No, OTL, the AFL only came into being in 1990, when the VFL (Victorian Football League) was renamed to the Australian Football League (AFL) as by then the league had teams based in Sydney (one of the Melbourne teams was relocated to Sydney in 1982, teams from Perth (West Coast Eagles) and The Gold Coast/Brisbane (Orginally The Brisbane Bears, they were merged with one of the Melbourne teams (Fitzroy) to become the Brisbane Lions from the 1997 season.). An Adelaide team would follow in 1991 (the Crows). Further teams from Adelaide & Perth joined later in the 90's, while an additional Sydney & Gold Coast team joined in 2011 & 2012.
So in the 70's & 80's context of state-based leagues in Australia, the USFL (United States Football League) name would have made sense. Though a large US participation & following would have hastened the VFL/AFL's move to a more professional footing possibly in the late 70's-early 80's instead of the early 90's in OTL. As I said earlier, up til the early 90's, most players were part-time professionals who had day jobs during the week, although quite a few of the better known players would have worked for sympathetic club sponsors who employed players in a sales/promotional capacity, although you had quite a few players who combined demanding professional careers such as Medicine, Law & Stockbroking alongside their Football careers. Others owned businesses to trade on their fame, again quite often backed by wealthy club patrons.