World Footy News

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.

Game 1

Collingwood's American recruit, Shae McNamara, competed in his first ever game of Australian football on Saturday March 13 for the Collingwood's minor league team in the Victorian Football League. The game was a pre-season game against Geelong's minor league team, which Collingwood won 16.18 (114) to 8.5 (53). According to Collingwood, Number 50 had a "Good learning day. Played forward, ruck and down back. Did some things well and will learn from his mistakes. It was another baby step."

Game 2

Collingwood's American rookie, Shae McNamara, played in just his second game of competitive footy on Saturday for the VFL Collingwood Magpies against the Coburg Tigers. McNamara played most of the game in the ruck for the Magpies in this preseason minor league game. According to the team's Head Coach, Gavin Brown, "It was a breakout game for McNamara even though it was his second-career match. He convincingly won the hitouts and looked like he has been doing it for years."

McNamara was named in the best for VFL Collingwood in their convincing win over Coburg, 20.8 (128) to 11.3 (69). According to Collingwood, McNamara impressed with six tackles, some good possessions and a nice handball to set up a goal for the 'Pies.

VFL Collingwood begins the regular season at their home field of Victoria Park against Williamstown on Saturday April 10.