It has been a wild ride for former Geelong captain Ben Graham in the NFL this year. After being dumped by the New York Jets early in the season, then brought back in for two more games he then shopped his talents around the country until being picked up for one game with the New Orleans Saints who then moved Graham on.

Ben was invited for tryout with the Green Bay Packers this week but turned down the audition when he received a solid job offer.

That came from the Arizona Cardinals who have sacked Dirk Johnson, the punter who was replaced by Sav Rocca at the Philadelphia Eagles. Johnson and Rocca went head to head in the last round as the Eagles defeated the Cardinals 48-20 and Rocca averaged 42.7 yards compared to Johnson 33.5 yards.

The length of Ben’s tenure at the Cardinals is unknown and while he will be disappointed to be missing out on the Jets' massive turnaround led by Brett Favre, if he can settle in at the Cardinals he should be part of the play-offs as the Cardinals lead the NFC West with just four rounds to play.

Can Australian Football be the next biggest thing for Canadian kids? Emile Studham is betting on it, mate.

The 30-year-old transplanted Australian is founder of Aussie X, a sporting program for kids that teaches the rules of Australian-rules football, or “footy” for short.

Canada's junior team, the Wolfpack, headed down to Australia in big numbers just prior to the third International Cup. In part 1 of our story on the tour, we talked to young players Chris Harbour and Justen Oertel and began an interview with coach Mike McFarlane. In part 2 we continue to talk to Mike about the impact the tour had on the players and plans for the future.

As the snow starts to fall along St. Catherine's Street, the Montréal-based Québec Saints Australian Football Club are packing away their jumpers and footy boots after a very promising first year.

With players from Québec City, Montréal and Laval making the long journey to Toronto to play in the OAFL, some driving as much as 9 hours one way to have a kick, a group of expat Australians from Montréal formed the "Québec Saints" in early 2008 in order to have a more accessible way to play Aussie Rules.

As word grew about an Aussie Rules team in Québec numbers increased quickly to the point shortly after its conception the Saints were ready to play their first match.

Thanks to Luke Anderson for this report.

Myk Aussie, that flamboyant Australian reporter on Canadian sport, with a particular eye on Aussie Rules, has done an extensive interview with Mark "Flash" Block. Flash is coach of Canada's national side the Northwind and was a highly successful player and now coach with the Toronto Eagles. The discussion includes the US Nationals (which had a strong Canadian presence in 2008), the International Cup and the impressive juniors coming through from Canada's west coast program.

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Canada's junior team, the Wolfpack, headed down to Australia in big numbers just prior to the third International Cup. In a huge undertaking 52 people made the trip, costing around $100,000 with a big effort on fundraising over many months prior.

The young players got to play four matches against Victorian school sides, attend a few AFL matches, and cheer Canada to victory in the Northwind's opening IC08 match. After that the players and their families scattered on trips across Australia before heading back home to Canada. WFN spoke to their head coach, Mike McFarlane, about the trip and what it achieved, as well as a couple of the star young players.

The inaugural USFootyNews.com All-Star Team was voted on during the month of October. Here are the results.

We're hearing a heck of a lot about Barack Obama now that he is US President-elect. Certainly much of the world looks to him as someone that inspires hope that he will lead the world's most powerful nation in good directions.

But the big question is - has any AFL club got him on board yet? It's a regular occurrence for celebrities and politicians visiting Australia to declare their support for one club or another - Collingwood's Eddie McGuire seemingly in the wings as often as not. But no word yet on Obama support for an AFL club.

Perhaps USFooty can send him a congratulatory Revolution jumper?

An interesting article about Australian football appeared in the New York Times - in 1910. The historic piece was quoting Major Peixotto, leader of the Pacific Coast Amateur Athletic Union. It dates back to an era when the sporting landscape was vastly different. The professional sporting bodies of today did not exist, and a variety of amateur associations encouraged endeavour across a range of sports, some of which no longer exist - basketball teams even competed in weight divisions.

It seems that Australian football was being exhibited in California and met with enthusiasm. "Practically a similar summing up as that of the major's is the consensus among the Californians who have seen the game as demonstrated as it is now being taught on the coast. Its general absorption of most of the other types of contests with the leather spheroid has proved the rule whenever the issue was football", wrote the Times.

As previously reported, the Calgary Kookaburras travelled down from Canada to the US Nationals where they defeated all their opponents in the Women's division, finishing with victory over the Atlanta Lady Kookaburras in the final. Below is a complete report on their tournament, courtesy of AFL Canada.

The Calgary Kookaburras have capped off a stellar 2008 season by winning the US National Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The Kookaburras were unbeaten in four games to win their first National Championship, overwhelming the previously-undefeated Atlanta Lady Kookaburras in a thrilling final.

The tournament win was made more remarkable because Calgary finished last in the 2007 US Nationals when they merged with the Washington First Lady Eagles. Losses to Milwaukee, Arizona and Atlanta during that tournament sparked the Calgary women into a vigorous off-season fitness program and led to the development of the first full-season women’s footy league in North America during the 2008 summer. Regular matches and dedicated women’s footy training sessions helped to give the mostly-Canadian squad the skills needed to take out the 2008 title.