In a strange gamble rookie Essendon coach Matthew Knights made a late decision to drop his only recognised ruckman for the Elimination Final against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium last night. With his best quality tall men either injured or suspended, Knights made the call to go with a smaller running side, opening the way for first year Irish player Michael Quinn to be brought up from the emergency list.

Although having the willingness to make such a dramatic decision has to be respected, the reality is it was a disastrous outcome for the Bombers. Adelaide dominated the ruck like rarely seen in the AFL, with Ivan Maric and James Sellar running amok, their side registering 64 hit outs to 18. It wasn't just the number, but the decisiveness of the taps, meaning the Crows could set up their midfield knowing they had first use of the ball. Although a big win was always likely, there's no doubt the ruck situation contributed to the 96 point margin, Essendon's biggest ever loss in a final in their 102 year VFL/AFL history.

For his part Quinn had a very mixed game. It must be emphasised he was not selected as a replacement ruckman, instead playing through the midfield and sneaking forward. He marked early on uncontested but his set shot from about 25 metres out on a 45 degree angle was extremely poor with bad timing off the boot and only just registered a point. He atoned for that later in the quarter with another uncontested mark and goal from in front. One can only imagine the huge pressure on that second shot at goal, playing in his first final in his first year of Australian football with 50,000 spectators making a lot of noise.

The Danish Australian Football League are one of Europe's oldest Australian football leagues, with a history dating back to the early 1990s. For the first decade of their existence they were one of only two nations in Europe with a functioning national league, with clubs spread from the Jutland peninsula, across the Copenhagen region, to Helsingborg in southern Sweden.

However, once the youthful enthusiasm powered by the excitement of a new league faded, expansion in Denmark has been hard to come by in the past twelve years, with Swedish club Port Malmö the only new side in the DAFL Premier League since the year 1997.

This season saw a new team emerge in the city of Randers in Jutland, close to Denmark's second-largest city Århus. The Randers Dockers have just completed their maiden season in the Jutland 9s, a local league with the Aalborg Kangaroos and Århus Bombers feeding into DAFL Premier League team the Jutland Shinboners.

Driving force behind the Randers Dockers is Jens Djernes, a member of last year's Denmark Vikings team at the IC and one of two Vikings selected to the 2008 World Team.

In recognition of the many stars of Italian descent who have played in the professional Australian rules over the decades, the VFL/AFL Italian Team of the Century was selected in 2007, featuring such footballing royalty as Sergio and Steven Silvagni, Robert DiPierdomenico, Saverio Rocca, Mark Ricciuto and current star goalkicker Brendan Fevola. Named as honorary coach was 3rd generation Italian-Australian Ron Barassi, a great supporter of international Australian rules and one of the greatest players and coaches in the history of the game.

However, even while clubs and leagues are mushrooming elsewhere in Europe, footy has so far had a difficult time establishing an outpost in Italy, with a short-lived venture in Naples a few years ago the only presence before the formation of the AFL Italia this year.

In the northern city of Milan, footy fans Nicola Giampaolo and Armando Colombo have started a group playing Australian rules, consisting almost entirely of Italian nationals recruited from sports such as rugby, American football, soccer and basketball. A 15-man squad has been selected for the EU Cup, with only one non-Italian (a New Zealander) in the team.

There was no good news at AFL selection as the finals commence. Several players would have had hopes of playing this weekend but all have missed out.

The most bitter pill to swallow will be for Carlton's Setanta O'hAilpin, who after running into good form through the middle of the season has drifted back to the periphery and was this week dropped for the Blues' elimination final against Brisbane. The Lions' Pearce Hanley is due to have recovered from a hamstring injury but was selected.

Collingwood's Martin Clarke continues his time in the wilderness, having been absent from the senior team for a couple of months. At St Kilda there was no room for Colm Begley, while at Essendon their run of injuries and suspension elevated Michael Quinn to the status of emergency only.

Kevin Dyas (Collingwood) and Brian Donnelly (Adelaide) are still well short of a senior debut.

Hopefully by this time next year several of Ireland's exports will have established themselves as regular players in their club's first 22 chosen. Many of them seem to have landed at successful clubs - a good thing overall but not if you're trying to break into a team.

This weekend will see the year's first 18-a-side clash for the England Dragonslayers, when the reigning EU Cup champions run onto the pitch at Albert Road, home of the North London Lions. Their opposition? Fronting up in the emerald green will be the Irish Exiles, a side of the best Irishmen playing the game in England.

Sussex Swans captain Ronan Moran is fronting the team, with players drawn from Sussex, Birmingham and Southampton in the ARUK National League, the West London Wildcats in the AFL London, and the Edinburgh Bloods up in Scotland.

WorldFootyNews.com spoke with Moran and ARFLI president Ciaran O'Hara about the Exiles, their plans and their significance for Irishmen playing Aussie Rules around the globe.

As in previous seasons, World Footy News will this year undertake a team-by-team preview of the sides for the EU Cup in Zagreb.

In our first installment, we spoke with host nation Croatia, their former Central European AFL rivals the Czech Lions and Finland, and newcomers from the North Atlantic Iceland.

The Croatian Knights, last year's runners-up, have seen significant domestic growth this year with their Zagreb metro league and will be very keen to go one better and take the Cup in front of their home crowd. The Czechs and Finns have also progressed significantly on a local level this season and will be eager to show they can match it with the best Europe has to offer.

Iceland remain an unknown quantity, but captained by Pall Finnsson, the Icelandic-born captain of the Paris Cockerels and former test captain of the Denmark Vikings, they may surprise a few rivals come the first weekend in October.

The Turku Dockers capped off a fairy-tale debut year by beating the Helsinki Heatseekers by 4 goals in the first ever grand final in the Finland AFL.

The Dockers, coached by Australian ex-pat and two-time EU Cup all star Grant Siermans, joined the Helsinki Heatseekers and the Salo Juggernauts as the third team in the Finnish league this year.

Unlike earlier years in Finland, all teams were able to field teams with primarily their own squad members throughout the home and away season, meaning that 2009 was the first year when a true premier could be crowned.

Thanks for Craig Primmer from the Finland AFL for this report, photos courtesy of Saara Hämäläinen.

The Oslo Trolls defeated the Ås Battlers (at left) by five goals on Sunday August 23rd, to claim the honour of being the first team to win a Norwegian domestic match.

The 9-a-side game at Oslo Rugby Club in Ekerberg comprised around 50% Australians, with Norwegians, Germans, Americans and a Swede making up the rest of the squads.

Simon Berger from the Oslo Trolls said "I think the Ås team played particularly well and think Adam (O'Toole) has done a great job. The Trolls managed to get nine players, mainly Aussie but some were 1st gamers from the rugby code... hopefully we can do it again soon and prepare well for our international versus Sweden." One woman player from Australia, described by Berger as a goalsneak, also took the pitch, acquitting herself well against the men.

No one seems too sure of the exact score, but organisers estimate it was around a 100-70 win to the Trolls. An Australian Association BBQ ensured a bit of a crowd were on hand to match the match.

Next event on the calendar for the Norwegians is the first-ever test match for the Norway Polar Bears against the Sweden Elks on October 3rd, with the Oslo Trolls, Ås Battlers and hopefully the far-northern Tromsø club all contributing players to the squad.

The Sydney Swans' Brendan Murphy has decided to give up his AFL dream, just days after writing in his column on the Irish-Australian news site the Irish Echo that he would continue in 2010. We recently reported his decision to stay, but note that the Swans have announced his change of heart and his article has been removed from the Irish Echo website (although it is still available from Google's cache).

20 year old Murphy played 25 games for Sydney's reserves in his two years Down Under but was restricted by injury. With a large turnover of players expected at the Swans over the off-season it looked like 2010 would be a great chance for Murphy to break into the AFL side.

Murphy stated that, “It wasn’t an easy decision to make but it has been a frustrating year with injuries and I feel as a consequence I’ve lost the drive and passion to play AFL".

It would appear as though the Irish experiment is now at best settling into a low level steady state with less than a dozen players on AFL lists at any one time, and only two or three getting regular senior matches at best. Homesickness and injuries appear to be as big hurdles as learning the new skills required.

The AFL London season came to a dramatic finale on Saturday 22nd August, with the annual Grand Final day producing some truly memorable footy across all three grades. For once the weather gave the perfect conditions and the rest was down to the players at the Barn Elms Reserve in London.

For the first time in recent memory, two clubs kept the finals between them and provided quite a spectacle. The Wandsworth Demons and West London Wildcats have enjoyed a great rivalry through their history and the effort on the pitch and support from the sidelines amply demonstrated just how much the game means to the clubs and the footy community.