With the temperature over 30 degrees celcius, hydration and sunblock were the buzzwords of the day. Players were thankful for the irrigation system that has been installed since the previous Nationals making the ground conditions good for footy. Sunday looks like it could be even warmer, set to reach 33 degrees celcius.

New York, Denver and Golden Gate leading the way in Division1 winning both their games. All matches appear to have been fairly close affairs with 35 points being the biggest margin.

Calgary and Dallas look to be dominating Divison 2, along with Minnesota and Chicago who are also unbeaten.

The United States Australian Football League will kick off its 2010 National Tournament in Louisville, Kentucky in the next hour with matches taking place over this weekend.

The popular event is the biggest Australian Football tournament anywhere in the world, and attracts more than 1,000 players, officials and coaching staff, with a total of 32 men’s teams spread across four divisions, as well as 6 women’s teams representing over a dozen cities across the USA and Canada. The tournament in Louisville, Kentucky will also features juniors exhibition clinics and games, Under 23 and women’s development seminars, umpires clinics, a national administrators conference and the USAFL’s Annual General Meeting.

The tournament will be held at Louisville Soccer Park (Champions Park) in Louisville, Kentucky, at 2050 RIVER RUN ROAD (just off Zorn Avenue at I-71).

The USAFL has announced seedings for the 2010 USAFL tournament to be played this weekend in Louisville, Kentucky. Division 1 of the tournament is split into two groups and Chris Adams from US Footy News reviews the seasons of the teams competing in that division to give us the form of each going in.

The number one seed in Group A is the Denver Bulldogs. Denver finished the season with a record of 5-0. While they had some good wins on the road, particularly the recent tournament against Boston. Their only win against a ranked team came against Chicago United at home. That said, Denver is a 7-time National Championship winner and always brings their A-game to Nationals. In 2009 they dominated the ruck with former AFL Fremantle Docker Brendon Feddema, they were also assisted by the great work off half-back by the Championship game MVP Dom Kennedy.

The Sydney Swan's Dennis Carroll Trophy for Most Improved Player was last night awarded to Canadian Mike Pyke. This award is decided by the Match Committee and is based on votes in 2010 compared to 2009, among other criteria.

Pyke, 26, played International Rugby Union for Canada before moving to Australia in 2008 to try his hand at AFL with the Swans. This year he played 18 senior games, developed his all-round game and skills, and held down the number two ruck position.

The night's main award, the Bob Skilton Medal (for the club's best player in 2010) was won by Kieren Jack, completing a fairytale rise from budding rugby league junior to elite AFL midfielder.

Coinciding with the AFL Grand Final rematch this Saturday 2 October, is the 2010 OAFL Grand Final, to be contested by the Central Blues and the Toronto Dingos.

The event will be held at Humber South (Lakeshore West and Kipling) and will get underway at 11am.

Apart from the match itself, guests will have access to a licensed beer garden, live music and plenty of BBQ food.

The Dingos are four-time OAFL Premiers, with their most recent Premiership in 2005, whilst the Blues will appear in their first ever Grand Final. The Blues were stronger throughout the Home and Away season, although both teams have performed solidly thoughout their finals campaigns. The Blues enter the match with fresher legs, given a week off because of their superior ladder position. The Dingos and Blues have met twice in 2010, with the Blues comprehensive winners on both occassions, and consequently they enter this match as favourites.

There was some worries that ESPN would not be able to free up broadcast space for the 2010 AFL Grand Final Replay which comes about due to last Saturday's draw.

But never fear because the match will be shown on ESPN Classic – live coverage of the match only at 00:00EST. ESPN 2 – will join the match in progress at 01:00EST on Saturday

Online the match can be viewed on http://ESPN3.com where avaialable with live coverage of the match only at 00:00EST on Saturday. http://Omnisport.tv will have their pay serview showing the match live from 00:00 EST Saturday.

As his club prepares for the biggest day of the year, Collingwood's Shae McNamara will be an excited onlooker. He has successfully negotiated his way through the 2010 VFL season and will be looking to break into the AFL in 2011. The video below shows some of what he has been up to during the year and he discusses his thoughts on being an American in Melbourne.

Former Carlton and Collingwood AFL footballer Chris Bryan was last week cut by the Green Bay Packers. But the end of his NFL adventure had only just begun - as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have trialed Bryan this week and now offered him a contract as their punter for the coming season.

Bryan will join the other Aussies with Aussie rules backgrounds in Matt McBriar, Ben Graham and Sav Rocca in the NFL for season 2010/11. He will make his regular season debut at home against the Cleveland Browns at 5.00am Monday Melbourne time.

The MAAFL crown was decided this weekend when Nashville Kangaroos met Chicago United in Nashville. The following report comes to us courtesy of Nashville's Alex Benjamin.

The crowd of 315 came together in the 92 degree (farenheit) heat to witness the first ever MAAFL Grand Final on the Kangaroos turf at Heartland Park in Donelson. Chicago came in at 3-2 record and 2-0 in the MAAFL, but their last match was 2 months ago against Milwaukee, in which they won 86-22. The Kangaroos came in at 6-2 and also 2-0 in the MAAFL after the 153-7 massacre against the Ohio Valley River Rats.

This weekend see the MAAFL Grand Final being played in Nashville, Tennessee. Alex Benjamin provides the following preview.

This week is the biggest week in close to 9 years for the Nashville Kangaroos as they are just one win away from winning the MAAFL (Mid-American Australian Football League) Premiership. What is separating them is the 3-time defending champion Chicago United. Whoever wins this game...wins the Premiership.