Fush 'n' Chups

Couldn’t have been initiated by a better club either ;-)

Hawks cast recruiting net across Tasman

EXCLUSIVE: HAWTHORN has muscled in on New Zealand, running a nationwide school competition with a view to tapping into a fresh source of international recruits.

The cashed-up 2008 premier has been quietly monitoring Kiwi talent for several months, overseeing a “Hawks Cup” for Year 9 and 10 students.

Rivals looking at frontiers beyond Ireland have been left behind, with the Hawks striking up a partnership with AFL New Zealand.

Still, the article is a bit more optimistic than I think what the actual reality is here in NZ. On the other hand, there have been a few more examples of rugby (league and union) players making the transition in recent times, such as Mike Pyke with the Swans.

The Karmichael Hunt experiment is going to be interesting. It seems slightly incongruous to me that he’s been signed up on such a massive salary. I’m not a follower of the NRL, but I believe he’s a very good player. But you can’t tell me the new Gold Coast franchise hasn’t got at least one eye on his marketing potential in getting him to sign. I’m be happily surprised if he’s more than an average player in the AFL, but it’s not just the issue of transferring skills from rugby to AFL, it’s the whole area of tactics as well. You don’t want to run at the opposition and get tackled, right?

Where AFL clubs might be successful is if they find promising 17-18 year olds, get them over to Aus, put them on their rookie list, and give them a year or two to develop. Then I think we might see some Kiwi players go across and do well. At least they’d be used to the oval ball, unlike Gaelic football players.

And so the Aussie Rules quest for global domination continues…

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