Pyke shows other converts how it's done

Yeah, fair enough. Strength, relatively speaking I suppose.

@ Ads, all the Irish boys are elite runners, who play a similar game, all the others are ruckmen, shows what recruiters are trying to get cheap and what the game needs. As a Collingwood fan ...you forgot Fatui Attata from your list :)

Let's just take out 'strength' and you might be half way correct.

On Total Rugby last week they interviewed the archivist from rugby school. He made the point that Webb Ellis broke the rules of football by running with the ball, not catching it. In other words you could catch the ball (as per AFL), as you mention above, but couldn't then run with the ball in hand.

Has been a good story so far but there have been many attempts with not such great results. Showing my Collingwood bias here: Gaelic footballers on our list: Marty Clarke about 100 games and in his 2nd stint with the club, yet to cement a spot in the team. Kevin Dyas no senior games left the club, same as Paul Cribbin. Caoloan Mooney played 4 games shows some toe but a long way to go. Lachy Keeffe former soccer player shows improvement - unfortunately did his ACL in R9 this year let's see how he recovers but at 204cm could be the key position player to replace Dawes and can play forward or back. Shae McNamara was a failed experiment, he was a US basketballer on the list for 3 years - no senior games. Dave Fanning was an Aussie basketballer who showed promise initially but was cut after a few years and a handful of games. Proves that Pyke is a good story, it's tough business and footy clubs are ruthless cutting players.

Rugby Union & Australian Rules did once have similarities, but there came a radical departure. One code opted for an open, skillful contest whereby the individual had scope to entertain and reward his team and the audience with feats of agility, strength, dexterity, and stamina. The other code? Well......it's still called Rugby. Still quite free of the 'dubious benefit of isolation', and capturing the sporting imagination of a nation like never before.

Thanks for reminding me of Kenneally who can forget his jig on the podium.

Ok.. so I made a typo... is the world a better place becasue you pointed that out? Seriously, are you one of these trolls who just go around slagging of other peoples posts?

Fair enough. It's to be expected that these lads will take longer to develop

Often the 'distinguishing' features were 'amplified' - especially in England were the Old Etonians (soccer) and the Old Rugbeians took sports that initially were more similar than not in two very distinct directions. Aust Football was mostly in isolation and was able to chart it's own direction more independantly and in some ways is more similar to the original rules of the London FA than is soccer itself - - that being that the original London rules of 1863 included 'fair catch', and had no cross bar on the goals. Corners, headers and cross bars got introduced progressively as the London and Sheffield FA's effectively morphed over the following 15 years. On the football 'scale' running perhaps from soccer as one extreme to Rugby/Gridiron at the other extreme, in the middle ground sit Gaelic and Aust Footy - both of which were more than just variations of an existing game (like American football was of Rugby) and both had a dubious benefit of isolation (either geographical and/or of governance/policy) to allow them to retain similar skill sets rather than to seek greater distinction. Just a theory.

T.Kennelly for the Swans being a Gaelic to AFL convert. Certainly to half time Pyke was arguably the best big man on the ground. Mumford was ineffective. Roughead was continuing a nightmare September, and while Hale was able to get ontop of Mumford, his 2 behinds denied him the impact to be best big in the 1st half. Pyke had 5 marks to half time. In the 3rd qtr - Pyke and many other Swans struggled for impact. Pyke at least was still competing. Hale snared 2 goals in the 2nd half but, indicative of the lack of pressure the unfit (hammy) Mumford was able to impart on the contest - it was telling that Mumford was subbed out and Pyke given the responsibility to bring the Swans home. And he did. The goal that Goodes got was a direct result of the Pyke contested mark (dished off handball, ball goes forward and Goodes crumbs and goals). The last goal too was a direct result of Pyke winning a boundary throw in and then hacking the ball out of the air very effectively 35m's forward and marked by Jetta who kicked forward to the teeth of goals from where Malceski snapped the match sealer. So, Pyke - very, very good. And, importantly played his role very well. Granted - the role of ruckman can me more easily defined. Pyke though didn't let ambition and ability get confused. And even Luke Darcy I think observed that he approved of Pyke's running patterns that showed that he more understands the game than ever before. And that's the key - running patterns at different times show the ability to conserve energy, to defend, to not be exposed on the rebound, to get to the important contests and defend the important spaces. It was also interesting to see the difference between a Fairfax article back in June or July that talked about Pyke being symbolic of the reason why the Swans were so good - because they could make something of nothing. Last week there was a new article about the Swans themselves labelling Pyke as a true 'Blood' because of the efforts he puts in himself. Pyke isn't a production line code conversion - -he's a tremendous story of personal sacrifice, of effort , of proving all doubters wrong including those at the Swans who thought he'd be on a plane back home within months.

Although miles apart the games of rugby unions and AFL share some skills sets and philosophies. You have to release the ball when tackled, possession is contested, there are a lot of contested kicks, and kicking itself is an important skill set. I find it fascinating looking at all the football codes and seeing how the rules have evolved from the same principles to end up with completely different sports.

Yeah NFL recruit from American Samoa, but also other islands as required. Yes its a start and you have to start somewhere

I knew about the NFL successfully recruiting in American Samoa for their Draft. Well all we can say is that Aussie Rules was running on a shoestring budget in that region .As an example - In Fiji the comps were initially sponsored and guided in part by two AFL players with Fijian heritage and most of the development officers are on volunteer 12 month appointments from a branch of Ausaid and yet comps are up and running in several countries. So despite all of the Rugby and Soccer football funding over there we have attracted players to our game - Yes no doubt some of the kids play all codes and finally make a choice and we have come from nowhere to a presence. This article illustrates the AFL is now getting semi-serious with this appointment recently for the South Pacific- Sure it is only one person but it is a start. Note official AFL Academies now or projected in PNG - NZ - Fiji http://www.aflq.com.au/index.php?id=5&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1258&tx_ttnews[backPid]=4&cHash=033be66ca5 Just to show all of the AFL effort is no fluke in a competitive enviroment the Fourth Annual AFL Oceania Cup will be held Dec 18 - 22 in Fiji. Eight South Pacific countries and the National Indigenous "Boomerangs" team are scheduled to compete.

Rugby Union is entrenched ... France, the UK and Japan spend a lot of money recruiting from the region. The IRB spends millions of dollars in the pacific region alone and this does not include what the NZRU and ARU put in as well. The AFL would have to spend very large sums of money over a sustained period of time to keep up. no doubt they have the funds but they are having to start from scratch. League on the other hand has done a exceptional job but they have the advantage of the game being so similar to rugby that cross over from one to the other is very simple indeed. You also have gotten the true giant in the play ground the NFL recruits heavily from the islands as well.

I think what josh was saying was that Hunt is better in his second season that Pyke was in his second season. There's no doubt that's true. The Swans showed patience with Pyke - it took four years for it to click for him. As another poster has said, he also had the advantage of some highly experienced players around him to guide his development. And that's exactly why people need to be patient with Hunt and Folau. It took Pyke four years with lots of experience around him to make it - it seems unfair to expect the NRL players to develop any faster than that, particularly with the lack of experience in their team-mates.

The feel good story of Canadian Mike Pyke adapting to our game will be eventually replicated by much younger recruits from the South Pacific. Now this is where it gets interesting - 4 football codes claim to have influence in the region. Rugby Union has been there for years and will have the advantage. Rugby League started a serious push in the 1990`s apparently except for PNG where they already had the advantage. Soccer football has always been there with backing from FIFA. Now we have our game getting semi-serious and attracting players to a possible career in the AFL as per article below. Link-- http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-04/an-pacific-boys-at-afl-draft-combine/4295294?section=sport How it will turn out is for the gods to decide and if the AFL throws some really serious funding in that direction aka GWS who knows what may happen. During the Grand Final the cameras zeroed in on these boys who were on the fence dressed in dark blue uniforms.

Obviously. Otherwise you would know his name is Mike, not Martin.

Martin Pyke... they could make a movie about this guy.. incredible. Seriousy, he was close to BOG in the grand final... and has scored a try against the All Blacks.. amazing... The Irish guys (Stynes, Kenelly etc) would have had a better aerobic base to work with as Gaelic footy is a running game. Karmichael HUnt played Australian rules footy in high school, so he should technically be the best of them all. Hes going ok. Israel Folau.. will take time.. but who knows... hes big enough to be an old school type full fowrd ala Tony Locket. But Martin Pyke for my mind has been the best of the imports :-) Im not a Swans fan either

@josh So Hunt is better than Pyke because he supposedly "trains hard" and is in the leadership group of the Gary Ablett Suns? My grandmother could get in there (metaphorically speaking)! Puh-lease. I'd rather Pyke than Hunt in a contested marking situation 100 times out of 100. Some of the ones he took in the Grand Final were top class.