Great effort by Pyke. Might even make me watch it.
LESS than two years ago, Mike Pyke was scoring a spectacular length-of-the-field intercept try for minnow Canada, sprinting away from the mighty All Blacks like Usain Bolt in Beijing.
On Sunday, he will be leaping high in the centre of the SCG, palming a Sherrin to the Swans' midfield brigade as he makes his AFL debut against Richmond.
In just over six months, the 200cm Pyke, who played 17 rugby union Tests for Canada, has become a football chameleon, changing countries and codes in an experiment never before attempted in the AFL.
Sydney coach Paul Roos said Pyke, 24, had picked up the game more quickly than anyone could have dreamed he would.
"I must admit if you had said to me that he would play in round five, I would say you were absolutely kidding yourself," Roos said yesterday. "But what struck us from day one was not only his athleticism but his professionalism and his determination. He was prepared to sacrifice a contract with a French rugby union team, which was more money than we were going to pay him, so you could tell he was going to give himself every chance to make it."
Even Pyke only set himself a goal of playing by the end of the season, but now he will become the first international rookie from a non-Irish sports background to play senior AFL.
Brett Allison, who played 219 games for North Melbourne and is now on the Sydney coaching staff, has worked closely with Pyke during his AFL crash course. He says it is one of the most extraordinary stories he's witnessed in football - even more jaw-dropping than the switch Tadhg Kennelly made from Gaelic football to premiership player.
"I arrived at the Swans the year Tadhg arrived, and he is a pretty special example of a player giving up another sport, but Gaelic football is pretty similar to AFL footy so you can see how Irish blokes can pick our game up quickly," Allison said.
"So in terms of coming from a completely different sport, this is an amazing effort."
Pyke has travelled a circuitous route from Canada to Sydney, with various people playing chance but crucial roles. He was given kicking coaching a few years ago when playing professional rugby with the Edinburgh Gunners, by former Swans player Michael Byrne, who was working in Scotland.
Then last year, one of Pyke's best friends, a Canadian expatriate living in Melbourne, contacted him in France where he was playing with the US Montauban rugby squad.
He told Pyke that with his height, sprinter's pace and agility, he'd be perfect for this AFL caper.
Pyke, who had occasionally watched the Australian game on television in Canada, was interested. He then called Glen Ella, the former Wallabies fullback who had been Canada's assistant during the 2007 rugby World Cup, asking what he thought of the idea.
Ella, who will be watching proudly from the sidelines at the SCG on Sunday, told Pyke to go for it.
"He asked me my opinion on how he'd go and I was taken aback that he even knew the game existed," Ella said yesterday. "But I thought he had all the right attributes to make a good player."
"He has played Test football at the highest level, against the All Blacks and in the World Cup; he is very determined; mentally very strong and physically very strong; he is good with the ball in the air and he is tough.
"I am so happy for him. It is a big risk to change your entire lifestyle and come to a different country to play an alien game, and he has done it and got the rewards."
Pyke then sent a highlights tape to player manager Michael Quinlan in Melbourne, who showed it to the Swans. The club saw enough to take a gamble and fly Pyke to Australia for a one-week trial last June. "We do see ourselves as a bit of a non-traditional footy club, being in NSW, and just thought, 'what have we got to lose'," Roos recalled.
By August, Pyke had been offered a two-year international rookie contract.
When Roos told Pyke yesterday he had been selected in Sunday's team, the Canadian reacted calmly.
"He's a professional guy, he's been around the block so it is not like he's an excited young kid, but he's really looking forward to it," Roos said.
Pyke will back up Darren Jolly in the ruck. "We are not expecting him to go out and kick three goals like 'Jolls' can do. His ruck work is more than adequate," Roos said.
Allison says Pyke is as mobile as West Coast ruckman Dean Cox or Carlton's Matthew Kreuzer, but probably quicker. And coming from rugby, he doesn't mind the physical stuff.
"He will be keen as mustard to mix it," Allison said. "He loves the contest and body contact."
The Swans staff have spent hours helping Pyke straighten up his kicking, but learning to handball was more difficult to master. But whatever the task, he has attacked it with gusto.
Hit 'em around the hips Pykey!