Australia exploded onto the international flag football scene in 2023 and led by coaches who have pioneered progress on the gridiron for decades, now have success on the world stage in their sights.
Paul Manera was the first Australian to earn a scholarship to a Division I American college football program when he attended the University of Hawaii. Having returned home to pass on knowledge and advice to those eager to follow in his footsteps, Paul has held multiple head coaching roles in tackle football and last summer turned his attention to flag. His Australian women’s national team claimed the silver medal at the 2023 IFAF Asia-Oceania continental championships in Malaysia and with it an IFAF World Ranking of tenth.
Australia beat allcomers in the group stage, with the exception of highly experienced Japan. Olivia Manfre scored a hat-trick of touchdowns in a 33-19 win over Indonesia, while Kodie Fuller, Marissa Hayes and Dania Herdman each scored twice over the course of the day and Hannah Monty came up with a pick six as Australia beat Thailand 34-19.
A newcomer to flag football, Manfre also plays women’s Australian Rules football for the Essendon Bombers and fell in love with flag during some training sessions with the Northern Raiders before representing Victoria at Australia’s national championships.
“I was really intrigued to learn more, and I knew straight away that I would have to give this a go,” she explained. “I was selected for the Australian team. It’s something I’m really proud of and I’m really excited about and it’s all quite surreal that I’m representing my country.”
Several of Manfre’s teammates boast experience of playing in IFAF World Championships in the tackle discipline. Quarterback Casey Cubis played at the 2017 IFAF Women’s World Championship in Canada, while fellow signal caller Dani De Groot represented her nation in Finland in 2022. Fuller, Herdman and Pier Pritchard have similar experience.
On the second day of action in Kuala Lumpur the Aussies put on an offensive masterclass in a 53-6 rout of Korea as quarterback Cubis threw five touchdown passes. de Groot reeled in three of those, including a catch in her own half that she took to the end zone, evading four tacklers to score. Japan though provided a sterner test and ran out 33-0 winners.
The Philippines were brushed aside in the quarterfinals and hosts Malaysia similarly in the semis, setting up a rematch with Japan for the gold medal.
In the championship game Japan held a 27-point lead at the two-minute warning and although Australia mounted a late comeback with two touchdowns and a safety, the competition’s sole unbeaten team had the final say with a seventh touchdown. Silver was still a fine reward for the flag football rookies.
Australia’s men were coached by Jamie Stafford, who has been involved in American Football in Australia since 1998, when he started playing as a teenager. As quarterback for the Croydon Rangers, he passed for more than 13,000 yards and 132 touchdowns during ten years, playing 200-plus games.
“I’ve been able to sort of build a bridge between tackle and flag and take what worked in tackle and create my own playbooks and some innovative stuff,” explained Stafford. “I was watching The World Games and getting an idea of what countries were doing internationally and put that to Gridiron Australia and based off that was selected as the first head coach of the program.
“Now we have a very clear direction of what we’re going to do as a nation going forward. Having the best programs in place across the grassroots level will then fade up into the representative level so that we’re a country that can be taken seriously in national competitions.”
Australia’s men finished the opening day in Malaysia as the top scorers with 88 total points and conceded only one touchdown. Bart Foley threw four touchdowns and Matthew Krul three in a 50-7 win over Kuwait, while Matthew Barbara led the receivers with three scoring grabs and Aaron Howard came up with a pick-six. In a 38-6 victory over Singapore, Barbara again led the way with Howard, Luke Edwards and Fletcher Dignam also on the scoresheet.
The Aussies finished second in Group A with a 4-1 record having beaten Indonesia 47-12 and the Philippines 33-13 with their only loss a 20-12 reverse against unbeaten Japan. Malaysia was edged out at the quarterfinal stage by a two-point win, but in the semis eventual goal medalists Thailand proved too strong, winning 48-21. Familiar foes Japan claimed the bronze medal, but Australia left Malaysia knowing they have set the foundations to challenge when the rest of the world converges in Finland this summer.
In preparation for the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships, a fiercely contested national tournament in Brisbane whittled potential squad members down to 24 names for the men, who will battle it out for the 12 seats on the flight to Finland at the AIS in Canberra on May 17.
