Victorian Michael Apeness left Australian Rules for two seasons to try his hand at rugby union with the Melbourne Rebels’ junior academy.
Tasmanian recruits Alex Pearce and Brady Grey also competed at high levels in other sports - Pearce in cricket and Grey in cricket and soccer.
Apeness was a second-rower in rugby union – or for those not educated in the code’s vernacular, he is the player that is lifted up by teammates in lineout throws.
Despite enjoying the professional environment on offer at the Rebels, Apeness realised his best chance to make it was Aussie Rules.
“There were good opportunities in footy, so I decided to come back to footy,” he said.
“I was really missing the game as well.”
But returning to the code presented him with some great challenges.
“In rugby you focus on putting a lot of weight on, so it’s been tough trying to change my body shape back into an AFL footballer,” he said.
“And in rugby it’s lots of short, high-intensity running, but in AFL there’s a lot of continuous running.”
Grey was playing soccer for the Devonport Strikers in 2012, winning the club and league best and fairest awards, the league Golden Boot for most goals and he captained the Strikers’ under 18 team to the league title.
But after having played a handful of Aussie Rules games last year, he received a letter from TAC Cup side Tassie Mariners inviting him to try out.
“Many people dream of playing for Tassie, so that’s something I wanted to do and I was fortunate enough to make the squad and play in the under 18 championships (for Tasmania),” he said.
Grey hoped his soccer skills would come in handy at Fremantle.
“Coming from a soccer background, it offers a different game style which I think will help me at the next level because of the different ways I think about certain aspects of the game,” he said.
“I put my head over the ball and that’s something I pride myself on. I guess that’s something that comes from soccer, as well.”
But code swapping also came with its challenges for the 18-year-old.
“It was pretty tough converting (to Aussie Rules), because I had to change my kicking style,” he said.
“I was a striker in soccer so a lot of my kicks were around the body.
“That’s something I really worked on when I got back from the under 18 championships.”
