FORMER Canadian rugby union international Mike Pyke remains in the mix to make his AFL debut in round one, Sydney Swans coach Paul Roos said on Wednesday.

Pyke, who only took up the sport last year after starring for Canada in the 2007 rugby union World Cup, has played just three competitive games of AFL.

But the 24-year-old has impressed the Swans’ coaching staff to the point where he will be considered as a serious option to support No. 1 ruckman Darren Jolly against St Kilda.

“We’ve got a bit of a breather now because we don’t have a game on the weekend, but he’s in the mix, which is an extraordinary performance,” Roos said before training at Lakeside Oval on Wednesday.

“If you’d have asked me when he first arrived, would he be a chance to play footy in 2009, I would have said probably no, let alone round one.

“He’ll certainly be discussed at length at match committee and we’ll make a call accordingly.”

Roos said Pyke’s long-term development would also be taken into consideration at the selection table. The Canadian would be likely to play more minutes with the Swans’ reserves than he would at AFL level, giving him more opportunities to learn the game.

The Swans coach admitted he was wary of throwing Pyke into the seniors too quickly.

“One [concern] is, you stilt his development because as a second ruckman, he might only get 30 or 40 minutes, and the other one is just at the moment, he hasn’t got the ability to play in any other position, so it probably limits you a little bit,” Roos said.

Pyke will be competing against versatile tall Jesse White for the second ruck spot and Roos recently suggested that White’s greater AFL experience might give him the edge for the season opener.

“The advantage that Mike has got is that he’s in the ruck and what we’re asking him to do at this stage is really a specific area of the game,” Roos said.

“It’s one of the few specific areas left in our game, I suppose, the craft of rucking. Having said that, I think it’s an amazing performance in how far he’s come in such a short space of time.”

Roos even likened Pyke to basketball legend Michael Jordan, in that they were two athletes who had attempted to excel at different sports.

“Even in world sport, I don’t know whether there’s anything you can compare what he’s doing. Michael Jordan, one of the greatest athletes in the world, went and tried to play baseball and couldn’t do it. It’s an extraordinary story.”

Dream Team watch – Mike Pyke is rated a $75,300 ruckman in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.