As we come towards the end of the 2007 footy season for the majority of leagues around the world, for the first time WFN has decided to publish a list of the premiers in all the major Australian Football leagues around the world - starting from the 2006 season. In fact this is the third year in a row we've intended bringing you a full season wrap of premiers, but the time and effort was yet to match the good intentions. Hopefully this will stand as a good record for recalling the top teams at a glance. Later in the year we intend bringing you the 2007 wrap-up.

The following article is from Jeff Wortman, well known to many of our readers as one half of the comedy duo that deliver the weekly Footy Wrap posted on YouTube. Here Jeff recounts his memories of watching "the grannie" far from home and sympathises with the many people around the world in search of their footy fix on the big day.

On the last Saturday in September two years ago, I was negotiating the Tokyo subway with two mates, looking for the Clubhouse. I’m not usually an advocate of wearing your footy jumper to a game your team isn’t playing in but I felt desperate to find a way to be parochial in a city full of people who were blissfully unaware of the significance of the AFL Grand Final.

Updated 23 Sep 2007 - just a quick reminder to those hosting or looking for AFL Grand Final parties that you can make use of this post or visit AFANA's site, details below.

Originally posted 11 Sep 2007:

The 2007 Australian Football League Grand Final is fast approaching and the tradition of hosting parties to watch the game is continuing to grow around the world. Whereas it used to be mostly expatriate Aussies scrambling for a venue that would show the match, now they are increasingly joined by local fans.

Rather than replicate the work of the Australian Football Association of North America (AFANA), who each year list Grand Final parties from all around the world, we once again advise readers looking for a venue to check out www.afana.com and in particular their party page. Note that they do take details from venues all over the world, not just North America.

To increase their chances of getting a search engine hit, party organisers are also welcome to log in to WFN and leave a comment on this story, detailing where fans can watch the game.

Desperate fans who find the above methods unsuccessful could also consider contacting their nearest footy club, league or Australian embassy (don't tell them we sent you!). Visit our Links section to find the closest one.

Samoan-born forward, Aaron Edwards, was the stand out forward in today's AFL semi-final between North Melbourne and Hawthorn. In a match when all eyes were on the Hawks' twin towers of Lance "Buddy" Franklin and Jarryd Roughead, the "recycled" Edwards booted four goals and launched himself skyward to pull in one of the 2007 season's great marks. The forward is one of those rare success stories where a player is let go by a club (in this case West Coast) and plies his trade in a state league (the VFL), and is thrown a lifeline by a different AFL club. Edwards rewarded the Roos with his four which were the equal top contribution (with on-baller Brent Harvey) in a relatively low scoring game as North Melbourne redeemed themselves for last week's annihilation at the hands of Geelong, defeating Hawthorn 14.9 (93) to 8.12 (60). North now get a crack at Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium and Collingwood face the daunting task of Geelong, probably before close to a sell-out crowd of 100,000 at the MCG - the only risk to that being if Pies fans don't believe they have a genuine chance to winning.

AFL Samoa intends using Edwards as their inspiration for young Samoan boys taking to our sport and such heroics from the player can only help that cause. There aren't too many men of his size, carrying that much muscle bulk, who can leap high above a pack - maybe one day AFL scouts will turn their eyes to the South Pacific island to see if there's any more such talent.

Collingwood tonight steamed home to win their first game against the Eagles in Perth since 1992 after scores were locked at 10.12 (72) each at the end of the fourth quarter. For only the second time since the system was brought in to decide drawn finals, extra time was needed - two additional mini-halves of five minutes each. Young international recruit Martin Clarke was involved in a crucial play in the closing minutes of the dramatic match.

Two Samoan footballers, Fia Tootoo and Chris Teniselli will face off against each other this weekend in the Ellinbank & District Football League Grand Final, a country league about an hour's drive east of Melbourne. Teniselli represented Samoa at the 2005 International Cup whilst Tootoo was alongside him in 2005 and part of the inaugural team in 2002. He was also named in both All-star teams.

Both players are former team-mates at the Moorabbin Kangaroos, although come Saturday, Teniselli will pull on a Catani jumper whilst Tootoo lines up for Nyora. According to Michael Roberts, AFL Samoa’s Game Development Manager, "both lads can play. Chris is one of my favourite players and should make the best team in 2008. Fia should be our captain next year". The game will be held at Cora Lynn.

Regular readers of WFN will be well aware that South Africa is most certainly the hot spot for international Australian Football development, with good news and funding stories appearing regularly. On a footy chatboard recently someone asked the question that could be summed up as "why is South Africa so heavily favoured?" This article looks at what those reasons might be and whether lessons can be learned by other nations.

International footy fans often feel deprived of seeing quality football footage. One website worth keeping your eye on is the BigpondTV site. It has wrap ups of games each week, but in particular as an Adelaide fan my attention was drawn by a highlights package dedicated to the Crows' retiring skipper Mark Ricciuto. The decorated captain played in over 300 games, was All-Australian an amazing eight times, played in one premiership (in 1998, having missed the 1997 flag through injury), won three Malcolm Blight medals as Adelaide's club champion and shared the 2003 Brownlow Medal with Nathan Buckley and Adam Goodes. Missing most of this year through injury, Roo has decided that 2007 will be his last season, ending his career at age 32. Other champions expected to finish this year are Essendon's James Hird, Collingwood's Nathan Buckley and North Melbourne's Glen Archer, though the latter two are yet to confirm a decision either way. Carlton's Greek (and Italian) Adonis, Anthony Koutoufides, has already played his last game, succumbing to a hip injury which has cut his last season short.

Ricciuto's greatest asset was perhaps his leadership and ability to maintain a very high standard over so many years - something which has made the last two seasons of injuries all the more frustrating. Of particular interest in the video is the degree to which it unintentionally demonstrates how much the game has changed in recent years. A lot of the spectacular big hits and strong body marks that were often a feature of his game just a few years ago are now outlawed. It seems we won't ever see the likes of him again.

Mark Riccuito video (apparently best viewed with Internet Explorer).