Amulleted former Collingwood VFL player with the ability to kick with both feet heads a crop of Australians seeking to prove themselves at the highest levels of American football, as the sport’s spotlight shines on Green Bay for this week’sNFLdraft.
Anupcoming NFL regular season match in Melbourne– for which 90,000 people have already registered an interest – and the rise of former rugby league junior and nowSuper Bowl winner Jordan Mailataunderline the growing reputation of the American code in Australia. But the momentum of the NFL in the homeland of AFL has not been universally welcomed, with some Americans dismayed by the dominance of mature punting imports within the college ranks.
Five-year Florida State punter Alex Mastromanno, who grew up in Brighton and played in the Magpies’ VFL team once in 2017, is in contention for selection in the NFL draft which gets under way on Friday morning AEST and runs over three days.
Prokick Australia’s Nathan Chapman, who helped fine-tune Mastromanno’s game and prepare him for college, says the Victorian was one of several punting prospects who could be picked, including Jeremy Crawshaw from Florida, James Burnip from Alabama and Jesse Mirco from Vanderbilt.
“There were 25 Prokick players finishing up at college this year who will either be trying for the NFL or the Canadian Football League, it’s a big year of names coming out – probably one of the biggest – so hopefully it’s a good weekend for us,” Chapman says.
The pipeline of Australian punting talent to American colleges has been so rich that a class action was brought against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in February. The lead plaintiff is a parent of a teenage punter, seeking to limit the number of overseas punters competing with locals for scholarships. 61 out of 133 top US programs had at least one Australian punter on a scholarship in 2023, court documents allege.
Chapman says he was proud of what Prokick had achieved. “We’re not going to get caught up too much in some parents and opposition kicking instructors who think they’ve got a given right to have these scholarships for themselves, it’s a global sport,” he says.
The 26-year-old Mastromanno has been one of three finalists in the Ray Guy Award for the best college punter in both of the past two seasons, and is known for his mix of skills and large build for the position. He gained notoriety as an ambidextrous punter who also acts as a holder for his team’s kicker, and has worked in recent years to demonstrate he is ready for the NFL.
Dozens of Australian punters have proven themselves in the American professional game, including pioneer Darren Bennett and more recently former Sydney Swans NEAFL player Michael Dickson and West Australian Mitch Wishnowsky.
Chapman believes Mastromanno has NFL-ready leg power and technique, but he also believes recruiters could be drawn to his broad portfolio of work, including an ability to kick stationary or while on the move.
“You’ve just got to get a coach that can look through the amount of different kicks that he did at college, and says, ‘Let me focus on what we do have, we’ve got a pretty talented guy who can do multiple things, actually, that might be a weapon’,” Chapman says.
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Even if Mastromanno, Crawshaw, Burnip or Mirco do not hear their names called over the seven rounds of the draft, a path to an NFL contract is still available as an undrafted rookie.
But Chapman is confident Mastromanno will get the chance to win an NFL job next season as one of what he believes to be the top five punters coming out of college. “The NFL is a weird sport, and some funny things happen, so you never want to say anything’s taken for granted,” he says. “But I’d be highly surprised if he didn’t get picked up, certainly as an undrafted free agent.”
The position of punter has been the traditional showcase of Australian talent in the NFL, but some in other roles have found recent success. Offensive tackle Mailata, defensive lineman Adam Gotsis, and guard Daniel Faalele – a fourth-round draft pick in 2022 and Pro Bowl alternate last season – have shown Australians don’t need to kick to make their mark.
Their emergence has coincided with anincreasingly global outlook from NFL officials, who have scheduled seven overseas matches this year. The LA Rams are due to play the first regular-season match in Australia at the MCG in 2026, and 90,000 people have expressed an interest in tickets even though the date of the match and even the Rams’ opponent are still to be confirmed.
Research carried out by the league’s Australian office has found the number of self-identified local fans of the competition has grown from 5.7 million to 7.5 million over the past two years. “1.3 million of those 7.5 million are considered avid fans,” says Charlotte Offord, general manager for NFL in Australia and New Zealand. “What we are seeing is not only a huge uplift in casual fandom, in terms of non-fans becoming fans, but we’re also seeing shifts in people becoming more avid as well,” she says.
The international player pathway program – which was established in 2017 – allows often raw overseas recruits to join NFL squads without taking up a precious roster spot. The Los Angeles Chargers announced they hadused the program to sign former Wallaby Jordan Petaiaas a tight end last month. The Australian NFL Academy has been open for a year on the Gold Coast, and all eight players – none of whom are punters – have received Division I college offers.