A Remarkable Journey from School to the AFL
Two years ago, a Scots College student named Harry Kyle took an unconventional step by emailing the Sydney Swans academy, requesting a try-out. He was honest about his limited experience in Australian rules football but highlighted his achievements in basketball and rugby at school, believing his skills could translate well to the sport.
His intuition proved correct. Within a year, Kyle was selected in the first round of the AFL draft, and on Saturday, he will make his debut for the Swans against Richmond at the SCG, stepping in as a replacement for injured club captain Callum Mills.
Colin O’Riordan, who was the academy coach at the time, was the one who opened the email from the young schoolboy with aspirations of playing AFL. O’Riordan and his team had received numerous requests before, but Kyle’s sporting background stood out. He was given a four-week trial with no guarantee of anything beyond it.
“For his first training session, he was raw as hell, but you just could tell from the second he came in, this kid can play,” O’Riordan said.
His spatial awareness, footwork, and movement were reminiscent of Giants midfielder Finn Callaghan. “You just could tell from the second he came in, this kid can play.”
O’Riordan is cautious when comparing young players to great ones, but Kyle’s ability to see the game clearly, despite limited experience, was impressive. “Then that weekend, we had no option but to play him – we knew, you’ve got to play this kid straight away.”
Athletic Prowess and Early Achievements
Although Kyle had dabbled in Australian rules as a junior with the Willoughby Wildcats, he found himself juggling multiple sports due to his passion for basketball, rugby, and swimming. However, a GPS athletics carnival in September caught the attention of Graham Pattison, deputy principal at Scots.
“Harry was so busy with his other sport commitments that he didn’t train all too much for athletics, but he came out on the day and he won the open high jump at the GPS Athletics Championship and jumped two metres,” Pattison said.
“He just turned up and jumped like that. I haven’t seen too many kids be able to do that sort of thing or have that type of athletic ability.”
Despite his busy schedule, Kyle continued to impress at the Swans academy. To gain more exposure to senior football, he began playing for UNSW Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs, the former club of Swans players Errol Gulden, Braeden Campbell, and Dane Rampe.
UNSW president Iain Dunstan has been involved with the club for 18 years, but cannot recall a player who excelled so quickly at the game—almost from a standing start.
“I’ve never seen anyone be that good off so few games,” Dunstan said. “He picked up the ball off the halfback flank and had four bounces and kicked the goal from, like, 55 metres out in his first or second game.”
Dunstan turned to Robbie Chancellor, the club’s coach, who remarked, “Well, he just went up 20 draft places.”
Chancellor was proven correct. In November, Kyle was picked at No.14 in the AFL draft, a surprise to everyone except those who had worked with him over the last two years in Sydney.
The Silent Assassin
At the Swans academy, O’Riordan affectionately describes Kyle as “a silent assassin” who was desperate for feedback, regardless of how brutal, such was his desire to improve.
There is a sense of irony in the fact that Kyle replaces Mills on Saturday. Mills was also an early rugby union standout from the north shore before switching to Australian rules.
O’Riordan realises Kyle is filling big boots, but has every confidence the young man who once sent a hopeful email can continue his upward trajectory in the AFL.
“The biggest thing for him, I think, is enjoying the moment. He’s clearly going to be nervous, and that’s the danger of playing in front of 40,000 people on a Saturday afternoon,” O’Riordan said.
“But you get one opportunity to debut, and you need to enjoy it. Nerves are normal. If you weren’t nervous, it means you don’t care, and Harry cares a lot.”
