World Footy News

While it looks like former Geelong captain Ben Graham is coming to Arizona (as punter for the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals), it was current day players that impressed the footy locals in the Grand Canyon state recently.

The Western Bulldogs AFL team were in Phoenix on their preseason high altitude trip to Arizona and were closely observed by members of the Arizona Hawks and Ladyhawks teams. The USAFL players were able to take part in some drills with the Doggies and legendary Carlton Premiership player, and Bulldogs Assistant Coach, Peter Dean was kind enough to take the Hawks players for a few drills and impart some words of wisdom from his own fifteen year playing career with the Blues.

Arizona Hawks' Adam Smark told us “Witnessing the amazing work ethic and dedication of players at the elite level was a great experience for those present and the chance to meet and talk to the players was an amazing opportunity. There are fans of the club everywhere who would cherish such an experience and the Hawks and LadyHawks who were in attendance certainly appreciated the time in the presence of the Bulldogs."

"Thanks to the Western Bulldogs, Hawks President Laki Kondylas and club legend and AZAFL premiership captain Darren Toohey for giving the Arizona clubs the chance to experience such an event, and good luck to the Western Bulldogs for 2009.”

He went on to add “It was certainly an eye opener for the US folks since you would be hard pressed to find a team of elite sportsmen here in the US willing to let people at our level of involvement in the sport actually take part in drills and be so welcoming to everyone. I can’t speak highly enough of how great the Bulldogs were and how inviting they were to share the experience with us.”

"Dogs hit skies for Phoenix" which appeared on the Bulldog's website gives some background to the trip.

It has been a wild ride for former Geelong captain Ben Graham in the NFL this year. After being dumped by the New York Jets early in the season, then brought back in for two more games he then shopped his talents around the country until being picked up for one game with the New Orleans Saints who then moved Graham on.

Ben was invited for tryout with the Green Bay Packers this week but turned down the audition when he received a solid job offer.

That came from the Arizona Cardinals who have sacked Dirk Johnson, the punter who was replaced by Sav Rocca at the Philadelphia Eagles. Johnson and Rocca went head to head in the last round as the Eagles defeated the Cardinals 48-20 and Rocca averaged 42.7 yards compared to Johnson 33.5 yards.

The length of Ben’s tenure at the Cardinals is unknown and while he will be disappointed to be missing out on the Jets' massive turnaround led by Brett Favre, if he can settle in at the Cardinals he should be part of the play-offs as the Cardinals lead the NFC West with just four rounds to play.

The total number of international players now listed by AFL clubs has reached an all-time high at 12. This follows the submission of AFL lists for the 2009 season, with four clubs welcoming aboard new Irish players to their Rookie Lists, as well as Sydney listing Canadian Rugby international Mike Pyke (see Swans use international rookie list - for Canadian Rugby player and Pyke aims for 2009 debut).

The four new Irish players are all Gaelic footballers who had been trialling with the AFL clubs. Adelaide have listed Brian Donnelly from County Louth, Essendon has gone for Michael Quinn from County Longford, North Melbourne have given a chance to Conor Meredith from County Laois, and Sydney have added Kyle Coney of County Tyrone.

Sydney are the stand-out in giving international talent a chance, with Coney and Canadian Pyke joining Irishmen Brendan Murphy (Rookie List) and Tadhg Kennelly (full list) at the Swans.

The additions come on top Colm Begley getting picked up by St Kilda after being de-listed by Brisbane, although Aisake O'hAilpin was not given a second chance after being cut by Carlton. The full list of internationals is given below.

AFL Oceania Development Manager Andrew Cadzow has confirmed the identities of the four young players selected for the November AIS-AFL Camp, as discussed in Oceania young talent to be tested at AIS. The players were the two previously reported, 16 year old Liam Ackland from New Zealand and 17 year old Tienan Carbry from Papua New Guinea (both representatives of their countries at the 2008 International Cup) and the two Fijians International Scholarship Listed by the Western Bulldogs recently. Cadzow also alludes to plans in 2009 for a Junior Oceania Cup.

The four players are not the first to have been exposed to this program, as previously reported by worldfootynews.com, with talent from PNG, Japan, Great Britain and NZ previously tested. As Cadzow explained, "The AFL’s strong, progressive and innovative talent program headed by Kevin Sheehan, Alan McConnell, and the AFL Talented Player Pathway staff have continued to present opportunities for International boys to attend the annual November AIS Academy camp as one part of the Academy program".

Can Australian Football be the next biggest thing for Canadian kids? Emile Studham is betting on it, mate.

The 30-year-old transplanted Australian is founder of Aussie X, a sporting program for kids that teaches the rules of Australian-rules football, or “footy” for short.

The 2008 NAB AFL Draft was held today, with at least two players with international backgrounds being drafted at either end of the day.

Exciting Fijian-Australian Nick Naitanui went at number two to the West Coast Eagles, meaning he gets to stay in his home town of Perth. The athletic ruckman has already excited talent scouts to the extent that Fiji is now being explored for similar prospects.

Naitanui was picked after Victorian Jack Watts going to Melbourne, whilst third was Western Australian Stephen Hill going to Fremantle, and Hamish Hartlett of West Adelaide being picked up by Port Adelaide with pick four. In fact the first five picks all went to clubs in their home states.

At the other extreme was Irishman Colm Begley, de-listed by Brisbane a few weeks ago. With the very last selection of the draft that was exercised, St Kilda threw a lifeline to Begley, taking him with pick 83.

Port Adelaide and Carlton passed with the final two picks, 84 and 85 - no doubt breaking the hearts of 1000s of hopefuls. That would include Brownlow Medallist Ben Cousins, seeking to return after an AFL ban due to his admission of a drug addiction, and Irishman Aisake O'hAilpin, who was looking for a second chance after being de-listed by Carlton.

As is traditional there will now be a flood of media stories in which each club explains how pleased they are with their selections. The last chance for players to make a main AFL list is now the NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft on December 16.

Hold the phone! There is a new force in Asian football. Charging out of the dense jungles surrounding Vientiane comes the irrestistible force of the Lao Elephants.

The Lao Elephants, who formed a team last year and won two of their 4 matches at this year’s Asian Champs, have gone on to claim the Indochina Cup. They were undefeated in their matches against the Vietnam Swans, the Cambodian Kangas and the Thailand Tigers, in the tournament played in Phonm Penh on 22nd November.

‘Twas a grand day for the Warriors, but a sad one for the Irish as the Malaysian Warriors extracted some retribution for the Australian AFL failure in the recent International Rules series by comfortably defeating the Malaysia GAA Orang Eire in the first International Rules contest held in Malaysia at the Alice Smith School on November 22nd.

Playing for the Finnegan’s Cup, the trophy donated by the well known Irish hostelry in Kuala Lumpur, a generous sponsor of both teams, the Warriors triumphed 109-61 in what was a highly entertaining game, played in great spirit before an enthusiastic crowd.

It was interesting to note that both sides had little difficulty adapting to the rules, and specifically the Warriors managed to handle the spheroid ball particularly well. This is probably due to the fact that unlike Australian-based AFL players many of the competitors on both sides have played numerous codes, the Australian game, the Gaelic game, soccer and the various rugby codes and hence can easily adapt. The simple fact that the Warriors were able score 6 unders and 19 overs is testimony to their accuracy in dispatching the round ball.

Canada's junior team, the Wolfpack, headed down to Australia in big numbers just prior to the third International Cup. In part 1 of our story on the tour, we talked to young players Chris Harbour and Justen Oertel and began an interview with coach Mike McFarlane. In part 2 we continue to talk to Mike about the impact the tour had on the players and plans for the future.

The Canterbury AFL will host the inaugural Under 20 NZAFL National Provincial Championships in Christchurch on March 14th and 15th early next year.

Such tournaments have been held previously at various age levels, but not to the magnitude of the one being planned. The event will be open to the Canterbury League, Waikato League, Auckland League, Wellington League and, if the tournament criteria can be met, a special invitation will go out to the Otago Region.

As the snow starts to fall along St. Catherine's Street, the Montréal-based Québec Saints Australian Football Club are packing away their jumpers and footy boots after a very promising first year.

With players from Québec City, Montréal and Laval making the long journey to Toronto to play in the OAFL, some driving as much as 9 hours one way to have a kick, a group of expat Australians from Montréal formed the "Québec Saints" in early 2008 in order to have a more accessible way to play Aussie Rules.

As word grew about an Aussie Rules team in Québec numbers increased quickly to the point shortly after its conception the Saints were ready to play their first match.

Thanks to Luke Anderson for this report.

Myk Aussie, that flamboyant Australian reporter on Canadian sport, with a particular eye on Aussie Rules, has done an extensive interview with Mark "Flash" Block. Flash is coach of Canada's national side the Northwind and was a highly successful player and now coach with the Toronto Eagles. The discussion includes the US Nationals (which had a strong Canadian presence in 2008), the International Cup and the impressive juniors coming through from Canada's west coast program.

[youtube:tYNpe-66iZE]