Football "exchange program"?

Cam Newton of the NFL's Carolina Panthers is in Melbourne, Australia, this week as part of his sponsorship deal with Gatorade, apparently - one article called it part of a "football exchange program", which confuses me, TBH. For reasons unclear to us, he's latched on to Chris Newman of the AFL's Richmond Tigers, the stellar defenseman who recently passed the 250-game plateau. 

"We've got the same initials...the same number on our back: uno; and, you know, the same swag," Newton said in this piece on afl.com.au's Footy Feed. (Go towards the five minute mark or so.) Newton is probably one of the minority of NFL players with the all-around athleticism to be able to play the Australian game well, and the video piece shows him in a Richmond jumper learning the fine points of footy kicking style.

In particular, it was interesting to watch the star NFL player evaluate the Australian version of the game:

Newton said he had never watched a game of AFL before attending the Collingwood-Hawthorn game at the MCG on Friday night and then the Tigers' clash with Greater Western Sydney on Saturday. 

"It's an extremely physical game," Newton said. 

"In our sport, they're constantly putting things on you to protect you. In this sport, they're taking things away.

"All they're wearing is a tank top and a pair of boxers (boxer shorts) and going out there and giving it all they have which makes them courageous."