World Footy News

At the Australian team’s training session in Melbourne on Friday three players separated off from the rest for some goalkeeping practice. With assistant coach Jason Mifsud and Melbourne Victory’s goalkeeping coach Steve Mautone  giving instructions on positioning and tactics Ash McGrath, Nathan Lovett-Murray and Cameron Ellis-Yolmen.

 

On Saturday, October 5th, Japan's largest footy tournament was held at Seimei-no-mori Resort in Chiba.

Despite the unfortunate rainy weather, the tournament was carried out as initially planned receiving the attendance of 3 local Japanese teams (Eastern Hawks, Komazawa Magpies, Senshu Powers), 1 Expat team (Tokyo Goannas), 1 mixed team (Tokyo Bay Suns), and a visiting team from Box Hill North.

The games were played with 9 players each on the ground, structure of 10 minute halves for preliminary rounds and semi-finals, and 15 minute halves for the Grand Final.

Eastern Hawks finished on top after a seesaw game against the Tokyo Bay Suns in the Grand Final.

This report courtesy of Hiroyuki Toyama from the AFL Japan.

Irish manager Paul Earley, captain Michael Murphy and Irish selector Ja Fallon speak about this week's upcoming Test match at Kingspan Breffni Park against Australia.

AFL Canada today announced a 37 man Team Canada Northwind squad for the 2014 International Cup in Melbourne.  The squad containing plenty of familiar names from the past International Cups and some fresh faces. 

Canada finished tenth at the 2011 International Cup and are currently ranked 14th in the World Footy News unofficial World Rankings.

The full squad can be seen below.

Ireland have named their 23 man team ahead of the upcoming International Rules Series Tests against Australia in Ireland.  The first Test is this Saturday 19th of October at Kingspan Breffni Park. 

Among the named squad Australian football followers will recognise Carlton’s Zach Tuohy and former Brisbane/St Kilda player Colm Begley. Chrissy McKaigue played with the Sydney Swans reserves, and Michael Shields lasted half a season with the Carlton Football Club before deciding to go back to Ireland.

Ciaran Kilkenny who left Hawthorn before the season started this year and Ciaran Byrne who has signed with Carlton to be on the club’s list as an International Rookie in 2014 have also been named.

The squad is as follows

The following story courtesy usafl.com

The USAFL is excited to announce there will be an AFL contingent attending the 2013 Nationals.  St. Kilda Saints Captain Nick Riewoldt will be in Austin on Sunday, October 20 for the finals and participate in pre-game ceremonies and awards presentations.

Riewoldt’s newest teammate American Jason Holmes who signed a 2-year international rookie contract with the Saints earlier this month, will also make the trip to Austin.  Holmes journey to the AFL began in April at the secondAFL US Combine in Los Angeles.  After the combine Holmes returned home to Chicago where he began training with the Chicago Swans in hopes the AFL would call and he would be prepared to take advantage of the opportunity.  His hard work has paid off and he is excited to begin his AFL career.

 

The VAFA are two thirds of the way through their tour of Ireland playing three International Rules format matches. In their first match in County Cork they easily defeated Na Piarsaigh by 86 points and in the second match they went down by 18 points to the combined Dublin Universities team.

Later tonight local time they will play the All Ireland Gaelic football team in the final match of the tour in Cavan.

Results and match reports below.

The Zagreb Hawks have this year won the Croatian league for the first time since their foundation in 2006.

The 9-a-side league, featuring 3 Croatian clubs and the Downunder Dogs from Graz, Austria, has seen the Zagreb Hawks come runners-up on a number of occasions, but never clinch the big prize.

After reaching the low point of their history in 2012, struggling to field a full side and losing to the Velika Gorica Bombers (now the Dockers), Zaprude Giants and Downunder Dogs, this year was completely something different.

From October 2012, the Hawks undertook a rebuilding program and have since grown the largest playing numbers in the league. This included trading Milijan Mamić to the Dockers in return for Tomislav Cvetko - Knights captain and European Championship 2013 top scorer - and unearthing some young guns such as Josip Habljak, selected in the ruck for the All-European team from the 2013 European Championships.

Ireland have named a 29 man squad ahead of the upcoming International Rules Series Tests against Australia in Ireland. This squad is expected to be shortened to 23 closer to the first Test.

Among the named squad Australian football followers will recognise Carlton’s Zach Tuohy and former Brisbane/St Kilda player Colm Begley. Chrissy McKaigue played with the Sydney Swans reserves, and Michael Shields lasted half a season with the Carlton Football Club before deciding to go back to Ireland.

Others that had short stints in Australia are John Heslin at Richmond (he also played in the winning Irish team at IC11) and Ciaran Kilkenny who left Hawthorn before the season started this year.

Ciaran Byrne has signed with Carlton to be on the club’s list as an International Rookie in 2014.

The squad is as follows

St Kilda has secured the services of young Hawthorn midfielder Shane Savage plus the Hawks' first round selection (pick 17) in the 2013 NAB AFL National Draft in exchange for Saints ruckman Ben McEvoy.

Savage played 15 of Hawthorn’s 22 home and away games in 2013 for a career total of 56. He was an emergency for the club’s recent AFL Grand Final win over Fremantle.

The 22-year-old Kiwi will be a valuable addition to St Kilda’s midfield as well as becoming an ambassador of the club’s increasing presence in New Zealand, having being born in Auckland where he lived until his family moved to Australia when he was two years old.