Apologies for the delay, mostly an editor (Brett Northey) availability issue. Story text is by the editor.
Here we present the WFN World Rankings from immediately after the 2017 AFL International Cup.
Australia retains its notional #1 ranking as unarguably the leading nation, and PNG's victory at IC17 kept their #1 contender position intact. In fact the top 5 positions were unchanged. The big changes were Croatia rising 5 places to 7th and China up 6 to 13. Perhaps unfairly France fell 3 spots to 17th courtesy of playing in the tough Division 1 (compare with Croatia's rise from dominating Division 2). We'd love to see more cross-over matches with sides touring outside of IC years which would help address that; a modified rankings system is not imminent. South Africa's slow decline continues. We welcome Indonesia and Pakistan as fully ranked for the first time (playing the necessary 8 games) and Sri Lanka's debut sees them onto the provisional list.
World Footy News Australian Football Men's World Rankings
(as at end of 20th August 2017, end IC17)
| Rank | Team | Points | Games | Rank Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Australia | - | 0 | steady |
| 2 |  | Papua New Guinea | 61.99 | 39 | steady |
| 3 |  | New Zealand | 57.88 | 43 | steady |
| 4 |  | Ireland | 56.64 | 59 | steady |
| 5 |  | Nauru | 52.97 | 32 | steady |
| 6 |  | United States | 49.34 | 48 | +2 |
| 7 |  | Croatia | 47.09 | 13 | +5 |
| 8 |  | South Africa | 46.61 | 32 | -2 |
| 9 |  | Great Britain | 46.23 | 64 | -2 |
| 10 |  | Canada | 45.84 | 48 | -1 |
| 11 |  | Denmark | 43.67 | 47 | -1 |
| 12 |  | Tonga | 41.93 | 14 | -1 |
| 13 |  | China | 39.91 | 25 | +6 |
| 14 |  | Fiji | 38.01 | 19 | -1 |
| 15 |  | Germany | 37.55 | 25 | steady |
| 16 |  | Peace Team | 36.46 | 11 | +1 |
| 17 |  | France | 36.09 | 18 | -3 |
| 18 |  | Japan | 35.06 | 34 | -2 |
| 19 |  | Sweden | 34.18 | 39 | -1 |
| 20 |  | Indonesia | 30.94 | 12 | new |
| 21 |  | Pakistan | 29.14 | 10 | new |
| 22 |  | Finland | 27.45 | 18 | -2 |
| 23 |  | India | 20.71 | 21 | -2 |
| Prov. |  | Sri Lanka | 37.41 | 5 | * |
| Dorm. |  | Iceland | 35.64 | 4 | ** |
| Prov. |  | Indochina | 34.00 | 2 | * |
| Prov. |  | Timor-Leste | 27.40 | 6 | * |
Indonesia and Pakistan joined as fully qualified for the first time
* Sri Lanka join as provisional (partially qualified)
** Iceland (dormant) need to play by 07/08/2018 to stay on the list at all
Samoa fell off in 2016
Spain fell off in 2013