American football teams have often looked to Australia for punters, with their kicking skills derived from other sports played Down Under.
But we haven’t seen this level of Australian influence with their feet in the College Football Playoff.
All four starting punters for the CFP semifinal teams are Australian: Oscar Bird (Ole Miss Rebels), Dylan Joyce (Miami Hurricanes), James Ferguson-Reynolds (Oregon Ducks), and Mitch McCarthy (Indiana Hoosiers).
Incredibly, all four punters developed at the renowned Prokick Australia academy in Melbourne and come from an Australian rules football background.
Bird leads the way for the quartet, averaging 45.9 yards from 38 punts in 2025, was named SEC Freshman of the Week in late September and made The Athletic's First-Team Freshman All-America.
The 23-year-old played for Perth FC in the West Australian Football League before changing careers to gridiron.
Ferguson-Reynolds, along with Bird, is also considered an NFL prospect after averaging 42 yards on 31 punts.
Ironically, the senior punter among the four Australians in the playoffs — 27-year-old McCarthy — has had a rival kicker signed to compete with him next season in Australian punter Billy Gowers.
Crossing over from Hawaii, Gowers played at the top level of Australian rules football for the Western Bulldogs and is tipped to make an impact despite being 29 years old.
Expect Australians to continue dominating the punting scene, with their natural kicking skills increasingly piquing the interest of football clubs at all levels.