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.

Dallas Magpies are the US Division 1 Champs with final scores being  Dallas Magpies 3.4.22, New York Magpies 3.2.20.

Earlier in the day Nashville defeated Orange County leaving the door open for the winner of New York vs Denver to sneak through on percentage.  Dallas made it through to the final defeating Calgary by just four points.  New York did win by just two points to make it to the final but lost in a nail biter to the Dallas team in the final as New York stormed home with the aid of a stiff breeze with 3.2  in the second half to just one point for Dallas.

In Division II Minnesota Freeze 1.6.12 defeated the Los Angeles Dragons 0.3.3.

The Orange County Bombers emerged as National Championship contenders today in Mason Ohio as they defeated former champions New York and Denver.  Should they defeat the winless Nashville tomorrow morning they will play off for their first  Division I title at the end of the day.  In the other pool in Division I Dallas and cross border raiders Calgary will meet at midday to battle for their place in the final.  Calgary had the biggest Division I win for the day keeping the Golden Gate Roos scoreless and winning by 74 points.

Minnesota, LA Dragons and Boston all fared well in Divison II, with Boston escaping with a one point win over the San Diego Lions.  In Division III Chicago, Columbus and Atlanta were all undefeated with the winner looking to come from those three.  In Division IV Houston, Des Moines and Milwaukee are all undefeated going into Day 2.

In the Women's Division Denver were the stand out team and are favourites to take out the title again this year.

Scores from Day 1 matches below.

The rise and success of Canadian Mike Pyke for the Sydney Swans has now been well documented.  An article that got solid coverage in Canada had a headline that he lead the Swans to victory in the AFL grand final and that attracted some criticism in one particular online news site.  However that's a fairly narrow semantic arguement.  Although he didn't dominate the match, there's no doubt that ruck is a key position and to play well when left with no backup in the final quarter of a suffocatingly tight grand final means by my personal definition he certainly was one of the players who lead the Bloods home.

So his brief career has reached a high point.  But there may now be a nasty epilogue to season 2012.  When all players in Sydney's squad are fit and firing, the 28 year old Pyke is clearly the Swans' number two ruckman.  Many clubs now only play one ruckman, but coach John Longmire chose to play his 200cm Rugby convert as a big target in the forward line and then relieving in the ruck.  He kicked 8 goals in 18 games this year and indeed provided a solid target to bring the ball to ground, occasionally also pulling in a strong mark, as well as leading the ruck on occasions.

However, the Swans have made a big play for enigmatic Adelaide forward/ruckman Kurt Tippett and are now in pole position to obtain the 25 year old.  That could put Pyke in a very tough spot.

As you read this footballers, coaches, umpires, supporters and support staff from all over the United States and Canada are headed to Mason, Ohio to take part in the 2012 US National Championships. As in past years teams will play three pool matches before the top teams in each pool play off in the final on Sunday afternoon.

This year 38 teams will be play in the four mens divisions (some clubs will field a second team in the fourth division) and one women's division. Not all clubs make the US Nationals due to a variety of reasons but needless to say it is a very large financial committment for teams to travel large distances for this tournament.

Last year's champions the Denver Bulldogs will again go in favourite for the tournament despite only five games with a 3-2 win/loss record playing during the 2012 season on which to assess their form. This is not unusual as Denver is one of the most isolated teams in the country and lack of intercity footy has not hurt them in the past as they have won 8 of the National Championships over the years.