During her current visit to the US, the Australian Prime Minister presented the US President Barack Obama with a Sherrin footy. And while footy followers would have liked to have seen her in traditional Australian touring outfit, her Bulldogs footy jumper, they would have been glad to see the official Whitehouse photographer captured their kick to kick and handball session. Obama later joked that a statue of Abraham Lincoln was almost destroyed in the session as the two awaited a motorcade to be organised for a joint roadtrip.

Who knows what we could see on future tours, perhaps Australia's "Big Red" PM having kick to kick at the Kremlin, drop punts with the Pontiff or Torpedoes at the Taj Mahal? The real influence of the Australian prime minister may be seen though if Mr Obama has four posts installed at either end of his Oval office. And playing away from home shouldn't she really be wearing white shorts?

Shae's interview on SEN this morning can be heard at http://www.sen.com.au/audioplayer/Audio/Collingwood-USA-recruit-Shae-McNamara/1888

Shae McNamara debuted successfully for the Collingwood Football Club on Friday night in the NAB Cup Qualifying Final at Etihad stadium. His stats - eight disposals, five marks, four ruck hit-outs and one goal (which can be seen on the Youtube video clip below) was a solid debut in the preseason competition for the big American who started well but tired and cramped as the game wore on.

Shae should be appearing on Melbourne radio stations MMM (7:30am) and SEN (8:20am) tomorrow morning (Monday) Melbourne time.

The US and Canada have been playing each other in Aussie rules internationals almost yearly since 1999, with the US mostly holding sway. This Friday night in the NAB Cup qualifying final, two men from opposite sides of the border look likely to ruck against each other. Canadian Mike Pyke and American Shae McNamara have never played for their country, or for that matter played Aussie rules in their own countries. They are converts from rugby union and basketball that promoted themselves to Sydney and Collingwood as potential converts.

Nevertheless all those involved in the USAFL and AFL Canada will be very keenly following to see if the clash eventuates and how each performs. Pyke has become an established member of the Swans as a mobile ruckman after two years in Sydney. McNamara had a solid VFL season in 2010, his first season in the game. He now takes a step up to the Collingwood senior side for this NAB Cup match in which he will be hoping to demonstrate that he belongs at the higher level and set himself up for more AFL appearances in 2011.

With the beginning of the 2011 season fast approaching, the Portland Power Australian Football Club is pleased to announce that the team has been renamed the Portland Steelheads Australian Football Club.

The Steelheads name was chosen after an exhaustive search process. Club members submitted and voted on over 100 suggestions for the new identity before choosing the Steelheads name. The image of a steelhead swimming upstream and leaping across rapids is an iconic one in Oregon and throughout the Pacific Northwest.

While the title suggests a story about expats, the story in the video below focuses as much on Americans playing the game in the US and the AFL's desire to recruit American athletes to the AFL. Featuring interviews with Dave Matthews, Tony Woods, Robert Dipierdomenico, Jon Loring, Cameron Pinnock and Ojas Desai among others with footage of USAFL matches.

This year, there will be some young Canadian talent joining the Hampton Rovers in Melbourne's VAFA. Four recent recruits to the Ontario Australian Football League will be heading down under to play the 2011 season in suburban footy.

The journey started back in October 2009, when Jaye Macumber, coach of the Central Blues AFC in Canada and current coach of Team Canada, was looking to recruit some new, young talent for his football club. After contacting Canadian company The Aussie X, he was able to arrange for his club to participate in a week long program at a local high school in Toronto, Neil McNeil HS.

US tennis player John Isner, in Western Australia warming up for the 2011 Australian Open, has revealed that he's a keen Fremantle Dockers supporter. Isner is just another example of converts to the game when people get a chance to see it and are encouraged by someone they know, in this case his former room mate, an Australian.

For non-tennis fans Isner's name may not jump to mind, although he is ranked 19 in the world. But mention that he won the longest ever professional match at Wimbledon last year, the 11 hour epic, and most sports fans will remember him well.

He and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut took 11 hours, five minutes to complete their first-round clash at Wimbledon last year, Isner winning an inconceivable 70-68 in the fifth set. In their latest bout the American again won, 6-3 7-6 (7-5), but says the pair now share a friendship. "We've become really good friends off the court," Isner said. "You ask him. Before the match we never spoke one word to each other. Now we text each other quite often and I've got to know he really is a class act". See Big John reveals he's a Dockers fan.  For more, see Big John reveals he's a Dockers fan.  Thanks to our reader "nowherehome" for sending in the link.

The following was written by Peter Schwab and comes to us courtesy of US Footy News

I have just returned from a visit to the US with my eldest son William where amongst the sites of New York, an NFL game in Philadelphia and an ice hockey match in Washington where we witnessed one of the game’s current greats Alex Ovechkin play, we also had the opportunity to assist at a local Auskick in Washington DC.

Chris is a quietly spoken man with a passion for the game and a bigger passion to introduce it to the local children. His 10 year old son CJ is also a motivating factor for Chris to keep the game as strong as he can in a foreign environment, because it allows CJ the opportunity to learn and play the game.

Plenty of AFL players have been heading to the US in the offseason with Jordan Lewis and Shane Mumford probably the highest profile as they made headlines for a nightspot punch on in LA. But far from rest and relaxation (and other not so healthy activities) are the high altitude camps undertaken by North Melbourne and Collingwood.

North Melbourne have spent the past week in Utah and are hoping to benefit from the long proven theory that training at high altitude can significantly improve fitness due to the change in the body such that more oxygen can get into the body through red blood cell level increase.