‘I loved playing it’: How close All Blacks Sevens skipper came to AFL deal
When rugby fans list off the greatest dual internationals to have ever graced the sport, names such as Sonny Bill Williams, Brad Thorn and Chris Ashton come to mind.
The conversation can go on to include other talented players including Lote Tuqiri, Jason Robinson, Mat Rogers and even NRL legend Benji Marshall.
But let’s not forget about All Blacks Sevens captain Sam Dickson.
Dickson is coming off a stellar campaign with the All Blacks Sevens, which saw the skipper hoist the World Series trophy in triumph at last weekend’s London Sevens at Twickenham.
New Zealand are back on top of the rugby sevens world – in both the men’s and women’s competitions – and Dickson played a pivotal role in the drought-breaking series title.
But the 33-year-old, who is an Olympian and a three-time Commonwealth Games medallist, could’ve gone down a very different sporting path – and to an extent, he did.
While playing club rugby in Christchurch as a teenager, Dickson broke his scaphoid in his wrist, and required both surgery and a year out from the sport to recover.
🔥 TOP TRIES OF 2020 #7 🔥 Sam Dickson reading it like a 📕 at the Vancouver Sevens. pic.twitter.com/fQhvxKG27y
— NZ Sevens (@nz_sevens) December 25, 2020
But, as he put it, “stupid little Sam” decided to play club AFL, believing at the time that it wouldn’t “be as hard as rugby.”
Little did Dickson know that the decision to play the beloved Australian sport in the South Island of New Zealand was the start of a stunning multi-year stint.
Dickson was selected in the New Zealand squad for the International Cup in Australia, which is the World Cup for Aussie Rules.
But the opportunity to represent his country also opened the door for a professional career, with Dickson revealing that he “got into a little bit of talks” with Victorian club St Kilda.
“There was a few small glimpses of hope,” Dickson told RugbyPass.
“When I played in the International Cup, obviously teams were there scouting and in my team was Jason Heatherly… he played for the Hawthorn Hawks for a number of years.
“He was in my team and he’d already had a Hawthorn scholarship because Hawthorn had links to New Zealand AFL back then.
“I got into a little bit of talks with St Kilda and went up to meet their coach for a little bit it didn’t turn out to anything.
“They sort of need players that start playing AFL quite early and have all the fundamentals and the understanding of the game down pat.
“I was about 21 so I think it was a little bit late for me unfortunately.
“If it happened I definitely would’ve taken it with two hands because I loved playing it to be honest.”
Dickson’s coach at representative level in Canterbury held the same role with the New Zealand side, and ended up selecting the future sevens star for higher honours.
The young athlete went on to represent his country at the International Cup against a somewhat surprising number of nations – in fact, Dickson said that “AFL’s played pretty much by every country.”
With the final held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as a curtain raiser to a professional AFL clash, New Zealand competed in the same competition as the likes of India, Norway, Sweden and the United States.
“I fell in love with it, I just love how it’s a 360 game, it’s pretty non-stop… just that freedom, I played centre half-forward in the middle so I had a bit of freedom to just do what I wanted,” he added.
“Representing your country for whatever sport, I really wanted to do it and I was lucky enough to do that and travel to Australia to play.
“Obviously it wasn’t at the level of the actual AFL, those guys are just on a completely different level to what we were playing.
“It was just a good opportunity to try something new… to be honest if it wasn’t for playing AFL, I don’t know if I would’ve made it to the All Blacks Sevens.
“Just cause of the ariel stuff that the AFL taught me, it sort of led into my sevens around kick-offs… not many people could take the ball above their head like they do now so that really gave me X-factor.
“A lot of sevens players, if you can’t take a ‘speccy’ like they do in AFL on a kick-off then you probably won’t be around too long.”
But Dickson’s Aussie Rules career came to an end in his early 20s when he signed his first professional contract with the All Blacks Sevens – and really, he hasn’t looked back.
Dickson has played more than 330 matches in the black jersey on the Sevens World Series, scored 494 points, and is just two tries short of a century.
When his playing days are all said and done, Dickson will undoubtedly go down in history alongside the likes of DJ Forbes and Tim Mikkelson as a modern-day sevens great.
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments