The Raiwaqa Cooparoos have won the Australian Football League (AFL) Men’s Premiership grand final beating West Coast Eagles 91-71 at Albert Park, Suva yesterday.

Cooparoos coach/player Maciu Raida said the win meant a lot to them and he was proud of how his players performed when put under pressure.

“It was a really good final and winning this really means the world to us and our supporters,” Raida said.

“We won the final back in 2014 when it was first played and since then the team has grown tremendously over the past two years.

“We came into this final looking for nothing less than a win and it was tough because the West Coast Eagles are a really good side.

“But the boys handled the ball well and kept cool under pressure and just played the game and that is what brought us the win.

“Our preparations leading up the finals went really well and we are thankful to the supporters who came out to give the boys an extra boost to help us win.

“This sport is not that big in the country but as you can see a lot of people came out to watch and hopefully they found it exciting enough to want to learn how to play the game.

“I basically told the boys that if they want to win, they need to prove themselves out in the field and that is what they did so I am very happy with the outcome.”

The grand final was also a platform for AFL Fiji to select several players to make-up a team to represent Fiji in the International Cup in Melbourne, Australia next year.