Ben Graham NFL RC?

[Allstar cards inc]

Does anyone know if there was a Ben Graham RC released during 2005? Also can anyone get a checklist off Beckett for Darren Bennett cards?
Thanks!!

 

[MetallicA']

Howd he go in his first season as a punter for the Jets.
I followed him at the start of the season and he was punting some preety big yards and then i stopped following him cause the Jets sucked.

 

[Allstar cards inc]

Apparently he came close to breaking a club punting record that has stood since 1969....and he was also very close to getting selected to the Pro Bowl...almost unheard of for a rookie.
He was back in Australia earler this year, went to a Geelong game and was being followed around by a US TV documetary crew.

 

[MetallicA']

LOL, thats awesome! He's being followed around by a US Documentary Crew Hope they get on film him kicking a AFL ball
I remember a game in 2004 where at Skilled he kicked the ball off a mark from the Center circle and it carried for a behind and went into the first row of the crowd lol. He is a freak!! =P~

 

[cliffy21]

wow that is great! Sounds like he is going alright eh! Damn I wanna a Ben Graham RC now

 

[Richo]

Great thread guys.......I didn't even know he had got a gig over there - Good on him though

 

[wolvesjr34]

Even I want a Ben Graham Card, and I support the Cowboys!

 

[Allstar cards inc]

There is another Aussie punter in the US playing for the Cowboys....was on the Brisbane Lions list at one stage. And there is another Aussie trying out for the New York Giants I think.

 

[wolvesjr34]

Nah Nathan Chapman tried out for Greenbay and was cut. He was the one formerly on Brisbane and Hawthorn lists.

Mat McBriar never was on an AFL list (current Cowboys punter, recently re-signed). He even played Gridiron at the University of Hawaii I think.

 

[Allstar cards inc]

Spot-on AJ...I knew there was a Brisbane connection somewhere though!!
Here's a good article on Mat...

Former schoolboy footballer to kick up his heels
By Alex Brown - The Age
September 10, 2004

Darren Bennett is many things to Mat McBriar - a mentor, a friend and, occasionally, a landlord.

But this weekend, when McBriar makes his National Football League debut for the Dallas Cowboys against the Minnesota Vikings, the former Victorian private school centre half-forward will view Bennett in a vastly different light.

Bennett, after all, punts for the Vikings. McBriar's path from Bennett's spare bedroom to the astroturf of Minneapolis' Metrodome ranks among the more remarkable sporting "export" tales - better still considering that Bennett, playing his first game for Minnesota after nine years with the San Diego Chargers, will directly oppose his punting apprentice in the NFL's first round of the 2004 season.

Their showdown on Sunday will make history on several counts, most notably that, for the first time, two Australians will appear in the same NFL game. McBriar will also become only the fourth Australian to play professional football in America, following Colin Ridgway, Colin Scotts and Bennett.

Unlike Ridgway and Bennett, both VFL/AFL representatives, and Scotts, a former Australian schoolboys rugby recruit, McBriar enters the NFL without a notable sporting resume.


He played three seasons on the forward line for Brighton Grammar's firsts. He assumed the vice-captaincy in his final year.

But until convinced by friends to enter an NFL-sponsored punt competition at Waverley Park one windswept, rainy afternoon several years back, the 24-year-old never contemplated a sporting career in the United States. "I wasn't going to go," McBriar said recently. "I thought I kicked pretty badly."

Not according to Bennett, who, upon hearing word of the young Victorian's exploits, helped McBriar arrange a meeting with June Jones, head football coach of the University of Hawaii, and formerly with the San Diego Chargers.

After inviting McBriar to trial for a punting position, Jones arranged a football scholarship for the promising right-footer.

Then, following a three-year college apprenticeship, McBriar was signed by the Denver last season and, later, traded to the Seattle Seahawks. Both clubs, as well as the San Francisco 49ers, overlooked McBriar in 2003, prompting him to reach out to Bennett for advice and help.

So, with the last remaining remnants of his Denver pay cheque and an unshakable self-belief, McBriar accepted Bennett's invitation of lodging in San Diego and began plotting a path to the NFL.

"We had some great chats about the mental and business side of the game," Bennett wrote yesterday via email.

"We spoke yesterday and I told him that we'll just have a quick chat before the game and then go about our business, then talk more after the game. I don't want any extra pressure on him - it will be a big enough game for both of us, me with a new team and Mat in his first game."

McBriar's debut will not be televised in Australia, although family and friends in Melbourne plan to listen to the game on the internet. So, too, will former classmates at Brighton Grammar.

 

[wolvesjr34]

Actually I'm sure that game was televised on Pay television cos I remember watching it... LOL

And yeah... definitely an interesting article.... I'm just stoked that the punter for the Cowboys is an Aussie