogs, are over 1.9m tall.

- NZPA