|
Now you can add American gridiron punters to
that list with Mitch Wishnowsky, who will handle punting duties
for the San Francisco 49ers when they face the Kansas City
Chiefs on Sunday in the Super Bowl, as the poster boy for what
has become an Australian boutique industry.
"It's crazy, a dream come true," Wishnowsky told Reuters as he
stood in Marlins Park soaking up the excitement of Super Bowl
Opening Night. "It crazy just even that I'm playing in the NFL
so is getting to the Super Bowl is wild."
A high school dropout turned glazier who had his dream of a
career in Australian Rules Football scuppered by injuries but
found his way to the U.S. to play for one of the NFL's glamour
team's in American sport's biggest event, Wishnowsky's story
would seem to be a one-off Hollywood fantasy.
But it's not.
Wishnowsky is simply the latest product of an Australian punting
pipeline that is pouring players onto the U.S. football market
place.
In fact, the 49ers rookie isn't even the first Australian punter
to play in a Super Bowl, with that distinction going to Ben
Graham, who played in the 2009 championship game for the Arizona
Cardinals.
Punters have become a prime Australian export with six of the
last seven winners of the Ray Guy Award, which goes to American
college football's top punter, hailing from Down Under.
Wishnowsky took the honour in 2016 playing for the University of
Utah while Max Duffy, a former member of the AFL Fremantle
Dockers, took the award for 2019.
Michael Dickson won the trophy in 2017 and Tom Hackett twice in
2014 and 2015.
The flood of Australian punters into the U.S. college system,
from where they can be drafted into the NFL, has become so great
that it has created a backlash.
New Orleans Saints punter Thomas Morstead and former Colts
punter Pat McAfee have both criticized the NCAA, U.S. college
sport's governing body, for allowing what they see as men who
have played professional sport in Australia to come to the U.S.
and take college scholarships from young Americans.
ASPIRING PUNTERS
The road to the NFL for Wishnowsky and many other Australians
begins in Melbourne at Nathan Chapman's ProKick Australia, a
sort of academy for aspiring punters.
According to ProKick Australia's website, 75 of its students
have gone on to earn U.S. college scholarships worth more than
$19 million.
"When I first came into the league, there's 32 punters and they
are the best at what they do," said the 27-year-old native of
Perth.
"It wasn't until pre-season game you finally see other punters
and you hit the same ball, that's when you know you belong, that
you deserve to be here."
There is a reason Australian punters are in vogue and it is the
unique set of skills they learn growing up playing Aussie Rules,
rugby league and soccer that allows them to do magical and
befuddling things with an American football.
No longer are punters simply required to boot a ball as far as
they can, they must be able to put devilish spins, flips and
curves on their kicks, dropping them into pinpoint areas with
plenty of hang time so coverage can get down field and pin
opposing teams deep in their own end.
"I played soccer most of my life and Aussie rules," Wishnowsky
said. "I think soccer helps me kick off, that muscle memory from
kicking a soccer ball and then the muscle memory from Aussie
Rules helps me punt for sure.
"There are a lot of different punts you have to be able to do
back home playing Aussie Rules, you can make it curve if you are
kicking for a goal.
"There's ways to manipulate the ball's flight."
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
|
