US lures local gridiron players
Gridiron is on the rise in Australia and WA's rising stars are leading the charge.
A unique contrast of brutal hits and complex strategy, gridiron is a North American export which is gaining popularity worldwide.
These four Perth young guns are aiming to join fellow WA products Kiernan Swan and Ned Petersen Balme in the US high school and college football systems.
They climbed through the ranks of a State league which has grown 30 per cent in the past two years and shows no signs of slowing down.
Brandt Honda, 19, represented WA in the last senior national championships, where WA beat all comers and Honda was named the most valuable player of the tournament.
He has already played in the US - in a world representative side in Texas and at Centennial High School in Las Vegas - and plans to be playing college gridiron in Utah in 2015.
"I think the most important thing in American football is you need to be tough, physically and mentally," he said.
Nineteen-year-old Joshua Munns gets paid to play Australian football in winter but has found a new passion in gridiron.
He brings his skills as a ruck rover to bear as a running back and says he would jump at the chance to play in the US.
