With today his wedding day, Mike Pyke tells sydneyswans.com.au about his first AFL goal, the improvements he made in season 2010, and the excitement surrounding his wedding to Florencia...

Mike, you obviously made a huge step-up this year. Now that the season is over, what was the highlight for you personally?
My first goal (against Richmond at the MCG in round 14) was really exciting, though it was followed up by a really disappointing loss that day. But it was a personal highlight.

From the team’s point of view, it was the way we re-bounded around the time of the Geelong game (round 18). Even though we lost that Geelong game by a pretty big margin, after the game the playing group said to each other, while we were not happy with the result, there were certain things we put in place against Geelong which we hadn’t done in previous games.

And then to be able to take a loss like that and take a positive out of it, and then to be able to turn the season around essentially, from that game, was really good. People thought we were gone.

It must give the playing group a sense of power to know you can make that change?
Undoubtedly. Obviously the coaches provide the framework for that and we have to implement it. When you can draw on strength from the group it really helps. So the way we turned the season around when most people had written us off, was the highlight.

Where do you think you specifically improved as a player?
Coming from so far behind, there are lots of things I improved in. Just generally, probably my awareness around the ground has been a big thing for me. Putting myself in better places; my marking has improved; and just the general timing of the game, those split second things that make the difference whether you take a mark or you kick a goal or not.

It just takes time, and it takes a couple of mistakes and it takes a couple of highlights and then a bit of confidence.

Who among your team-mates was a real standout in your view in 2010?
Obviously Shane Mumford, who I work so closely with. Two out of the eight games I played in 2009 were against Geelong, and I played against Shane in both games. I remember saying he was good, but also thinking that I had matched it alright with him. I think I won the hitouts in one of them.

The way he has gone on and been able to elevate himself from where he was at Geelong, to where he is now, is really impressive.

And also Ben McGlynn has been amazing. Unfortunately we didn’t have him on the field for a few more games because of injuries. Also Josh Kennedy, Kieren Jack, there are so many guys right now who have had more positives than negatives for the year. And there are a lot of guys coming through who are looking really good for the future. Hopefully for us they can back it up next year and hopefully we can drive ourselves as a group next year to back the tail end of this season up.

Over the pre-season, what areas will you look to improve most?
Almost everything. There will be a few specific things which I’ll determine when we get back for the pre-season (in November). This past pre-season I spent a lot of time doing defensive drills and that helped my game a lot, in terms of defensive awareness. And running with forwards teaches you where to go to get the ball. I think we’ll probably get more into the nitty gritty when pre-season starts.

When Seaby returns from injury, there will be three elite ruckmen at the Club. What are your thoughts on that?
I think I’m obviously not quite to the standard I’d like to get to yet, and not up to Mark’s standard but hopefully the games I’ve had this year will allow me to realistically push for a spot. But we’ll see and I’m not worried about that now.

No - you’re thinking about your break, and getting married. Tell us about that?
I’m getting married to Florencia on the 9th of October, on Vancouver Island. It is very exciting. I was hoping we’d make the grand final and I’d have the most spectacular two weeks of my life. After the wedding we’ll stay in Canada for a while and then go honeymooning. I can’t say where because Florencia doesn’t know!


Mike Pyke in action during season 2010: