Michael Dickson — who went from being an aspiring Australian rules footballer to becoming the highest-paid punter in the NFL — has claimed Super Bowl glory as part of the winning Seattle Seahawks team.
Sydney-born Dickson was overlooked in the 2014 AFL draft when he was 18. From that point on, he was set on a different kind of football journey.
The Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13 during Super Bowl 60 in California on Monday.
As part of the winning team, Dickson has become just the second Australian to play in a Super Bowl and win, and the third Australian to win a Super Bowl overall.
Sydney's Jordan Mailata won last year playing for the Philadelphia Eagles, while in 2014, Jesse Williams became the first Australian to win a Super Bowl when his Seattle Seahawks team won the title.
Williams did not play in the game because of injury but was still awarded the winner's ring.
In 2015, Dickson moved from Sydney to Melbourne to trial a program called Prokick, where Australians receive coaching to launch into American football. He was soon scouted as a punter by the University of Texas.
The punter position in football receives the snapped ball directly from the line of scrimmage, and then kicks the football to the opposing team.
Outstanding performances for the University of Texas Longhorns team led to him being drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in 2018.
When did Dickson make his NFL debut?
Dickson made his debut during the season opener against the Denver Broncos. By week 8, he made an unconventional game-winning move against the Detroit Lions, when he ran the ball, an unusual move for a punter. Dickson's bold move was labelled "the Aussie sweep."
Although Dickson had defied his instructions, then-coach Pete Caroll said: "That's going to be my favourite play for a while."
In 2021, Dickson punted the ball 83 times for 3,895 yards during the 2021 season, an average of 46.9 yards per punt — a career high. That same year, he made 40 punts inside the opponents' 20-yard line, the most in the league that season, and the 10th most in a single season in NFL history.
Last year, Dickson signed a four-year contract extension with the Seahawks for US$16.2 million ($23.1 million) — making him the highest-paid punter in the NFL's history.
The 2026 Super Bowl marked a career high for Dickson, playing in it for the first time.
The Super Bowl is America's most-viewed television broadcast. A record 127.7 million Americans tuned in to watch the 2025 game, eclipsing the estimated 123 million viewership a year earlier.
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