the success of Jordan Mailata<\/a> for Philadelphia last year.<\/p>\nDickson said he had no doubt he and his teammates would win. \u201cI have big dreams so I knew we were going to get here and I knew we were going to get it done and we did, so I\u2019m very lucky and very happy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to know that I can play in these type of games, and if you ever feel any nerves you just look at your guys next to you and everyone\u2019s having fun and making plays, so I mean, it\u2019s the best feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Dickson. Photograph: Brynn Anderson\/AP<\/p>\n
Mailata appeared on ESPN midway through the match as the coverage counted down a contest that was increasingly one-sided following the Seahawks\u2019 9-0 half-time lead. The Eagles offensive tackle said it would be \u201cawesome\u201d to have another countryman with a ring. \u201cI hope he does man, kudos to more from Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dickson was impressive in his seven punts, which averaged almost 48 yards. One precise kick in the second quarter left New England starting possession off their own line, and the Australian delivered two other late highlights including a punt that came to rest one yard from the endzone.<\/p>\n
The former Sydney Swans academy member has been recognised before, including being named in All-Pro first and second-teams across his eight NFL seasons. The four-year contract he penned with the Seahawks last year, at almost $6m per year, made him the NFL\u2019s highest-paid punter.<\/p>\n
But his performance at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara represented his career peak. American commentators raved about his performance, one describing him as \u201cmaybe the best punter in the sport\u201d, and the NFL\u2019s social media accounts posted two of Dickson\u2019s punts. He was also the holder for placekicker Jason Myers\u2019s five field goals.<\/p>\n
Some social media users declared Dickson\u2019s performance warranted the match\u2019s MVP award. Though largely tongue-in-cheek, the suggestion was not out of the question given the Australian was MVP for the Texas Bowl in 2017 while playing in college.<\/p>\n
The MVP award was ultimately given to Seattle running back Kenneth Walker, but Dickson\u2019s success marks the high point for Australia\u2019s long tradition of NFL punters since ex-AFL player Darren Bennett was a standout for the San Diego Chargers.<\/p>\n
Australian punters are increasingly common in college ranks, and many have found NFL success in recent years including Mitch Wishnowsky who made his name in San Francisco before moving to Buffalo this season and helping the Bills to the playoffs.<\/p>\n
In addition to Mailata and Dickson\u2019s triumphs, Jesse Williams also has a Super Bowl ring from the Seahawks\u2019 other title 12 years ago, but didn\u2019t play a match in the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Dickson may be the toast of Seattle, sitting on the throne of American sport, but Australia\u2019s second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-281867","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}