By ERIC SCHMOLDT / Casper Star-Tribune LARAMIE, Wyo. — Booting a ball isn't new to Tim Gleeson. Just about everything else in the past three months has been. Wyoming's Australian punter ventured to Laramie in early January and has spent the past three weeks honing his skills during the Pokes' spring camp, where he's endured the worst wind he's ever experienced, took part in UW's first scrimmage and has worked to add a new style of kick to his repertoire. "It's been huge," Gleeson said this week during spring practice at War Memorial Stadium. "I think I had my first…

ASHBURN, Va. – Sav Rocca’s punting has been a highlight in an otherwise dismal season for the Washington Redskins. Rocca, 38, is a former Australian Rules football player who has brought his considerable skills to the National Football League. He is averaging 45.4 yards this season and his 41.2 net average ranks fourth in the NFL. He’s tied for third with 21 punts inside the 20. The Redskins came into the season unstable at the position having used 14 punters in regular-season games since 1999 and that doesn’t include placekickers pushed into an emergency duty role. Last year alone, they…

By Mark Maynard / Prokickernews.com Prokick Australia continues to make waves on the kicking scene in the United States by placing three punters into colleges here. Alex Kinal received a full scholarship offer from Wake Forest University, Sam Irwin-Hill will be playing for City College of San Francisco and Lenny Holderhead is going to Butte Junior College in Northern California. All three punters went through the Prokick Australia training with Nathan Chapman and John Smith, who guide potential Australian punters/kickers/footballers to college scholarships or the roster of a NFL team. Prokick Australia is affiliated with Prokicker.com. Wake Forest offered Kinal…

Ex-Brisbane Lions and Port Adelaide player Scott Harding will become the first Australian wide receiver in American football after being awarded a scholarship to play for the University of Hawaii, according to an ABC News report. Harding was invited to try out for the University of Hawaii last year, after he was delisted by Port Power. Prokick Australia’s Nathan Chapman was instrumental in helping Harding along. He has been coaching him privately. “We have handled Scott's transitional phase of the game very professionally,” Chapman told ABC. “He will be the start of a number of ex-AFL players coming to us…

Sydney Morning Herald Queensland halfback Johnathan Thurston, a man fresh out the other side of a NSW meat grinder, says a season-ending injury is just around the corner if referees continue to allow players to be pummelled after they’ve kicked the football in Origin contests. It’s long been known that Origin football is treated with a little more latitude by referees, with far fewer stoppages making the game a more exciting and free-flowing spectacle. Generally, it’s an arrangement that sits well with both players and fans. But that informal arrangement was made official this week when referees boss Bill Harrigan…

By Luke West / Bendigo Advertiser THE hottest name in the AFL at the moment is Richmond teenager Dustin Martin. And neither of the Tiger star’s previous two coaches are surprised at the impact the 19-year-old has been able to make in the AFL less than 30 games into his career. Martin – whose previous two clubs were Castlemaine and the Bendigo Pioneers – has been lauded by the Melbourne media and commentators in the past two weeks for his phenomenal start to his second season with the Tigers. The powerfully built midfielder has recently drawn comparisons with a young…

By Lance Snow ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - The graduation of record-setting kicker Brad Beckwith from the Missouri Western football program left two holes to fill: kicker and punter. Ideally, Jerry Partridge would like to use players on the current roster, but is willing to go beyond the borders and to the diamond to fill the punting vacancy. Enter Scott Groner. An Australian-born outfielder and relief pitcher for Missouri Western's baseball team, with a legendary leg and an interest in punting for the Griffons. "If that's a path that's opening up, then we'll see where it leads," Groner said. There's still…

First published by: Nicole Brady CONSIDERING the vast numbers of former football players working in the media, Grant Hansen has a point when he asks why there are no indigenous voices in the mix. Aboriginal footballers have long been celebrated by fans of the sport and, Hansen notes that while it is accepted that many have unique abilities in reading the play, the media have failed to employ any indigenous former stars of the game. So frustrated was Hansen that he started a radio show on indigenous station 3KND that evolved into the Marngrook Footy Show, broadcast on National Indigenous…

By Andy Withers / Fox Sports News Brendan Fevola has all the attributes to enjoy a successful career as an American football punter, but he must first sort out his private life, former AFL player and NFL punter Nathan Chapman says. Fevola's sporting career is in limbo after he was sacked by Brisbane Lions, with club officials needing "to protect and uphold the culture and reputation of the club". But Chapman, a former AFL player with Brisbane Bears and Hawthorn, and a former NFL punter with Green Bay Packers, for whom he played three pre-season games after signing as a…