Setanta O'hAilpin has shown some good form in 2007 under difficult circumstances and is certainly developing a cult status amongst Blues supporters. The tall athlete has been forced into ruck due to a long list of injured or poorly performing Carlton big men. At this stage it's fair to say "Carlos" is struggling in ruck, rarely winning the tap, so against Melbourne on Sunday coach Denis Pagan used him somewhat differently. Setanta took the centre bounces then switched to playing as a lead-up forward while Anthony Koutoufides, more a ruckrover (to use old terminology) did the bullocking work at boundary throw ins and around the ground. Setanta did an admirable job in the absence of regular forward Brendan Fevola, kicking two goals (and missing another) from his 14 possessions including 8 marks. Originally starting the season as fullback, the big Irishmen has become Mr Fixit for Pagan, filling holes wherever needed. His centre bounce leap is certainly improving, and there's promise as a forward, but at this stage he's likely to move back to the key defensive post if Carlton has all hands on deck.

Meanwhile younger brother Aisake could well have stepped up from the rookie list to fill the rucking void if not for an ongoing groin injury. The Blues lost the hitouts 19 to 60 against the Demons and goes a long way to explaining their recent run of losses. But unfortunately Aisake is now listed as out for the remainder of the season and most likely has undergone surgery to fix the problem. Hopefully that will allow him a full pre-season and to push for a senior squad spot. It's believed there are restrictions on how long a player can be on the rookie list, so Carlton may have a major decision to make.

The Southampton Titans, a team formed at the start of the year for the ARUK's Southern England division, received some coverage in Southampton newspaper the Daily Echo last week. The article focused on the Titans taking top spot on the ladder for their division, with a background to club founder Michael Krischunas.

In a significant publicity boost for Australian Football in the UK, Scotland's major national newspaper The Herald recently ran a full back page spread on work by the SARFL to grow the game. The article gave a good background to the game and talked about the dedicated Glasgow ground, Victoria Park, the push into schools and a program to give troubled youth employment experience at the BBC and law firm McGrigors. The article featured a detailed interview with the SARFL's Eddie McAvinchey. It explained that the 29-year-old (who was pictured in the story), originally from Armagh, is "at the vanguard of a disparate collection of individuals comprising the Scottish Australian Rules Football League, a four-team division begun by two Australian expatriates in 2003". McAvinchey was delighted with the amount of coverage given to the sport, although a little embarrassed that the author focused so much on himself. The article should lift the profile of the game amongst the locals and be a boost to the credibility of their junior program. As for McAvinchey, congratulations to him for getting the SARFL front-and-centre of the sports section. A small price to pay are the friendly jibes that have already started from his team-mates and work-mates about his media attention - the perils of the job Eddie!

The full article is Richard Winton meets a man using Aussie Rules to help society.

Switzerland's first Australian Football club may soon be founded in Geneva, with Kevin Meynard on the lookout for players. Kevin first saw footy while on holidays in Australia three years ago, and quickly became infected with the footy-virus.

So far he's collected about 7 or 8 players who are interested, although ideally he'd like to find at least 18. "To start with I'd like to find 18 so that we can play 9 vs 9 against ourselves, then we can look at playing against some of the French or German teams."

He's also searched if there might be a Gaelic club in Geneva with players who might be interested, although he hasn't found one as yet. "Apparently there's an Irishman currently living in Bahrain who wants to start a Gaelic or Australian Football club in Geneva, but for juniors."

"The Swiss are a bit scared - when they see footy they imagine "catch" mixed with rugby. So I created a blog to inform people." The blog, mainly dedicated to explaining footy to beginners, is located at australianfootball.skyrock.com.

Anyone in the vicinity of Geneva who wants to make contact with Kevin can email him via australianfootball_genevaeagles@hotmail.com or through his blog.

After a superb debut that had much of the AFL media buzzing, Irishman Martin Clarke has backed up with three goals and making Collingwood's best player list in just his second match. Although the Pies lost the blockbuster against Hawthorn by 8 points, it wasn't through lack of ability by Clarke who was his team's leading goalkicker and finished with 13 kicks, 6 handballs and 3 goals 1. WFN has previously suggested that clubs that aren't actively seeking international recruits are probably doing themselves a disservice. In many ways it will be sad if the ranks of Gaelic football in Ireland are pillaged for young talent by AFL clubs, as their sport is major part of their culture and at least by appearances a very close cousin to Australian Football. But regardless, it seems likely that more than any Irish recruit before him, the almost instant success of Clarke will have club recruiters clamouring for tickets to the Emerald Isle. One suspects the GAA may go rushing back to the negotiating table for a restart of International Rules so they have some leverage with the AFL to try to prevent a surge in player losses. Given his auspicious start, Martin Clarke must be a good chance to receive a NAB Rising Star nomination. If his form keeps up, he could just be one of the top AFL stories of 2007.

With Fijian-Irishmen Setanta and Aisake O'hAilpin in Melbourne playing for Carlton and its VFL affiliate Northern Bullants, their older brother Teu has also taken up the game, joining the Leeside Lions in Ireland's local Aussie Rules league. At 29 Teu is several years older than Carlton's recruits and has played both Gaelic Football and Hurling to a very high level. He has represented Cork at U-18 and U-21, and then played seniors for Clare having moved there in 2001. He later lived for a while in London where he played both Hurling and Gaelic football. He has spent time in Melbourne with his two brothers and his debut appearance for Leeside helped push them over the line in a very tight match against the Dublin Swans a few weeks ago. The three athletes also have an older brother, Sean Og, who has had a stellar career in Gaelic football and impressed Australian footy fans with his strong performances in International Rules. So it seems talent runs right through the family - maybe one day Carlton will be recruiting Irishmen under the father-son rule.

More on the Irish league at ARFLI's website.

The British Australian Rules Football League have held an Extraordinary General Meeting to discuss the upcoming Brit Cup, the 2007 finals and their proposed strategy for the way forward for the sport in Britain. The rival UK Footy plan was also put up for discussion as an alternative structure for the organisation of Aussie Rules in the United Kingdom. The UK Footy plan would see the existing BARFL set aside and a new body put over the top (see UK Footy unity plan being debated for more details). It's fair to say that although the new concept has been launched as a way of unifying the game, it can only do so if it gets widespread support. If it is seen as simply one side trying to roll the other then it will be politics as usual. Given that the BARFL recently discussed the proposal at the EGM, we spoke with BARFL Secretary Donald Eastwood to gauge the response of the Committee and clubs to both the new BARFL strategy and the opposing model. It seems they too would like to see some changes, but don't believe the radical step of dissolving the BARFL is necessary.

Ireland's Martin Clarke has opened his AFL career with a polished display in Collingwood's impressive win over Sydney at Telstra Stadium last night (Saturday 23rd June). Despite being named on the bench the 19 year old left-footer started on the field and played most of the match across half-back. Clarke was used mostly as a loose defender which allowed him to gather a high possession count. His first kick sailed out on the full and he naturally appeared tentative at first but quickly grew in confidence. As his possession count increased he revealed that of all the Irish recruits he has perhaps the most classical Australian Football kicking technique. Although still not 100% fluent his style was perfectly reasonable and was used to good effect throughout the night. Perhaps even more impressive were his reflexes and ability to take a tackle. Clarke was caught holding the ball on one occasion, but in many other cases was able to turn into a tackle and free his arms to give out clean handballs. Also notable was his mark of a "hospital" kick deep in the back pocket at a crucial stage when Sydney were surging. The ball hung above him and looked like an easy pick-off for the Sydney player, but Clarke leapt high into danger to get a hand on the ball then complete the mark falling to ground. There was also an incident later when he received a high knock and grabbed his head and there was fleeting moment when it looked like he may dwell on the blow rather than get back up quickly, but he was soon to his feet.

Collingwood's Irish rookie, Martin Clarke, is set to make his debut against Sydney at Telstra Stadium this Saturday. The champion junior from County Down is the latest to show that with hard work the step from talented Gaelic footballer to the AFL's professional ranks can be done in less than two years. With only around 14 games of Australian Football to his name the 19 year old has in fact been Down Under for less than 12 months. Making Williamstown's best players in three of their last four games, Clarke has been named on the interchange bench but is sure to get a good run such is the modern game with hard running and dozens of interchanges. It will be a huge match to start off Clarke's career with over 60,000 expected to attend Sydney's home away from the SCG.

There could have been two Irishmen running out on the night, but Sydney stalwart Tadhg Kennelly suffered a knee injury in the Swans' last game and is expected to miss at least a month.

The rise of Martin Clarke will leave Aisake O'hAilpin as the remaining Irish recruit in the AFL system yet to play at the highest level, but reports suggest he isn't far away from a crack at the big time too.

You can also read more about Clarke's rapid rise in Clarke to debut in Sydney.