Collingwood's American recruit, Shae McNamara, has played his first two games of Australian football (outside of internal trials for Collingwood). The tall international rookie lined up for Collingwood's VFL side in both their trials over the last two weekends.

worldfootynews.com's sister site, usfootynews.com, has been keeping a close eye on McNamara's progress and recently reported on both matches. Apparently the recruit with a basketball and soccer background has already made huge improvement, making the best players in only his second trial game. Below is a snapshot of the US Footy News reports.

After being signed to a two-year deal with Collingwood after last season, former Marist basketballer, Shae McNamara, has been adjusting to Melbourne's trams, it's footy culture, its favored pastime and its most storied club.

"Once I got here in Melboune in November, I had to not only soak up the footy culture and know what I'm doing on the field, but learn and know how these Aussies tick! They are very similar to us, but with the "tall poppy syndrome" you have to watch what you say and do, so you don't come off as a you-know-what."

"It's very different from the American culture where they hype you up and over feed your ego as opposed to here where you have to earn your stripes before you can have a swagger and even after all that they will still put you in your place if you think you're bigger or better then the rest, and rightly so. To be quite honest, no one likes a jerk."

McNamara feels very lucky that his transition to Melbourne and to footy has gone well so far. "My girlfriend came out here with me and so it's been a great transition. I've always been the type of guy that finds it easy to adapt to a new culture and make friends and more importantly not get too home sick. It's easier said than done, but I always knew it was chapters in my life and it wasn't going to be forever. So I enjoy it and take it all in, because I know I am living a dream!"

The readers of USFootyNews.com have chosen the 2009 Coopers Goal and Mark of the Year. Congratulations to Seattle and Portland's Martin Coventry on kicking the Goal of the Year and to Calgary's Dane Rolfe for taking the Mark of the Year.

Portland Power and Seattle Grizzly, Martin Coventry, took out the 2009 Coopers Brewery USFootyNews.com Goal of the Year. Thanks to all the USFootyNews.com readers, Portland and Seattle fans for voting! Thanks also to Coopers Brewery for providing the prizes.

Although Coventry's huge kick in the 2009 USFooty National Championship was not enough to win the National Championship, it did win Goal of the Year. The kick beat out a lovely pocket snap by Revo and Baltimore Washington Eagle RJ Wheelock and a nice left footer from OC Bomber Colter Alison.

The US Revolution kicked off their 2010 season with a winter camp in Austin, Texas. New head coach, Matt Bishop, was keen to get the team together with a series of camps throughout the year culminating with the big game against the Canadian Northwind in Toronto in early August.

There were a number of new faces looking to impress the Revo coaching staff, including Minnesota's big man, Andrew Werner. Werner spent much of 2009 playing footy in the Western Australian country leagues and is looking forward to contributing to the Revos.

The Cincinnati Dockers, two-time defending USAFL Division 4 National Champions, have announced their schedule for the 2010 season.

They will kick off the season on the road at the John Harrell Memorial Cup Tournament in Louisville, KY on May 8th, play at home twice in a 7-match schedule, then return to Louisville in October for the 2010 USAFL Championships.

Based in Fairfield, Ohio and established in 1996, the Dockers are the oldest footy club of its kind in the United States. The match scheduled for September 25th this year between the Dockers and Kentucky's Louisville Kings will be the 14th anniversary of the first-ever Australian Rules Football match between two US teams.

AFANA have given us details of how the North American TV coverage of AFL matches is shaping up for the 2010 season. Firstly there is no NAB Cup coverage. The primary US coverage will be via internet broadband on ESPN360.com. This is free if your ISP has a deal with ESPN [about 50% of US homes] or if you live on a university campus or US military base. AFANA have coverage schedules for virtually the entire AFL season and will be posting those soon.

Round 1 will have Richmond v Carlton, Geelong v Essendon and Western Bulldogs v Collingwood live. Three matches live per round for the balance of the AFL season.

ESPN360 will change names on 4 April to ESPN3 but otherwise remain the same just with an upgraded web page. ESPN2, a broadcast outlet, will carry 4 AFL matches during the course of the season including the Grand Final (live). The first match will be the Round 15 Geelong v Hawthorn match on a delayed basis. Two more will be selected at a later date.

Over recent years, the AFL Queensland's various divisions have seen the likes of Canada's Scott Fleming, Sweden's Mattias Ewald and too many PNG youngsters to mention. Additionally, it has seen the lrish players such as Colm Begley and Pearce Hanley running around for the Brisbane Lions' reserves team.

The latest international to join the list is Bryan Dragus, a big American who, after one season with the Golden Gate Roos representative side and the GGAFL's Marin Mavericks, joins the Western Magpies - a club based on the west side of Brisbane.

The following story is courtesy of the Western Magpies.

The Western Magpies have signed 24 year old Bryan Dragus from Los Angeles California. Following his first training session for the club on Monday Night after arriving on Saturday the Magpies will be including the 198cm 98kg American on its 2010 QAFL Senior List.

He was identified by former Sherwood player Leigh Barnes who is involved the Golden Gate Roos who Dragus played for last season in the US. Former Western Magpies president Matt Vowles saw Dragus play for the Roos while on holidays in the States last year and came back spruiking about his raw talent and ability to club officials.

The USAFL has announced the 14th Annual National Championships will be held in Louisville Kentucky over the weekend of October 9th-10th, 2010.

While this may not be news to some (close readers of the USFooty website in 2009 would have seen that Louisville would host the tournament again), today's announcement has confirmed it as fact.

While there will be some, particularly those geographically distant to Louisville that would have hoped for a new location after playing there in 2007, there is also the positive certainty of returning to a venue that has previously sucessfully hosted the event which continues to grow.

Further details from the announcement can be read below.

While back in the US over the Christmas break in Collingwood's pre-season training, Shae McNamara appeared on breakfast television show "The Morning Blend" in Milwaukee. The host's reference to the Collingwood Mudpies is sure to upset a few fans of the Carringbush. Shae was very keen to see the sport promoted in the United States. A little free press on home soil is always welcomed by the USAFL and Shae comes across as a pretty good salesman.

The interview video can be watched here.

While clubs across Australia are into their preseason training in temperatures that today in many places are above 40°C, much of Europe and North America are in the deep freeze. Embracing that cold this weekend were the Columbus Jackaroos. The chilling event was covered in the following report by Chet Ridenour.


Columbus, OH – After a week of the biggest and most consistent snow falls of the season, the Columbus Jackaroos were keen as mustard to lace up their boots (literally), and have a rumble in the white, wintry tundra. Emerging from their warmed cars, dressed in plenty of layers, leaving only their rosy red faces exposed – a stark contrast to the abundance of skin shown in traditional attire – they stumbled in for an 11 am Saturday morning match. With about six inches of untouched powder on the local Thomas Worthington High School football field, these blokes, dressed in red and blue would square off in perhaps one of the most fun traditions yet for this young club, the Second Annual SNOW BOWL.