Mallard and Harkness were both rocked by the death of a cousin, while a close friend of Harkness was also killed in recent weeks. 

"We had some family emergencies and it’s pretty hectic back home right now," Mallard told The Daily Advertiser.

"There's a lot of deaths happening now, so it was a good time to go back and pay our respects to the people that we lost, and be around family at this time."

The trio came to Australia through American Footy Star – a program aimed at developing US athletes into Australian rules footballers – and joined the Kangaroos at the start of the season.

The sport didn’t come naturally to the former US college footballers but impressed all at Temora with their athletic ability and their attitude in adapting to a foreign game.

“I see it as a success, but the boys went through some tough times,” said Kangaroos president, Darryl Harpley. 

“When you're that far away from home and people are getting killed it's really hard to keep your head in the game.”

Winston was restricted to three games due to injury but Mallard and Harkness played senior football for most of the season.

"We started to learn the game, it started to come," Mallard said.

"I liked the ruck. There was more action and I was able to compete for the ball every time there was a goal.

“And making tackles and getting the ball down to the forwards – I enjoyed that more than the backline."

Mallard said they leave with nothing but happy memories of Temora.

“It was a great experience and we got a look at the country life.”

The move home doesn’t mean they’ve given up on their AFL dream. 

"We’re going to do the US AFL team and see where that takes us," Mallard said.

"The USA coach hit us up and asked us if we want to participate in it."