Hawthorn has won the battle with Carlton for the signature of a young Irish recruit.  Hawthorn Football Club has signed Irish youngster Ciarán Kilkenny as an International rookie. The 19 year old, who was recently voted the best Under 21 Gaelic Football player in Ireland, tested impressively at the AFL Combine in February.

The youngster from Dublin and his father John recently visited Hawthorn’s Waverley Park headquarters and attended a Hawks’ game.

Picture:Sportsfile.

One of the red hot favourites going into tomorrow's Euro Cup in Edinburgh are the England Dragonslayers. After coming in third last year, the English will be eager to regain their past glory as European 9-a-side champions.

The Dragonslayers will this year again be coached by Robert Fielder, with Mark Williams as Manager and Ian Mitchell as captain.

One of Europe's oldest footy nations, the Danes are consistently in the top flight of teams alongside the Irish and British.

This year's DAFL Premier League had 5 teams competing - the Jutland Shinboners, Farum Cats, North Copenhagen Barracudas from Denmark, and the Helsingborg Saints and Malmø Maulers from southern Sweden. The competition was played with each team playing each other twice, and a final 4 - finals system.

Last weekend saw the Farum Cats take on the North Copenhagen Barracudas 2012 DAFL Premier League Grand Final. Farum went into the game as favorites, without fielding any Australians at all in their lineup. And Farum did impress, beating the Barracudas 60-35. This extraordinary feat was the first time in DAFL history (and possibly in the history of international football) that an ALL-local team, even coached by a local, won a GF again a side that included expat Australians.

With the GF and season at a close, Jens Djernes spoke to WFN about the national team's preparations for the Euro Cup.

For most of the year there has been specualtion about Ciarán Kilkenny of Dublin making the cross from GAA football to the AFL club Carlton. The gifted footballer has fielded questions many times about whether he would be staying in Ireland or heading down to Melbourne to play with the oval ball.

But the Irish Herald.ie website today revealed that Kilkenny, who has just returned from an Australian trial had visited with the Hawthorn Football Club and that they were keen to sign him (although Hawthorn have not commented). Irish players are basically open to whoever is the first to sign them so the battle seems to be on for his signature between the Hawks and Carlton.

Picture:Sporstfile.

Making their debut at this year's Euro Cup will be Norway, and with a few years worth of domestic growth under their belt, hopes are high that the Norwegians can take the next step and join the ranks of Europe's established footy nations.

National team coach Adam Pearce is bringing an all-local squad to Scotland for the tournament, and took some time out of his schedule to speak to WFN about his squad's preparations.

AFL Europe filmed the draw for the upcoming Euro Cup tournament and posted the following video online.

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Original full article can be seen at http://irishwarriorsaussierules.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/warriors-ready-for-edinburgh/

This year’s Irish Warriors team is a mixture of new players and experience with management trying to blood players for next year’s European Championships being held in Dublin and retain a core of experienced players.  From last year’s winning team only six players return, they are captain Dave Lally, Kevin McSorley, Ryan McCloskey, Muiris Bartley, Bobby Byrne and John O’Regan. 

Four players won medals at the International Cup in Australia last August, Ger Walls, Eoin O’Sulleabhain,

John Enright and team of the tournament player Kevin O’Brien who is now based in London having moved from Western Australia.  There are five players making there debut in the Irish jumper this weekend, there are Redbacks pair, Sean McMahon and Sean Paul Henry, Swans duo Richie Duignam and Kevin Brennan and Demons dynamo Paul Redmond.

This year is the first year a joint European women’s team has appeared at the Euro Cup and is undoubtedly a sign that the women’s game is spreading beyond Ireland, Italy and Switzerland. The players come from across the UK, France and Spain with other women from Italy, Germany, Spain and Scandinavia registering their interest but unable to make it to Edinburgh.

The team is as follows:

Hazel Stevenson (Scotland) Stacy Hughes (Scotland)
Kirsty Grey (Scotland) Nicky Thompson (Scotland)
Eileen Miles (Scotland) Vanessa Temple (England)
Sophie Morris (England) Berengere Portal (France)
Gazelle Hazimeh (France) Rebecca Sigieur (France)
Sabrina St Claire (Spain) Hayley Sadler (Australia)

The Annual Australian Rules Football British Tri-Nations Championship is coming to Cardiff this weekend, as Wales play host to the best British Aussie Rules players. The Welsh Australian Rules Football Leagues hosts the 9-a-side event which was first held last year in Worksop, England, and sees the Cymru Red Dragons, English Dragonslayers and Scottish Clansmen come together to play a series of 'Lightning' matches, of 15 minute halves.

The series is a warm up for all three teams as they prepare for the EuroCup, where the Red Dragons have finished 7th for the last two years.

The British Tri-Nations Championship will be held on September 8th at the Welsh Institute of Sport, behind the Swalec Stadium, with the first game kicking off at 12pm. The day will see 6 games in all as the three teams play each other twice in a round robin format, with the team top of the table at the end of the day, being declared winners.

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