Mike Pyke
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Mike Pyke
Michael Anthony Patrick Pyke (born 24 March 1984) is a Canadian retired dual-code football player, who was a professional Australian rules footballer with the Sydney Swans. Pyke is the first Canadian national and the first former rugby union professional to play in an Australian Football League (AFL) premiership team, having played in the Sydney Swans 2012 premiership-winning side. Before his Australian rules football career, Pyke was a professional rugby union player, having played for French Top 14 squad US Montauban and representing the Canada national rugby union team, Canadian national side. Pyke was known for his understated goal celebrations. Early life Pyke was born to parents Christine Peterson and Richard Pyke in Victoria, British Columbia. Pyke first started playing basketball, association football, soccer at St. Michaels University School in British Columbia, a school which has produced several Canadian national rugby players over the past few decades, as well as S ...
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Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''Canadian''. Canada is a multilingual and multicultural society home to people of groups of many different ethnic, religious, and national origins, with the majority of the population made up of Old World immigrants and their descendants. Following the initial period of French and then the much larger British colonization, different waves (or peaks) of immigration and settlement of non-indigenous peoples took place over the course of nearly two centuries and continue today. Elements of Indigenous, French, British, and more recent immigrant customs, languages, and religions have combined to form the culture of Canada, and thus a Canadian identity. Canada has also been strongly influenced by its linguistic, geographic, and ec ...
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Ryan Smith (rugby Player)
Ryan Smith (born September 13, 1979, in Kitchener, Ontario) is a former Canadian rugby union player, who played club football for French team US Montauban in the Top 14 division and represented at international level. Smith's first appearance for the national side was on June 14, 2003, in a match against England Saxons. Smith played 51 times for Canada, scoring 9 tries, and appeared in the 2003 and 2007 and most recently the (RWC 2011) earning his 51st cap. World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i .... On December 1, 2011, Ryan Smith announced his retirement from all levels of rugby. References External linksProfile at Rugbycanada 1979 births Living people Canadian rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union centres Sportspeople from Kitche ...
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Brian Taylor (Australian Footballer)
Brian Wayne Taylor (born 10 April 1962) is a former Australian rules footballer and current Australian Football League (AFL) commentator on television for the Seven Network. He played with Richmond and Collingwood from 1980 to 1990. Playing career He was only 16 when recruited from Mandurah, Western Australia, to the Richmond Football Club. The moustached Taylor, known as "BT" and "Bristle", began his VFL career with Richmond in 1980. He was a full-forward at the same club as the legendary Michael Roach. This limited his playing opportunities, and so he asked to be transferred to Collingwood after the 1984 season, having played 43 games and kicking 156 goals. His height was 191 cm and his weight was 102 kg. In 1985, Taylor joined Collingwood. He kicked 100 goals in 1986 to win the Coleman Medal. Due to repeated knee injuries, he retired from playing in the AFL at the end of the 1990 season at 28 years of age. He had played 97 games for Collingwood, kicking ...
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Darren Jolly
Darren Jolly (born 6 November 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club, the Sydney Swans and the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is best known for being the ruckman in Sydney's 2005 premiership win and also Collingwood's 2010 premiership win. Junior career After completing his schooling at Damascus College Ballarat in 1996,
Damascus College, The Road, Autumn 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2015
and playing for the in the , Jolly spent a year pla ...
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Brendon Lade
Brendon Lade (born 10 July 1976) is a former Australian rules footballer with the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is currently a senior assistant coach with the Western Bulldogs Football Club. AFL career Early career (1992–1999) Lade was born on Kangaroo Island and grew up playing football for the local Western Districts Football Club, where his father coached the A grade side. At the age of 8 Lade moved to the Wisanger Football Club, where he played the remainder of his football until he turned 16. Able to play as both a relieving ruckman and forward, Lade played for South Australian National Football League club South Adelaide before his recruitment to Port Adelaide in the lead up to their inaugural season in the AFL in 1997. Lade made his senior AFL debut for Port Adelaide in Round 1, 1997, Port Adelaide's debut AFL match. Injury (2000–2001) Lade missed just one game in his first three years, before he suffered a serious ...
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Dean Brogan
Dean Scott Brogan (born 14 December 1978) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Port Adelaide Football Club and Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is currently serving as the Giants' ruck and stoppages coach. Brogan is the younger brother of former Australian Opals basketball player Michelle Brogan. NBL career Adelaide 36ers Dean Brogan attended the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) from 1996 to 1997, before returning to Adelaide with the Adelaide 36ers in the National Basketball League (NBL) under the rookie coaching of Australian and Adelaide basketball legend Phil Smyth. He made his NBL debut on 31 January 1998 with what would be a career high 7 points in the 36ers 125–86 home win over the Townsville Crocodiles at the Clipsal Powerhouse. At 6'7" (201 cm) tall, Brogan was a Power forward when he played basketball. By Brogan's own admission, he was a "bit of a punk back then" and he thought t ...
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Port Adelaide Power
Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where they are nicknamed the Power, whilst its reserves men's team competes in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), where they are nicknamed the Magpies. Since its founding, the club has won an unequalled 36 SANFL premierships and 4 Championship of Australia titles, in addition to an 2004 AFL Grand Final, AFL Premiership in 2004. It has also fielded a Port Adelaide Football Club (AFL Women's), women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW) league since 2022. Founded in 1870, Port Adelaide is the oldest professional football club in South Australia and the List of Australian rules football clubs by date of establishment, fifth-oldest club in the AFL. Port Adelaide was a founding member of the South Australian Football Association (SAFA), later renamed as ...
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NAB Cup
In the Australian Football League (AFL), previously the Victorian Football League (VFL), the pre-season competition, known during its history by a variety of sponsored names and most recently as the NAB Cup, was an annual Australian rules football tournament held amongst clubs prior to the premiership season between 1988 and 2013. The pre-season competition culminated annually in a grand final and pre-season premier. After the 2013 season, the pre-season competition has consisted of a series of matches without an eventual winner. This series is currently known by the sponsored name AAMI Community Series. History The pre-season competition was established from the Australian Football Championships Night Series in 1988. The Night Series had been a competition featuring VFL, SANFL, WAFL and minor states representative teams which had been staged partly in the pre-season and partly during the premiership season, generally finishing in July; but, it had reduced in size and importance ...
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AFL Players Association Awards
The AFL Players Association (AFLPA) awards are a group of awards given annually to players in the Australian Football League, voted for by all AFL players. Main awards The AFLPA nominates the following four awards as their main awards. Leigh Matthews Trophy The Leigh Matthews Trophy has been awarded by the players to the best player of the season annually since 1982. It is the AFLPA equivalent of the Brownlow Medal (voted for by umpires), and a variety of media-sponsored MVP awards. Gary Ablett, Jr. (2007–09, 2012–13) is the only player to win the award five times. Greg Williams (1985, 1994), Wayne Carey (1995, 1998), Michael Voss (2002, 2003), Chris Judd (2006, 2011) and Nat Fyfe (2014, 2015) have won the award twice. Best captain The Best Captain award was given sporadically from 1986 until 1997, and has been given annually since 1998. Michael Voss won the award four times from 2001–2004, the most of any player. Best first-year player Awarded annually since 1998, t ...
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2012 AFL Grand Final
The 2012 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club and the Sydney Swans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 29 September 2012. It was the 117th annual grand final of the Australian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football League), staged to determine the premiers for the 2012 AFL season. The match, attended by 99,683 spectators, was won by Sydney by 10 points, marking the club's fifth VFL/AFL premiership victory. Sydney's Ryan O'Keefe was awarded the Norm Smith Medal as the best player on the ground. Background Hawthorn entered the 2012 season having been eliminated in the preliminary finals in 2011 by . Hawthorn's start to the year was average, with a record of 5–4 after nine matches; the team then won its next eight matches by an average of 81 points. A narrow loss against in Round 19 was its only other loss of the season, and Hawthorn finished the regular season on top of the AFL ladder with a win–loss r ...
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Ruckman (Australian Rules Football Position)
In Australian rules football, a ruckman or ruckwoman is typically a tall and athletic player who contests at centre bounces and stoppages (such as boundary throw-ins and ball-ups). The ruckman is one of the most important players on the field. They are often key to coaching strategy and winning centre clearances which result in the most goal kicking opportunities (inside 50s). The role of the ruckman in Australian rules is similar to a lock in rugby union contesting a line-out. The key differences are that with the exception of boundary throw-ins, the ball is almost always thrown straight up high into the air rather than horizontally, so in this respect, the ruckman is similar to a basketball centre. The ruckman needs to be able to control the ball by palm tap or fist with outstretched arms. Unlike rugby, the ruckman must rely vertical leap and can not be assisted by teammates to jump. Australian football rucking often involves vigorous mid-air collisions with the opposin ...
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Irish Experiment
The Irish Experiment is the popular name for the interest, primarily from VFL/AFL clubs, in bringing Irish sportspeople, particularly Gaelic footballers, to Australia to play Australian rules football professionally. The AFL's focus on Gaelic footballers is due to the similarities between the sports. The Irish Experiment began in the mid-1980s as an informal project of the Melbourne Football Club. Despite its initial success, enthusiasm for the project lapsed until the 2000s, when it again became ongoing, reaching a record level due to globalisation and professionalism in sport; however, it also faced significant challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The highest-profile product of the experiment to date has been Medal of the Order of Australia and 1991 Brownlow Medal recipient Jim Stynes, who was an early recruit in 1984, during his highly successful career he played more AFL games than any other Irish player. Tadhg Kennelly was the first to win a premiership in 2005. ...
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