Mike Pyke - Australian Rules Football Career

Australian Rules Football Career

Pyke made an impressive debut in the NAB Cup match against Port Adelaide Power. His performance rucking against premiership ruckmen Dean Brogan and Brendon Lade earned him early favouritism to take the secondary ruckman role, supporting premiership ruckman Darren Jolly and make his AFL premiership season debut in the Swans' opening match against St Kilda.

Despite solid performance in his debut, Pyke's conversion was criticised by some AFL commentators, most notably Brian Taylor, who described the experiment as a "joke" and described him as the worst player in the AFL.

He was elevated to the senior list shortly before the first round, leading to speculation he would indeed be chosen, but he was announced on the emergency list for the squad, with Jesse White taking the second ruck spot. In the following rounds Pyke played for the Swans' reserves side in the AFL Canberra league. After a 20 possession strong performance with the reserves including some strong contested marks and goals, the club raised the possibility that Pyke's debut would take place in the coming weeks.

Pyke finally got his opportunity with the Swans when selected to play in round 6 of the AFL premiership competition against the Richmond Tigers. In 50 minutes of game time, he accumulated 4 handballs, 1 mark, 1 tackle and 11 hit-outs. While his debut wasn't sensational, he showed enough confident passages of play to be considered as a back-up ruckman for the Swans.

By Round 14, 2010, Pyke finally managed his first senior goal – again against Richmond. .

In August 2010 Pyke was given a new two year contract with the Sydney Swans.

Swans' coach Paul Roos praised Pyke, saying he had developed into a genuine AFL ruckman. “This year, if someone came to their first game, you'd have to point out that this is a Canadian rugby player now playing AFL football, and that's the biggest compliment you can give Pykey,’’ Roos said.

The success of Pyke's move to the AFL was further cemented at the 2010 Sydney Swans Club Champion presentation, where Pyke was awarded the "Dennis Carroll Trophy for Most Improved Player".

In the 2011 season Pyke played only two games before an ongoing quad muscle injury kept him off the senior side for the rest of the season.

After missing selection for round one of the 2012 season, Pyke injured his posterior cruciate ligament playing in the reserves. He made his return in Round 8, 2012, to a Sydney Swans starting side destined to win the Grand Final. The Swans added his blog, "Open Pyke", to their website in June 2012 and his goal against the West Coast Eagles was featured as the SwansTV Play of the Day for Round 16. In Round 21 Pyke scored a career-high three goals against the Western Bulldogs.

With the Sydney Swans' win in the 2012 Grand Final on 29 September 2012, Pyke became the first Canadian to play in an AFL premiership winning team. When Swans coach John Longmire substituted primary ruckman Shane Mumford, suffering from a sore hamstring, out of the game in the fourth term, Pyke was left to handle the ruck duties alone. He was recognized as playing an important role in the Swans' win. He was credited with 16 disposals, a career high, and three contested marks, matched only by Hawthorn star Lance Franklin, who took four.

On 30 October 2012, the Sydney Swans announced that they had signed Pyke to another two-year contract.