North Melbourne International rookie Eric Wallace is currently in Tasmania where the club is in training for the upcoming 2013 AFL season. He spoke to SEN Radio in Melbourne yesterday morning about his journey so far. He will today front the media at a press call in Tasmania. The interview can be heard in the Youtube clip below.

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You can follow Eric's Blog HERE.

Supporters of international footy have closely followed the journey of Shae McNamara, the big American basketballer who pitched his wares to AFL clubs and won a trial with the Collingwood Football Club back in late 2009.  Next he made the rookie list and impressed with his athleticism and seemed to be picking up the skills quite quickly, leading the ruck at VFL level by 2010.  "American Pie", as he was often called, even played a NAB Cup game in 2011 and looked on track for an AFL debut by 2012.

Somewhere along the road Shae's journey lost momentum and at the end of 2012 he was cut from the Pies' list.  A trial with Hawthorn didn't lead to rookie listing and the trailblazer from the United States has headed home to re-start his pro basketball career.  Shae previously played four seasons of NCAA Division I collegiate basketball in the US for Marist College in New York before playing one season of professional basketball in Germany.  worldfootynews.com caught up with the American Pie to discuss why things didn't quite work out and how he hopes the future will unfold.

We started off asking if he felt he'd been given a full shot at the game and if not where things went astray.

USAFL have recently announced that Eileen Geogheegan will be taking over from Judith Stein to become the new Freedom captain for 2013.

Geogheegan, representing home club Baltimore-Washington Eagles, starting playing Aussie Rules in 2009 but quickly adapted to the new sport and was chosen as a member of the USA Freedom squad which took part in the inaugural women’s International Cup in 2011. She also represented the Freedom in the IC Draft Combine.

Geogheegan was also named DFAT Player of the Nation for the USA, which she claims is the highlight of her Australian football career so far.

In addition to a new captain, the Freedom also welcome in new coaching staff, including Minnesota Freeze’s Dale Willimas and ex-AFL player and founder of the Santa Cruz/Golden Gate Roos John Ironmonger.

More information on Geogheehan’s rise though USAFL women’s football, including her remarkable transition from soccer to AFL, can be read on the original article on the USAFL website here.

Following on from news that United States backetballer Eric Wallace was trialling with North Melbourne, the Roos have now announced that they have signed the 196cm, 102 kg African American as an international rookie.

North had made it clear he ticked most of the boxes already, they just wanted to check out his character and work ethic in the 10 day trial, and they were very pleased.  Improving his skills and game awareness will be the obvious issues, but so too will endurance.  The decision was reportedly very popular with his new team mates but first Wallace will return home to North Carolina for two weeks no doubt with a lot of organising to do as his life takes a sudden detour to Australia.

Wallace says he fell in love with the game watching Sydney win the premiership and "It really stuck with me when I went home and [I] wanted to be a part of it".  Team mates have reportedly dubbed the powerful athlete "The Beast" and "Big E".

Ironically his signing comes as Collingwood's American Shae McNamara returns home after ending his stint in Australia.

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afl.com.au is reporting that the United States' Eric Wallace is trialling with North Melbourne with the aim of being listed as an International Rookie. 

Wallace, who turns 24 on Thursday, started training on Monday with the Kangaroos after being one of 10 international athletes to attend and test at October's NAB AFL Draft Combine.

There he caught the eye of the Kangaroos with his athletic ability. The 196cm and 102kg product recorded an 80cm standing vertical jump (in the top 3 per cent of results) and ran 2.90 seconds in the 20m sprint.

It seems North will almost certainly list Wallace, with the club stating that they are already sold on his athleticism and just want to evaluate his character and whether he will fit in with the club's culture.

See North Melbourne hops on US bandwagon for more.

Two Americans Derrell Acrey and Quinn Porter remain on the GC Suns permission to train list this week.  The two athletes who previously took part in the AFL's draft combine in LA trained last week with the Suns in Arizona.

Gold Coast football operations manager Marcus Ashcroft told the AFL website "It was a really good opportunity for them to come up here and join in and see where they stack up against our lads in skill work and conditioning work and it also broke the camp up with a bit of fun from our boys' point of view,"

The AFL wishes to advise the following unlisted players currently have permission to train with AFL clubs. Recent additions since the last notification on November 5 are underlined:

 

 

The Gold Coast Suns are sweating it out at their preseason camp in Arizona. The two videos below reveal just what the club gets up to on their high altitude camp.

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In a huge development the Dallas Magpies 2012 USAFL Nationals title has been stripped and the title vacated. That means New York will not be awarded the title despite the league ruling Dallas played an ineligible player. Dallas will also be unable to compete in their home state National Championships in 2013 which will be held in Austin, TX.

The USAFL has concluded an investigation in relation to Dallas Magpie Jason Sutherland’s participation at the 2012 USAFL National Tournament and it was found that Jason was ineligible to participate with the Dallas Magpies at this year’s Nationals. The investigation revealed that Sutherland was an active member of Central District Football Club in Adelaide for their entire season which ended October 7.

Players and teams must abide by the “The 3 Point Qualification System” for eligibility to play at the USAFL National Tournament. “This rule is in place to allow for fair competition. The objective is to create participation throughout an entire season as opposed to one weekend,” commented USAFL President Andy Vanica.

The 2012 USAFL Nationals were held in Mason, Ohio, and continuing their consecutive run of Nationals titles, the Denver Lady Bulldogs whitewashed the joint Boston Lady Demons/ Baltimore Eagles team 3.4(22) to 0.0.(0)

The Lady Bulldogs turned up with an impressive squad line up, including players returning from Australian leagues and five Freedom players, three of whom travelled to Australia for the 2011 International Cup.