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.

• 24 players on the roster per match.
• The match will run for two (2) 20 minute halves with no time on.
• Umpires will award a fifty (50) metre penalty.
• If a match is drawn the result will stand (no extra time)
• Queries, appeals or requests for rulings in relation to the Match Arrangements and Regulations should be directed to the Tournament Director

On the Sunday footy show, Game Day, North Melbourne’s star ruckman, Todd Goldstein, was asked about the difference it makes playing against the bigger and more mobile ruckmen in the AFL. Apart from pointing out players like Max Gawn (Melbourne) and Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle) as examples of taller, influential ruckman he also responded to the impact of players like Mason Cox (Collingwood) and Jason Holmes (St Kilda) by suggesting there might be more on their way.

In fact, Goldstein suggested that with the successes and developments of the American players coming to the AFL, he hopes they give him five or six years so he can retire and not have to face the onslaught.

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)

The cold hard statistics lie sometimes. Other times they don’t. For Collingwood’s big Texan, Mason Cox, they tell an amazing story. On his AFL debut, on arguably the second biggest stage behind the AFL Grand Final, Cox played an admirable game. The stats say: 10 possessions (six kicks, four handpasses), 3 marks, 3 tackles, 11 hitouts 1 goal and 1 behind. Incredible given how short a time he has had in the Australian game.

Where the stats do lie is in his impact beyond the stats. He kicked the opening goal of the match for Collingwood – the goal that opened the floodgates as the ‘Pies rampaged to a 69 point win over the Bombers. The celebration by Collingwood players (and supporters) after that goal showed such elation that it boosted their collective confidence immediately. They went on to win the ANZAC Day match 22 10 142 to 11 7 73 in front of 85 000 fans.

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.

 

The 2016 Southern California Australian Football league will kick-off this weekend in Los Angeles.  This year's league will feature two teams split from the LA Dragons team the Dragons Black (South Bay Outlaws) and Dragons Blue (Beachside Sharks), two teams split from the OC Bombers (OC White and OC Black) as well as Riverside and San Diego.

Footy in southern California will be heating up but has been simmering away for weeks.  San Diego has had three rounds of co-ed footy in February. And the men's National team the USA Revolution held their first camp of the year in L.A a few weeks ago with a number of local prospects attending hoping to win a spot and others providing an opposition squad of Aussie All-comers at the camp.  Beyond this the obligatory pre-season sessions have all teams primed for a big start.

SCAFL SCHEDULE:
Sunday – 24th April
Metro Season (Week 1) Location - Harbor Sports Center 1221 N Figueroa Pl, Wilmington, CA 90744
09:30am – Riverside Saints v LA Black (Outlaws)
11:00am – LA Blue (Sharks) v Orange County Jets
12:30pm – Orange County B52’s v San Diego Lions