FNTSY Sports Network AFL Round 9 Preview
- Sunday, May 22 2016 @ 07:18 am ACST
- Contributed by: Troy Thompson
- Views: 2,161

[youtube:xOVgUGiLXZ8]
If you are in North America look out for Myk on your TV or on UStream with Gabriel on Friday nights.
Welcome to World Footy News Thursday, April 03 2025 @ 03:09 pm ACDT
AFL Canada's first National Championships kick off today in Burnaby at the Burnaby Lake Sports Complex West (3677 Kensington Avenue, Burnaby, British Columbia V5B 4Z6).
Players have travelled from across Canada for this historic footy event that looks set to change the footy landscape for the positive in Canada going forward. You can watch the matches from 9am Vancouver time at the following link - https://www.ustream.tv/embed/10290903?html5ui
Games will be 18-a-side.
The 2016 US Combine in LA has wrapped up. The AFL will now bring a number of athletes down to Australia in July (likely 3) to prepare for the National Draft Combine, although the possibility exists that they could bring one or more earlier at the request of AFL clubs as they did with Mason Cox in 2014.
The final day of the Combine saw the athletes in a competitive, improvised game with tackling. Woody Quinn, a gridiron player from the University of Tennessee stood out here against the basketballers. Also impressing was the 7ft Frenchman Stan Heili who threw himself wholeheartedly into the competitive work. Others that impressed were Shane Henry and Omari Gudul.
We spoke to Gil Griffin, author of the forthcoming book "Jumping at the Chance: From NBA Hopefuls to AFL Prospects — The Players of the American Experiment" who he thought would be offered the chance to come to Melbourne.
Photo Courtesy AFL Photos
This is not an 18 man team you would want to match up against. Okay they may be a bit top heavy.
These 18 elite athletes are undergoing testing at the AFL's US Combine in Los Angeles Monday through Wednesday this week. And not all of them are American.
The other nationalities include French, Nigerian and one athlete who is a citizen of The Democratic Republic of Congo.
Most of them are basketballers (as their main college sport) with just two Janko Beras who is a baseball and gridiron football player and Daniel Joseph Woody Quinn who played baseball and volleyball in college. The full list is below, some of the stats may be out of date.
(Image Source Twitter @GriffinGil12)
Last week Collingwood upgraded American Mason Cox to the senior list for the injured Matt Scharenberg. They then named him on an extended interchange bench for their match against Melbourne at the MCG last Sunday, but when the final 22 were named on Friday afternoon he did not make the cut. So it was another week in the VFL. He had 51 hit outs, kicked a goal, and had eight disposals and two marks.
The Collingwood AFL side had another bad week on the field losing to Melbourne, taking their record to one win and three losses and the pressure was on. Coach Nathan Buckley said post match there would be changes. Early in the week the media speculation started. Cox's name was mentioned in press conferences, on panel shows and on the back page of Melbourne's leading footy newspaper The Herald Sun.
When the 25-man team was named this evening Cox was again in there, this time named on the field, at full forward - replacing Jesse White who was dropped from the side.
Just like last week we will have to wait for final confirmation, and extra day (4pm Saturday) but barring any extraordinary events we expect Mason will be named in the final 22 and will be running out as the first American to play in the AFL for the mighty colossus that is the Collingwood Football Club on Monday. Not just any day but the biggest day in AFL football outside of the finals series, ANZAC Day.