World Footy News

Saverio Rocca is likely to follow in the footsteps of Bennett and Graham and head to the NFL to try his luck as a punter. Rocca has been seen over the past few months at a Preston location practicing his punting. The potential move has been confirmed in the past week, with Rocca having his punting filmed at the Telstra dome to send to US scouts. Rocca may have already been trialling with an NFL club by now except that he has been trying to notch up 100 games in the AFL with the North Melbourne Kangaroos to ensure that his sons are eligible to play for the Kangaroos under the father son rule in the future.
Rocca has been somewhat of a fringe player this year and struggling to get a regular senior game, and his retirement at season's end was imminent. Coach Dean Laidley has not been tempted just to play Rocca for the sake of the father son rule qualifications. Rocca is now just a couple of games short of this but Laidley revealed this week that Rocca may fall just short of the 100 games if a solid trial offer comes through as soon as next week.

Glen Archer revealed today on SEN radio in Melbourne that some discussions with the Buffalo Bills had taken place, but it appears that Rocca is most likely to go for some trials after he reaches the 100 games and then head to NFL Europe. It has been rumoured for some weeks that the Rhein Fire would be the club that Rocca would end up with. A solid showing in the NFL Europe would then set him up for the move to the big time NFL should he perform.

At this stage the NFL move by AFL players has not drawn any great deal of concern due to those players being at the end of their careers (although some Geelong fans may beg to differ when it comes to Ben Graham). In some ways it is a win for the AFL with these players able to "retire" into lucrative NFL contracts, but bring some publicity and interest in our game to millions of American football fans. Clips of AFL football are broadcast in the news and on NFL telecasts to explain the background of the Aussie imports and NFL fans are searching out information on the game. Of course this goes both ways with more exposure for NFL in Australia with both news services and fans keenly following the fortunes of the Aussies punting in the NFL.

The crunch may come when the AFL receives some of its own medicine and some bright young talent is lured to the US. The AFL development system actively tries to get the best young talent around Australia and has championed those that they have been able to steal away from the clutches of soccer, rugby league, rugby union and even cricket. And don't forget Ireland, they are already smarting from AFL clubs scrambling to lure bright young talents with the lure of money that is not available to them at home.

Carlton's Brendan Fevola has already stated multiple times this year that he is keen to get to the US to give it a shot as well. When that will happen, who knows? While there is not likely to be a mass exodus of players to the US the AFL will recognise the potential for the NFL game to be a serious lure to young kids coming along. The question is what sort of strategy could they come up with to combat the dollars offered by the American game?