Eric Wallace was delisted by North Melbourne today after three years with the club as an International Rookie.  Wallace did not play an AFL match with the club, spending his first two years playing with North Ballarat and this year with Werribee in the VFL   Wallace was popular with team-mates at the club and a successful ruckman at VFL level.  A strong ruck brigade at North Melbourne meant that there was never really an opening for him to make that AFL debut.

There is a chance that another club may offer Wallace a life line as able ruckmen of his stature are still in short supply generally around the league.  Beyond that the USAFL may be keen to secure Wallace's services for the US Revolution team in the 2017 International Cup if he is interested in continuing in the game.

The statement from North Melbourne today follows.

The Calgary Kangaroos club has now grown to three senior mens teams to form a competition and produce a premier.. Established in 2002, the club has had to travel to Edmonton, Kelowna or Vancouver at times for competition. There is also a women's team and a flourishing junior program. (See Valley Creek School article)

The name “Kangaroos” is now reserved for the  representative side to compete in inter-provincial and international tournaments. Locally, the Bears, Cowboys and Wolves compete for the Calgary Men’s Championship which is the old style premiership table. They also have one very enthusiastic mayor as the Roos number ticket holder.

The following is from Lachlan Griffiths about the championship game day.

 

The Carlton Football Club has signed US basketballer Matt Korcheck as a Category B International Rookie.

Korcheck, who stands at 6”10 (208cm) and weighs 105kg, caught the eye of recruiters at a Florida screening camp in April this year. He was later invited to train with the Blues and spent three weeks at Ikon Park in August.

The 23-year old, who previously played Division 1 College Basketball for the Arizona Wildcats, hasn’t played much ‘Aussie Rules’ but Carlton’s GM List Management Stephen Silvagni says Korcheck has shown great potential.

An editorial from Rob de Santos the Chairman of AFANA on the future of Australian football in North America.  This editorial original appeared at www.afana.com  on August 30, 2015.

A week ago the first American, born and raised in the United States, make it to the top level of football down under. I hope that these closing weeks of the AFL season will see Jason Holmes (and perhaps Mason Cox, also) do enough to stay there in coming seasons. It's been a long wait. Twenty years for fans. We've also seen the conclusion of a huge new domestic TV contract for the AFL. It's also a milestone year for AFANA. Two decades of promoting the growth of Aussie rules in North America. From scrambling to save one hour of one week delayed highlights on US / Canadian television back in 1996 to having 12 hours per week of live coverage in the USA & 3 hours in per week in Canada plus highlights and repeats now. We have seen six networks come and go in that time. It's been a long journey.

I've been reflecting on that journey and giving serious thought to what it means now and where the sport in North America needs to go in the next two decades. I never expected in 1995-1996 that in 2015, I would be here and I have no plans to be doing this in two more decades. Retirement beckons in the not too distant future but I have some thoughts about the coming years.

To celebrate the first ever AFL match where an American born and raised player (Jason Holmes) competed against a Canadian born and raised player (Mike Pyke) last weekend the AFL have released "What is AFL?". The video is a 5 minute snapshot explaining the basics of Australian Football to viewers overseas who may not be familiar with the game.

This version (below) is aimed at helping to educate our North American friends in particular. The AFL are also creating versions for other regions and in different languages.  More details on these as they are published.

Much has been made of the recent match-up between these two North American products after they lined up against each other in the ruck last weekend. When Sydney Swans took on St Kilda, much of the Australian Rules football world was salivating at the thought of an American and a Canadian player locking horns at the highest level of the game.

But, for all that anticipation, how did they actually go?

To look at pure figures is a long way from a fair comparison. With Sydney walloping St Kilda by a massive 97 points, through a great team effort, any comparison of two directly opposed players would always be a little skewed.

 

The following story by Travis King at www.afl.com looks at the next potential cab off the rank of North American sportsmen who have left behind their native codes to try their luck at Australian Rules football on the highest stage – the AFL.

 

AMERICAN man mountain Alex Aurrichio says he's been inspired to keep chasing his AFL dream by Jason Holmes' action-packed debut for St Kilda.

 

Holmes' high-leaping ruckwork had a major impact in the Saints' draw with Geelong last Saturday night.

 

 

And it proved to rookie hopeful Aurrichio that there's rewards on offer if he persists and builds on an encouraging first season playing VFL for the Northern Blues.

 

In a hard fought match in damp conditions under lights the US Revolution prevailed over the Canadian Northwind by 16 points.  After a close first quarter the US pulled away in the second as the big men up forward began to dominate. 

The Northwind tried valiantly in the third to bridge the gap but poor kicking and a solid US defence did not allow them to make up much ground.  The push from Canada continued into the final quarter but when they finally goaled to put them within ten points with five minutes to go the clock was always going to beat them.  Mike Murphy kicked a late goal just before the siren for the US to seal the result.

USA Revolution 6.9.45
Canada North Wind  3.11.29