Nauru is being tipped as a dark-horse in the AFL International Cup, which gets underway in Sydney on Saturday.
Papua New Guinea will be defending the title they won in 2008, beating New Zealand in the final.
Their coach David Lake says their expectation is to go back to back but the AFL's Asia Pacific Development Manager, Andrew Cadzow, says while the Mosquitoes will start deserved favourites he thinks Nauru will suprise.
"They were fantastic last time - unlucky to meet PNG in the earlier rounds and so sort of got caught in a situation where they couldn't get through to the grand final but they look very good and a lot of their boys have been in Australia in the last three months. Well coached, well structured - they'll be a real dark-horse so I think Nauru, New Zealand and Ireland coming from the other side of the world will all start with a tick in their box thinking they have a fair show."
Andrew Cadzow says he also expects Tonga and Fiji to suprise some teams.
