World Footy News

Samoan-born forward, Aaron Edwards, was the stand out forward in today's AFL semi-final between North Melbourne and Hawthorn. In a match when all eyes were on the Hawks' twin towers of Lance "Buddy" Franklin and Jarryd Roughead, the "recycled" Edwards booted four goals and launched himself skyward to pull in one of the 2007 season's great marks. The forward is one of those rare success stories where a player is let go by a club (in this case West Coast) and plies his trade in a state league (the VFL), and is thrown a lifeline by a different AFL club. Edwards rewarded the Roos with his four which were the equal top contribution (with on-baller Brent Harvey) in a relatively low scoring game as North Melbourne redeemed themselves for last week's annihilation at the hands of Geelong, defeating Hawthorn 14.9 (93) to 8.12 (60). North now get a crack at Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium and Collingwood face the daunting task of Geelong, probably before close to a sell-out crowd of 100,000 at the MCG - the only risk to that being if Pies fans don't believe they have a genuine chance to winning.

AFL Samoa intends using Edwards as their inspiration for young Samoan boys taking to our sport and such heroics from the player can only help that cause. There aren't too many men of his size, carrying that much muscle bulk, who can leap high above a pack - maybe one day AFL scouts will turn their eyes to the South Pacific island to see if there's any more such talent.