My mind was drawn to many pieces I’d read on the Roar over the past year or so when I had the chance to speak to the Cardinals’ Ben Graham ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl. Watching Graham at ease in front of the world’s media gave me a lasting impression that footballers aren’t dumb, they just get asked dumb questions.

When asked about the interesting parts of his career, Graham gave thoughtful and respectful answers. He is obviously living a great adventure and it was like listening to one of your mates talk about a great trip abroad – albeit with less time spent in a Walkabout pub.

But the USA is in many ways the promised land for Australian sports.

I have read articles on the Roar in which football, league, union and AFL were all set to really make an impact on the land of the stars and stripes.

Well, I don’t know about the football wars, but I watched a documentary about 100 years of Rugby League on a British Airways flight to Miami and my first conversation with an American was about the Spartak Moscow t-shirt I was wearing and the career of Lev Yashin.

So those codes are clearly ready to make a big impact. Look out below!

But more seriously, I thought it would be interesting to get the insight of someone who has made the transition to see if they thought more Aussies would be in the NFL before too long.

Graham was realistic about player’s chances of turning professional in the US.

“It is much harder to make it here than people think. It isn’t just about having the ability and even the will to succeed. It can be tough getting visas and having the money to support yourself before you get signed.”

The ex-Geelong star had only ever kicked an American football for fun prior to 2005, so his first experience was a punting camp which lasted two weeks.

“I had to learn as much as I could. From the start, I was told I had great form, great distance and great hang time. But my get off – the act of actually kicking the ball – was too slow. It was the sort of thing in which most scouts would then just turn the page and look at the next guy.

“So I really had to work on that day after day. Your consistency, your stepping pattern, the drop and everything that has to be done in that period of time.

“That took me a couple of weeks and then it took me a couple of months to earn the trust of the Jets before they decided to give me a contract.”

Graham has introduced drop kick punt into the game, but he is unsure about whether the science used in the NFL will make a big impact back in Australia.

“I think we could maybe use some of their techniques to improve goalkicking, but in AFL there are a 100 hundred different ways to kick a footy where as over here you kick the ball the same way every time.”

Graham believes that a better path for young players is to work through the college system, which probably then negates the chance of an AFL career.

And this is where the real problem lies.

While we may ponder about the impact a Willie Mason (Graham actually helped Mason get a try out at the Jets) or Lote Tuquiri may have on the NFL, the Cardinals’ resident Australian was direct about why it may always be a pipe dream.

“I’ve been surprised that more of the rugby type of players haven’t come across to play in the non-kicker roles. But at the end of the day, you are asking these guys to leave in the middle of your career to try something completely new.

“Most of these guys have all come through various development systems from their early teenage years, so it is a huge gamble.”

And NFL wouldn’t be interested in handing out the sort of security that would make the decision easy.

Of course, some may want to follow the footsteps of the Dallas Cowboys’ Matt McBriar, who decided to attend the University of Hawaii and become a punter rather than look at a AFL career.

As the highest paid punter in the NFL, with a signing on bonus of US$2.5 million last contract, his gamble has paid off handsomely.

But as contrasting sports go, there is a big difference between AFL and NFL. Which one does he enjoy watching and paying more?

“When I started, I would have said that AFL is a far superior game to play and watch. But having learnt all the intricacies of this game, I would say I now enjoy them both equally.”

And finally, for all you patriotic Aussies out there, I can confirm that yes, Ben did have Vegemite shipped to Arizona when he moved there.

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