Hey Matt and fellow Grizz mates...

I made it into Sydney as scheduled and had a couple of days there.  It is a great city, beautiful and clean from what I saw.  I flew into Perth last night.  Dale (person who set me up here) picked me up and I will be staying with him until I am set up with a room to rent. 

So get this, Dales office is at the Subiaco oval.  I was just given a tour of the players facilities.  There were actually a few players working out.  I also met a few members of the coaching staff.  Pretty cool.  One of the coaches was obsessed with gridiron so we had a good chat.  The facility and view from Dales office is really nice.  I snapped a few photos, but can't transfer to my computer at the moment...

So I just met Rob Wiley.  He's going to give me a kicking lesson on Monday.  I'm going to be kicking on the Subiaco oval.  I guess he is in the hall of fame.

I'll keep you guys posted and send some pics once I'm set up.

Zach

Hello friends and family,

So I'm on about week 3 here in Australia.  I've been in Perth for about 2.5 weeks.  Things are well.  Training started last Saturday with fitness tests.  I lost my stomach on the 2 k during and after trying to stay in the pack which i accomplished.  The 2 k was the last thing we did on the day followed by pull ups, bench press, and squats which i did ok on.  I should be able to shed 30 seconds on my next timed 2 k considering I've ran or sprinted about 5 of them this week.

So I will be training 3 days a week until a few days before Christmas (we have 2 weeks off over the holiday).  Following the break we will pick up with 3 trainings a week through January.  I believe at this time, if need be, there may be a few cuts from the team.  I believe there are somewhere between 70 guys at this point and a few will fade out over the course of preseason.  The 2 team squad (reserves and league) will carry about 50 to 55. 

As for my chances I look ok physically and strength wise, but fitness is weak at the moment.  My long kick is good, but my short kicks and kicks under fatigue need some work.  I am confident these things will come around quickly.  I have a more fundamentally sound kick now with a one handed release and guide and a more proper hold on the ball.  Without politics or defects of character getting in the way, not that there has been any, I should make the team.

The guys and coaches on the team have been sincerely welcoming and helpful.  Good blokes...

Perth is hot.   I'm heading to the beach for a run and swim in a few.  I'm all about this sort of climate.

The Western Australian newspaper did a story on me and a couple of other guys - you can read it here:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/-/wafl/6527075/change-of-scenery-for-aspiring-wafl-trio/

Attached are a few pics and also a story from the Western Australian newspaper about me and 2 other guys trying out for the Claremont squad.  The article is a bit inaccurate when it says I played football for U of O.  I actually was an unrecruited walk-on as a freshmen.  Its a bit of a story, but I wasn't ready to play at that level as an 18 yr old.  But I was recruited from little La Conner which is pretty cool and was on the team for about a month.  I later played football in Santa Barbara and a season of baseball at Skagit valley CC prior to that (baseball is weak).

Also when the article talks about me not knowing footy existed it should be noted that i didn't know it was being played in the US until Jack Thompson let me know about it a few years ago.  But whatever, the interview was over the phone and he asked a bunch of questions.  He also asked if i was going to make the team.  He was hoping for a cocky American answer as he asked twice, but i didn't give him one. 

So enjoy your holidays and I will send you another update sometime.

One more thing... I was set up with a job down at the Fremantle docks which is the main Port for Perth and all of Western Australia.  My job is manually unloading containers.  I've only worked 3 days, but have unloaded a container of olive oil, diapers, wine, and several containers of imported beer.  Mindless but i get paid by the container and it has worked out to about 25 bucks and hour.  Not bad and I can work a few hours or a full day (by doing 2 or 3 containers).  They take about 2 hours with 2 guys....

Cheers,
Zach

Zach Johns was recently interviewed by Chris Adams from usfootynews.com.  You can read the article here.

Hey all.


Here is an update I procrastinated on for quite sometime.  After a month or so of procrastination i decided to wait for something interesting to happen.

Footy was my primary reason for coming to Australia.  My goal was to make the Claremont Tigers squad which is a pretty good squad in a pretty good league...  

From Nov and into Febuary i was training with the squad 3 to 4 days a week depending on what the schedule called for.  I was prudent for everything and worked hard on the field.  There were several stages of cuts made.  I made it through the first few and thought I was good to go.  I received a call a few hours before our second "scratch match" (scrimmage) asking me to come in and see the coach.  The news I received in the coaches office is what i expected after receiving the call.  I was cut from the team.  I was upset at the timing and also surprised at being cut at that stage.  The reason given was due to my kicking.  I pleaded a bit with the coach and thought i was being screwed over a bit because of my age, the timing, and being a visitor.  I also felt that on the field I would have been an asset to the team. Most of the guys on the team are in there early 20's.  I was one of a handful over 25.  Two of the guys over 25 played AFL, two were cut, and one was a veteran on the team.  The wrong side of 25 and an amateur kick were legitimate reasons looking back on it now.

So I was cut from Claremont but thinking it may be a blessing in disguise as are things like this are quite often.  It was nice not to have to go to training anymore.  It was stressful wondering if i was going to make the team, working my ass off on the field, and not really enjoying the months of training without competing on the field.  Claremont is 3 and 0 as of last weekend smashing the defending champions and the other two teams they have played.  It looks like they may win the flag this year.  They also have 16 AFL guys on their list which is high number compared to other teams and recent years.  This does not mean that 16 play each week, but it is where guys play if they don't get a go with the pro teams similar to minor league baseball, but different????  I may have had a better shot with other teams in the WAFL.

Shortly after being cut another coach from a country club came to see me to talk about playing for his club.  I wasn't to keen on it because it is a town called Boddington about two hours outside of Perth.  I would have been set up with a job and a place to live, but instead opted to travel down for games along with one day a week of training while being subsidized for traveling.  It is a risky drive down to Boddington considering the high chance of hitting a Kangaroo. The road to Boddington runs about 100km through untouched habitat which means many kangaroos.

Week 1 finally happened last Sunday (April 11).  I started at Half back flank.  The guys are fast, big, and strong with good skills.  I got the ball a fair amount of times but struggled to dispose of it efficiently.  The game is rough as well.  I was involved in several scuffles.  Punches were thrown in a few other scuffles.  Should be an interesting season.  It was the first game I've played in quite a while so I think i can do quite a bit better, but i fell short of my expectations by a mile as well as my coaches i believe.  So we will see what happens with all of that.  I will send off another update after a few more games.  We won the game by a goal and a few points.  The other team cut our lead to 4 points with a few minutes left but we closed the deal.  Good comp though.

I will continue the footy journey.  I will keep you guys in the loop.  Hope all is well for everybody.  I look forward to hearing how the Griz go this season.  Work hard boys.  I can't wait for Nationals!

Yo fellow Grizzlies.

Just a quick update on footy here in Perth....  It's been an interesting ride here as far as footy goes.  I trained with five teams since Nov.  The majority of that time was with Claremont (Nov to Feb).  I trained with another WAFL club for about a week, but it didn't work out there.  My stint with Boddington was short lived.  I played one game there and decided it wasn't worth it to drive down into the country several days a week for a team i didn't feel committed to. 

So i ended up joining an amateur club through a friend of mine in Perth called CBC Fremantle.  The amateur system is run different here in AU compared to things in the states.  Basically an area within the city will have a club.  This club depending on depth of players, previous years performance, and numbers will have a certain amount of teams divided into grades with A (1's) being the highest level.  Our club has 7 sides including two colt teams (18 and under).  I've played with the 3's and the 4's since joining the club maybe 10 weeks ago.  I've settled on the 4's side.  I play in the middle the entire game and do well so I am happy at this level. 

The guys are all in there 20's and are pretty fit and tough for the most part.   So it's a good level for me and the guys work hard and are passionate about their footy.

So we have won seven straight games in the 4's and have two weeks left before finals begin.  The top 6 teams advance to the finals out of 15 teams.  We are currently 4th with a bye this week.  With a win in two weeks we will advance to the finals.  We are playing well so it looks like we will have a good run in the finals and maybe even a crack at winning a flag.

If you are "keen", here's a link to WAAFL (amateur footy in WA).  You can check out the amateur system and results. 

http://www.wafootball.com.au/waafl/fixtures-and-results

Best, 
Zach

Just a final update on footy in Perth.

We made the finals in the 3's 4's and 5's of amateur footy in Perth.  I played with the 4's.  We just barely reached the finals on the final game of the regular season loosing by two points.  We had a 7 point cushion we could lose by as it went to percentage if we lost.

Unfortunately we lost in week one of the finals.  We played a strong team and were dominated on all areas of the oval.

It was good fun running with the amateur club CBC Fremantle.  As for now, I look forward to returning to Seattle and joining up with the Grizzlies shortly.  See you all soon.