World Footy News

In the wake of last weekend’s exciting debut by Collingwood’s American recruit Mason Cox, and the debut this weekend of Sudanese Swan Aliir Aliir, Sam Landsberger from the Herald Sun newspaper looks at the perspective of AFL recruiters in comparing international options.

 

No Surprise Irish Imports Adapt To AFL Easier Than Other Foreign Talents, Says Recruiting Guru

 

GARY Buckenara says it is not the luck of the Irish that Gaelic converts adapt to AFL far easier than talents poached from other codes around the globe.

 

 

The long-time Hawthorn recruiter says clubs tap into the foreign markets to unearth players hard to find in Australia — and that Ireland remains the No. 1 breeding ground because of the similarity between Gaelic and Australian football.

Croatian International Josip Habljak's stats for his fourth game for Sturt SANFL club reserves, in a top versus bottom clash against Norwood were understandably not as impressive as last week where he was named amongst Sturt's best, no doubt because of his lone hand job in the ruck (31 hit-outs).

Sturt again lost this match 17-11 (113) to 6-4 (40). Josip's Champion Data stats has him recording two kicks, five handballs - three effective, one uncontested and one contested for a total disposal count of seven. He took one uncontested mark and recorded four handball receives. He was second ruck this game for 15 hit-outs for five clearances. He laid two tackles and had one each free kick for and against.

AFL Media Release

The AFL is pleased to announce the appointment of a Women’s Football Advisory Group.

Chaired by AFL Commissioner Major General Simone Wilkie, the 10-member group will meet quarterly to provide input in the inaugural national women’s competition which will commence in 2017.

AFL General Manager Game and Market Development Simon Lethlean said the panel will help shape recommendations for the new league.

The 2016 US Combine in LA has wrapped up.  The AFL will now bring a number of athletes down to Australia  in July (likely 3) to prepare for the National Draft Combine, although the possibility exists that they could bring one or more earlier at the request of AFL clubs as they did with Mason Cox in 2014.

The final day of the Combine saw the athletes in a competitive, improvised game with tackling. Woody Quinn, a gridiron player from the University of Tennessee stood out here against the basketballers. Also impressing was the 7ft Frenchman Stan Heili who threw himself wholeheartedly into the competitive work. Others that impressed were Shane Henry and Omari Gudul.

We spoke to Gil Griffin, author of the forthcoming book "Jumping at the Chance: From NBA Hopefuls to AFL Prospects — The Players of the American Experiment" who he thought would be offered the chance to come to Melbourne.

Photo Courtesy AFL Photos

The Wandsworth Demons didn’t waste any time sending messages to the rest of the AFL London competition about their intentions for the 2016 season. With Round One being played last weekend, the Demons kicked of their year with a rousing 17 point win over league powerhouse, the West London Wildcats. One round is not a season, but the Wildcats have been making a habit of grabbing any silverware not nailed down. Their Champions League victory coupled with their pre-season cup win had them pencilled in again as early favourites for another title by many.

Pick 44 in the 2013 AFL Draft was Sydney’s. They had plenty of other players to choose from that later made other team’s lists. Some of the names that went after 44 included Ben Brown (North Melbourne - 47), Orazio Fantasia (Essendon – 55), James Sicily (Hawthorn – 56), Tom Langdon (Collingwood – 65), Sam Lloyd (Richmond – 66) and a few other decent picks.

But the Sydney Swans had already seen something they liked better. Their scouts had been up in Queensland watching the skills and potential of Aliir Aliir, the Sudanese boy who had been firing at junior levels for years. When he went to Western Australia in 2013 to improve his drafting chances (after being overlooked in the 2012 draft), Sydney’s eyes followed. The Swans, not afraid to take a chance, picked a fruit from the draft tree that might take a while to ripen, but when it did it would likely be a delight.

Round 6 kicks off on Friday night with North Melbourne hosting the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium. 

If you want to know when you can see the footy on TV in your part of the world, check out the schedule below. As always schedules are subject to change at the discretion of the local broadcaster so please check local guides for updates.

 For those in the US looking to watch American Mason Cox in his second AFL match with Collingwood, you will need to be able to tune into Fox Soccer Plus channel or watch via subscription service WATCHAFL.AFL.COM.AU.

 

GAME	DATE	TIMESLOT	MATCH	VENUE	STATE	LOCAL	GMT	NETWORK
1	29-Apr	Night	North Melbourne vs. Western Bulldogs	Etihad Stadium	VIC	19:50	09:50	SEVEN
2	30-Apr	Day	Melbourne vs. St Kilda	Etihad Stadium	VIC	13:45	03:45	SEVEN
3	30-Apr	Day	Adelaide Crows vs. Fremantle	Adelaide Oval	SA	13:40	04:10	FOX
4	30-Apr	Twilight	GWS GIANTS vs. Hawthorn	Spotless Stadium	NSW	16:35	06:35	FOX
5	30-Apr	Night	Geelong Cats vs. Gold Coast SUNS	Simonds Stadium	VIC	19:25	09:25	SEVEN
6	30-Apr	Night	Richmond vs. Port Adelaide	MCG	VIC	19:25	09:25	FOX
7	1-May	Early	Brisbane Lions vs. Sydney Swans	The Gabba	QLD	13:10	03:10	FOX
8	1-May	Day	Carlton vs. Essendon	MCG	VIC	15:20	05:20	SEVEN
9	1-May	Twilight	West Coast Eagles vs. Collingwood	Domain Stadium	WA	14:40	06:40	FOX

This is not an 18 man team you would want to match up against. Okay they may be a bit top heavy.

These 18 elite athletes are undergoing testing at the AFL's US Combine in Los Angeles Monday through Wednesday this week. And not all of them are American.

The other nationalities include French, Nigerian and one athlete who is a citizen of The Democratic Republic of Congo.

Most of them are basketballers (as their main college sport) with just two Janko Beras who is a baseball and gridiron football player and Daniel Joseph Woody Quinn who played baseball and volleyball in college. The full list is below, some of the stats may be out of date.

The first day at the AFL's US combine in Los Angeles has been completed. All the guys here are big. That's what AFL clubs have told the AFL they want them to find.

Well they found one especially big one. But he is not American. Stanislas Heili is a 7ft 1in, 240 lb Frenchman. His hometown is Strabourg France. Heili went to top university INSA Lyon in France and played basketball in Lyon-Villeurbanne in the Ligue Nationale de Basket League before heading to the US.

In the US the 22 year-old has been playing basketball for Lindenwood Univerity which is located in St Charles, Missouri.

(Image Source Twitter @GriffinGil12)

The cold hard statistics lie sometimes. Other times they don’t. For Collingwood’s big Texan, Mason Cox, they tell an amazing story. On his AFL debut, on arguably the second biggest stage behind the AFL Grand Final, Cox played an admirable game. The stats say: 10 possessions (six kicks, four handpasses), 3 marks, 3 tackles, 11 hitouts 1 goal and 1 behind. Incredible given how short a time he has had in the Australian game.

Where the stats do lie is in his impact beyond the stats. He kicked the opening goal of the match for Collingwood – the goal that opened the floodgates as the ‘Pies rampaged to a 69 point win over the Bombers. The celebration by Collingwood players (and supporters) after that goal showed such elation that it boosted their collective confidence immediately. They went on to win the ANZAC Day match 22 10 142 to 11 7 73 in front of 85 000 fans.