From Michael Jordan to Andrew Johns: seven athletes who jumped way out of their comfort zone
WITH Usain Bolt closing in on an A-League deal, it ranks as one of the most unlikely sporting marriages. But where does it sit alongside Michael Jordan, Andrew Johns and Israel Folau’s switches?
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SO, the world’s greatest athlete is on his way to the A-League.
On the surface, it seems like a bizarre marriage — even allowing for Usain Bolt’s unquestioned love of the world game.
However the agent who has brought the deal together, Tony Rallis, insists Bolt’s potential A-League move is not a gimmick — rather one which could give a boost to the “stagnating” competition.
“After the season we had, we need a signing with benefits for the whole competition,” Rallis told The Daily Telegraph’s Tom Smithies.
“There’s no doubt this unique athlete would give us exposure and a profile that we have lacked recently.”
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Bolt definitely isn’t the world’s first superstar to want to test the waters in a new sport.
So let’s go through six of sport’s other highest-profile oddball switches and work out whether they were successes … or gimmicks.
For the purposes of this exercise, we’re overlooking the stock-standard switches between the rugby codes while consciously omitting the litany of attention-starved football stars who have turned their hand to boxing — because outside of Anthony Mundine, they’ve almost all been gimmicks.
1. ANDREW JOHNS (NRL TO CRICKET)
In the twilight of his career, one of rugby league’s greatest ever took time out from pre-season with the Newcastle Knights to try his hand at Australia’s summer love: cricket.
Johns signed on to play for NSW in the domestic Twenty20 competition — in its pre-Big Bash League form — and got plenty of attention for the sport in the process.
One of the games was played in Newcastle, where the local legend drew a bumper crowd — but failed to impress on the field.
He bowled a single over and the game ended in embarrassing circumstances as NSW and Test batsman Simon Katich refused to take singles in the final over, so as to protect Johns from facing Test quick Ryan Harris.
NSW lost by eight runs.
Gimmick factor: Sorry Joey, but this was 100 per cent gimmick - even if you did score nine in your second, and final, match for the Blues.
2. MICHAEL JORDAN (NBA TO BASEBALL)
The closest comparison to Bolt? Like Bolt, Jordan is the greatest ever in his craft — so why not have a crack at something completely different?
Jordan wanted to honour his late father by trying to convert himself into a Major League slugger, and so retired from the NBA — after leading the Chicago Bulls to three straight titles — and signed a minor league deal with the Chicago White Sox.
It didn’t go particularly well for Jordan, despite his elite athleticism and terrific hand-eye coordination: he played a season for the Birmingham Barons — a White Sox-affiliated minor league team — where he hit three home runs and batted .202.
Gimmick factor: Given the five-time NBA MVP never had a single at bat in the major leagues, it’s hard to call this a gimmick on the MLB’s part — although it definitely raised the profile of the Birmingham Barons.
3. JARRYD HAYNE (NRL TO NFL)
Bolt’s A-League move has been compared most closely to Hayne’s remarkable NFL move in that he’s being tempted by a no-guarantees trial — much like Hayne was offered to crack one of the world’s most competitive leagues.
“Crucially, it’s not a gimmick, but a real trial much like Jarryd Hayne underwent,” Rallis said.
Hayne was the best player in rugby league, having just won the Dally M medal, when he stunned Australia by announcing he wanted to play in the NFL.
What seemed like an impossible dream would go on to become a reality as Hayne made the San Francisco 49ers roster — playing in eight games, including one start.
Gimmick factor: This was no gimmick. Hayne was given a chance not afforded to many, but he impressed in training camp with his natural athletic gifts and then produced some highlight plays in pre-season to earn his spot on the 49ers’ final roster. One season later, he was gone. But his achievements were still extremely real.
4. GREG SMITH (AMERICAN GRIDIRON TO NRL)
One of the all-time sporting scams, Smith came to Australia from the USA and was given a contract with the Newcastle Knights on the understanding that he was a former NFL player.
It was a lie, of course, and no one at the Knights bothered to check his credentials: he’d never made an NFL roster, ultimately impressing at the NFL combine with his speed before suffering a late cut that ended his NFL dream.
He would have no such trouble making his way into the NRL.
Incredibly, he was thrown onto the wing for a first grade game against Canterbury by Knights coach Warren Ryan.
It was a disaster. Smith, clearly, had no idea what he was doing. And while it’s fair to say his understanding of rugby league positioning was always going to be a struggle — it was also obvious that he’d overhyped his own abilities. Smith couldn’t catch a ball or make a tackle. He was hooked before full-time.
Gimmick factor: Not a gimmick, rather than an abject disaster for Smith and the Knights. He never played NRL again.
5. JANA PITTMAN (ATHLETICS TO BOBSLED)
Pittman was a two-time world champion in the 400m hurdles — winning gold medals at the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Cruelly, she suffered a knee injury in the lead-up to the 2004 Athens Olympics where she was heavily favoured to win the 400m hurdles.
Pittman had emergency surgery on the knee a week before the Games which allowed her to compete, but on a hindered preparation she finished fifth in the final.
A toe injury stopped her from competing at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and four years later when a foot injury kept her out of London Games she opted for a career change.
Rowing and boxing didn’t work out, but bobsleighing did — and Pittman made her way to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics as part of the two-person bobsleigh team, becoming the first Australian woman to compete in both the summer and winter Olympics.
Gimmick factor: While Pittman’s career has occasionally resembled a soap opera, this was no gimmick — she successfully switched sports and managed to create history.
6. ISRAEL FOLAU, KARMICHAEL HUNT (NRL TO AFL)
When Karmichael Hunt signed a three-year deal to play AFL with the Gold Coast Suns, it was as remarkable a code switch as you could imagine.
He took a full season off, from the end of his rugby league time with Brisbane and his first game for the Suns in 2011, to get up to speed with the new game.
And the hard work paid off. Hunt played 44 games across three seasons for the Suns — never excelling as a gamebreaker, but growing into his game before opting for a move to rugby union.
At the end of the 2010 NRL season, Brisbane’s Israel Folau signed a $6 million deal with expansion side Greater Western Sydney.
Folau played a year for the Giants in a lower-league competition ahead of their inclusion in the 2012 AFL season — he changed his body shape, shedding kilos and worked on his kicking game.
But he struggled mightily on the field: kicking just four goals from 13 games in the Giants’ forward line before pulling the pin and also making the switch to rugby union, where he’s been an extraordinary success for the Waratahs and Wallabies.
Gimmick factor: there’s a fairly high gimmick factor for both players, who were dragged across as high-profile recruits to be the face of new franchises. But Folau’s is next level, with the Minto boy a hero to a generation of sports fans in Sydney’s west — and the hope being he’d make them all Giants fans. He didn’t last a year, while Hunt stayed for three.
7. ASH BARTY (TENNIS TO CRICKET … AND BACK)
One of the brightest talents to come through the Australian tennis ranks in a generation, a junior Wimbledon champion, Barty sensationally walked out on the game at the age of 19.
Within a year, she’d signed on to play for the Brisbane Heat in the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League — playing one summer with them as the Heat, who finished sixth out of eight.
In her best knock, Barty hit 39 from 27 against the Melbourne Stars, but decided to give tennis another shot shortly after — and has since returned to the top of her game, taking over the mantle of Australia’s top-ranked female.
Gimmick factor: This had a gimmicky feel from the Heat in the debut season of a competition desperate for media coverage, but the counter to that is Barty credits her time in a teamwork-driven environment with helping get her tennis career back on track.