World Footy News

Peter Holden travelled to the 2016 USAFL Nationals and commentated women's matches throughout the tournament which were streamed live (and can be viewed on the USAFL's Youtube page).

He also put together this week's Girls Play Footy Podcast featuring interviews over the weekend.

You can find out all the latest on women's footy at their site - www.girlsplayfooty.com

It has been no secret since the season finished that Pearce Hanley would likely leave the Brisbane Lions and early on the Gold Coast Suns were the likely new home for the Irishman. 

After 129 games for the Brisbane Lions he has become the best Irish player in the competition famous for his hard running off the hard back line.  But this season something appeared wrong.  And as the Lions continued to struggle at the bottom of the ladder Hanley appeared disinterested.

It is not known publicly for sure where the problem lay, be it with coach Leppitsch (who has now departed the club) or with particular team-mates. At any rate it is hoped a new start at the Gold Coast will see him return to the form of the previous few seasons.

 

The USA national side the Revolution have one of the most thorough selection processes of any nation ahead of the International cup. Over the past two years they have been assessing and trialling players from all over the USA. On Sunday the USAFL announced a narrowed squad of 66 players that will represent the USA.

This time around they have announced they will select 30 players from this squad in April next year to bring to the 2017 AFL International Cup in Melbourne. Those named on Sunday that do not make the trip to Melbourne, will be then representing the USA in 2018 on a playing trip to Europe (details yet to be announced).  It has been a very long time since the US national team has travelled to Europe (2001) after years of talk about it happening again it looks like it will get off the ground. 

The Revolution team will also take a team to Canada again in 2018.

Round Two of the NTFL competition in Darwin was completed on Sunday with two teams, the Wanderers and Nightcliff Tigers, the only undefeated teams in an even start to the season. At the other end of the scale the Tiwi Bombers and Darwin Buffaloes remain winless and will be desperate to turn things around in a hurry.

The Buffaloes faced a fired up St Mary’s unit, fresh from their first round defeat. The Buffaloes led for most of the day, but Saints were always just at arm’s length. It took a four goal to one final quarter (which would have been more but for Saints inaccuracy) to turn the tide in the final quarter.

Final Score: St Marys 17 17 119 d Buffaloes 16 9 105

The Austin Crows are the USAFL National Champions for 2016 having beaten the Golden Gate Roos in the final of the USAFL National Championships.  The Crows were out of the blocks early and had a strong lead at half time and looked to be certainties.

Golden Gate continued to push them but in the end were no match for the Austin team.

In Divison 2 the Calgary Kangaroos defeated the Columbus Jackaroos by 36 points and in Division 3 the Portland Steelheads were winners over the North Carolina Tigers by 24 points.

Divison 4 title was taken out by the Ohio Valley River Rats combine.

In the women's Division 1 the San Francisco Iron Maidens ended the Denver Lady Bulldogs run of titles and in Division 2 the Portland Sockeyes defeated the Montreal/Boston combine.
 

In humid and variable conditions (bright sun to wind and rain) teams from across the US and Canada battled it out in four men’s and two women’s divisions.

Reigning champions the Austin Crows kept their favourites tag as they accounted for the Quebec Saints and Denver Bulldogs in Division A with little fuss and with a win tomorrow morning over LA will be firm favourites for the title again.

DAY 2 STREAMING LIVE - CLICK THIS LINK

Grand Final re-matches, barnstorming come-from-behind victories, exciting debuts, scintillating footy and the sounds of leather hitting boots. No, we are not talking about the battlegrounds of the MCG or Etihad Stadium – this is footy in France, and the new season has kicked off in stunning style across the nation.

Last year the Perpignan Tigers won many admirers with a break out season which saw then just miss out on finals action. They won more yesterday when they launched a stunning comeback against the Toulouse Hawks in the double header at the Stade Robert Barran (Robert Barran Stadium) in Toulouse. For the most part, Toulouse held sway across the first three quarters, but the Tigers were far from finished and stormed home to win an absolute thriller by just four points. Final score saw the Perpignan Tigers 86 down Toulouse 82.

Greg Bridges plays for the Ottowa Swans and has made the Canadian Northwind Team to play in the 2017 International Cup.  And now he has made a video about it.  Check it out below or on Youtube.

[youtube:3EKEPbxOfwc]

We look forward to following Greg's journey in this video blog series as he prepares for the tournament in Melbourne in August next year. 

See you in Melbourne Greg.

The AFL National Women's Draft was held in Melbourne today. The 8 foundation clubs of the AFL Women's league set to debut in 2017 added to their initial list of priority picks and rookies with a total of 145 selections in today's draft.

We held out hope that a number of players from Ireland, the US and Canada might be among them but it was not to be. If they are to be a part of the inaugural season they must now hope they can secure a place at one of the clubs during the "free agency period" between now and October 31. Each club will have three places on their list for these players.

Some international connections to footy overseas were however noted.

The momentum continues to build towards the AFL Women's league 2017 kick-off.  In less than 24 hours most of the players for the league's inaugural season will have been allocated to clubs via tomorrow's draft to be held in Melbourne.

And for the first time (in men's and women's drafts) there is the possibility that there will be internationals that have learnt and played the game in their own country up for grabs. 

The AFL tell us there have been around 1300 players register for the draft, and although they have not issued that list, they have confirmed that Kim Hemenway (USA), Katie Klatt (USA) and Kendra Heil (Canada) have all nominated.  They have also confirmed that  Aimee Legault (Canada) has unfortunately not nominated despite speculation that she would.

It is also expected there may be a number of Australian based Irish players such as Gill Behan, who plays for the UTS Shamrocks in Sydney, that may be drafted.

NAB is the inaugural sponsor of the new AFL Women’s League.

Andrew Thorburn, NAB CEO, and Gillon McLachlan, AFL CEO, today announced the partnership with the AFL Women’s League, as well as confirming NAB’s continued support of Auskick and the AFL player pathway program for a further six years.

Mr Thorburn said he was excited to be building on the bank’s 14-year partnership with the AFL and proud to be supporting both men’s and women’s football.