World Footy News

Mike Pyke’s rapid journey to AFL footballer has seen the Sydney Swans elevate the big Canadian to the senior list last night. Evidently there is a dearth in Australia of big men with the ability to cover the ground quickly in the mould of Dean Cox. This has created the opening for Pyke and there has been much speculation as to whether he could possibly do the unthinkable and debut in this weekend’s Round 1.

It currently looks like that will not happen and he will be named as emergency for the Swans clash with St Kilda at Docklands Stadium on Saturday night. That still leaves the door ajar for him to complete his transition from playing rugby union in France last year to being at the elite level of the Australian game.

Roos has been glowing in his praise of Pyke’s endeavour while admitting that the big man still has a lot to learn, and has definitely exceeded his initial expectations of what Pyke might be capable of. Pyke has played three preseason matches for the Swans and his improvement has been noted by all following his progress. While his kicking still needs some work, in the modern game where handball may exceed kicking it may not be such a big deal, he can simply dish off handballs to team mates, much in the way Lewis Roberts-Thomson did early on in his AFL career.

In a game it will be his ruckwork and running capacity that will be of greatest value to his team as he is likely to be used off the bench to relieve the number one ruckman. Pyke is likely to continue his development with the Swans reserve team who play in the Canberra competition. Just like the rapid transitions of Colm Begley and Marty Clarke from the Gaelic game, Pyke’s transition from Rugby should give heart to many overseas youngsters that there is a chance for them to transition to the big time in Australian Rules football if they are good enough.