Canadian rugby player our new rookie!!!

[connolly]

Perhaps Pyke has a much more natural gift for AFL than those you have mentioned?

Care to enlighten us with your vast knowledge and personal experience of playing AFL at the elite level as to how you might be in a position to judge this guy's ability or lack thereof??? Perhaps if we were to get him to write an essay, you could correct it for us and give us some real insight on his ability? Perhaps the selection commitee could add a spelling test as a prerequisite to being drafted? Then we could probably place some value in your opinion.

Manfred Moore with Newtown Jets ring any bells? Oakland Raiders outside player said to run 100 metres in a slashing time. Greatest flop of all time. The Bulletin article about Manfred in 1977 included this classic:
""Newtown got down as low as they could get last year, so we put it in the hands of an expert (Singleton)," said Frank Farrington, secretary of Newtown Leagues Club. Anyone remember Paul Hayward? Back on topic this recruitment smacks of gimmick.

[573v30]

Yep, write him off before he gets a game...

[ShockOfHair]

I think the underlying problem is the about-to-evaporate local talent pool. The GC and WS teams will soak up most (all?) of the draft picks in the coming years.

There's not a great financial or opportunity cost to taking a punt on a rookie, who obviously has the athleticism and also has some basic AFL skills - a good mark, can kick a bit, can't apparently handball. It's a punt, but so is all recruiting.

Roos' column this week muses about picking talent from other sports. As he says, Australia has a fairly small talent pool to begin with.


Official AFL Website of the Sydney Swans > News Article > Olympics may be recruiting gold

Wouldn't surprise to see other clubs go down this route in the face of the talent drought, just as they are now looking closely at Irish talent.

[Legs Akimbo]

Given the low marginal cost of having this guy on the international rookie list and the promotional benefits, I cannot see a problem.

However, irrespective of his physical prowess and talents at rugby, at his age the probability that he will become an established AFL player are low.

I think a few people on here have underestimated the importance of nurture over nature.

Time will tell.

[sprite]

Let's say he stays on the rookie list for two years, maybe gets a game.

He picks up new skills and develops an understanding of what's required to make it at the top level.

He returns to Canada as a representative of AFL / Swans. The opportunity is that he may identify some possible talent and be able to give them some skills training before they come here.

I don't think this is a bad idea at all.

It's a win / win situation.

[dimelb]

Pleased to see this comment from Roos:
"Obviously we can never lose sight of the fact that AFL football is a very specific, skill-orientated game and the difference between a good kick and a poor kick can mean winning a losing a match."
I hope that means he's giving priority to the team's kicking skills - especially considering how many matches we lost this year through not kicking straight, including Bulldogs (twice) and bloody Adelaide again.

[swantastic]

They said this arvo on SEN that he can earn as much as the Swans want to pay him just as long as they tell the AFL how much.

[JUDO]

See Mike Pyke's Try

Might be 24. But his tall, fast and tough. I would give him a go.



YouTube - Tries - Mike Pyke - Canada v NZ

[gossipcom]

Gotta love intercept tries against the All Blacks.

[connolly]

[QUOTE=JUDO;404621]Might be 24. But his tall, fast and tough. I would give him a go.




And good luck to you cobber. But whats that got to do with the bloke playing for the Bloods?

[reigning premier]

[QUOTE=connolly;404642]

Might be 24. But his tall, fast and tough. I would give him a go.




And good luck to you cobber. But whats that got to do with the bloke playing for the Bloods?

You're right. Being tough, fast and hard at it isn't everything. Remember that next time you start a Bevo rant.

[connolly]

[QUOTE=reigning premier;404644]

You're right. Being tough, fast and hard at it isn't everything. Remember that next time you start a Bevo rant.

But Bevo pulls down screamers and saves matches so your caveat doesn't apply to my reasonable advocacy of his varied and obvious talents.

[Rob-bloods]

We will finish middish table. One decent draft pick. Spida is dead on his feet. Ruckmen are like hens teeth. There is a big bodied pro athlete who has played elite level sport. He is 200cm and can run 100 in under 11 secs. He has played RU fullback where positioning, marking and kicking are prerequisites. The next few drafts will be severely compromised with the dopey concessions for the Queensland Queens and Sydney Albatrosses.

A rookie contract is not the silliest thing I have heard in the circumstances, inventive lateral thinking may even be the call, more so than most of the twaddle on RWO being passed off as 'informed' comment.

[573v30]

But Bevo pulls down screamers and saves matches so your caveat doesn't apply to my reasonable advocacy of his varied and obvious talents.

I'd like to see him to do it again, against the Cats.

[giant]

Irish rookies are international in the sense that you can sign them directly, without going through the draft (obviously).

But the AFL decreed that they should be included in the normal quota of 6 as a sop to the GA to reduce the chances of cashed up clubs going and recruiting Irishmen wholesale with the hope that one or two might "make it". By imposing an opportunity cost (ie taking up a spot another rookie might take), the hope was that clubs would at least do their due diligence and only bring over those players they thought had a genuine chance of "making it".

With the mature age rookies, there is a restriction over those who have previously been on an AFL list. Rama didn't qualify as an over-age rookie because he'd been on a list for many years before (even though the AFL then over-rode those rules and allowed Essendon to put him on the rookie list). The Eagles were pissed off at the time because they also wanted to put Brad Smith on as a mature aged rookie after he did his knee for the second time, but they weren't allowed to because he'd already been on their list, even though he'd never actually played a senior game. There was some discussion recently about changing that part of the rule so that if a player had been on a list but hadn't actually played, he was still eligible to be a mature aged rookie. I have no idea off the top of my head if that bit of the rule was changed.

Pathetic cop-out! Would it hurt to do a little research Liz?