For most AFL players, being delisted can signal the end of a professional football career. For Arryn Siposs, it was the beginning of an extraordinary second act.
St Kilda's decision to cut Siposs after five seasons and 28 games could have marked the end of his playing career. Instead, it sent him down a path from the Saints to American college football, the NFL and, eventually, a Super Bowl.
"The career ended with the Saints, and I didn't get another look, but I still wanted to play professionally somewhere, and I thought college football, the NFL, was the way to go," he told Zero Hanger.
Siposs' biggest weapon was his kicking, which had long made him an attractive prospect in Australian football.
"I always had mates think that, and coaches say to me along the way that, from a football point of view, to get the ball in my hands because I'm able to use my leg really well and break the bubble on defences," he said.
"I built it from there, and I'd always had a long kick and a big kick from a young age, and was able to continue that through adulthood."
But how does it translate to the NFL?
"It was probably the ability to be able to have a long kick that was my advantage when I was playing AFL, and I thought I was able to kick it reasonably long and reasonably high with a bit of accuracy as well," he said.
"I started seeing other people starting to make the transition over, not necessarily playing the highest level from an AFL point of view, but transitioning from AFL to NFL."
Siposs joined ProKick Australia, the punting program founded by former AFL player Nathan Chapman, and spent 12 months refining his technique before making the move to the United States.
"That's the program that I went through after football finished up," he said.
"Their program is just purely designed to give the kids a chance to be able to transition from AFL footballer to go and have a chance to play college football over in America.
"You work on technique and different ways to go about kicking a ball, even learning the game a little bit... the 12-month program before moving over to America."
Siposs signed with Auburn University in 2018, punting for the college and studying exercise science and teaching as a full-time student.
But his focus was learning all the tricks of punting.
"The ball is a lot smaller, so the sweet spot for it isn't as much as the AFL ball, and you really had to be nice and calm with your hands and keep the ball really still and in line with your kicking leg to make sure that you're able to execute," Siposs said.
"So the ball's naturally held up a little bit higher. We're obviously used to, from an AFL point of view, having the ball nice and low because we're trying to penetrate and be really flat with our kicks.
"But every single time you're trying to get hang time and distance there, so therefore the ball has to be out a little bit higher, a little bit further, and consistently being really good with your hands in getting it into the same spot. So, look, it's quite repetitive. That's the reality behind it. But we need to be able to do that over and over and over again to execute our job, just three or four times that we have when it's game day."
Siposs reflected on his first punt for Auburn after awaiting his opportunity on the sidelines.
"I remember it very, very clearly. I didn't actually have the first punt for our game. The other guy had an opportunity to do so, and it didn't work out too well for him," he said.
"So then I was the next man up, and yeah, I hit a nice little ball that went about 47 yards. I was very, very happy with it and I guess the rest is history."
It's been a dream debut for Aussie punter Arryn Siposs who has wow'd #NFL fans earlier this morning. The former @AFL forward for @stkildafc showed off his cannon leg for the @Eagles in their big Week 1 win over the @AtlantaFalcons.
@Sippa02 | #FlyEaglesFly | @ProkickAus 🇦🇺🏈 pic.twitter.com/lW37SJOv6s
— NFL Australia & NZ (@NFLAUNZ) September 12, 2021
The history Siposs is referring to is his journey to the NFL, signing with the Detroit Lions as an undrafted free agent in April 2020.
"I wasn't drafted, but the way the system works over there is that if you don't get drafted, there's still an opportunity to sign with the team straight away," he said.
"And I was fortunate enough to do that with the Detroit Lions, and it's very businesslike and obviously quite professional. And everybody knows that at any given moment, they could be a phone call away from unfortunately not being in an organisation anymore, and that's the reality behind it.
"But at the same time, guys are quite determined and use that as motivation to be able to get the best out of themselves, and that's the situation that I was in. I was super excited by the opportunity. Maybe a little bit naive, but maybe that kind of helped me in a way to stay on the Detroit practice squad for a year and then make my way to Philadelphia.
"I spent a year on the practice squad, which is essentially like a rookie spot or the old rookie spots on the AFL list. If the starting guy got injured, then I was the next man up to be able to do it.
"I was very, very fortunate to spend a year in the system, even though not playing, and really got to up my skills, learn a lot more about the game, and then it just put me in good stead to move over to Philadelphia three or four days after the season had finished with Detroit."
And Philadelphia was where Siposs made his mark.
He recorded 55 punts for 2,416 yards for a 43.93 average in his first season (2021) with the Eagles.
"It was a good one (against the Atlanta Falcons)," Siposs reflected on his first NFL punt.
"I had the ball probably about 55 yards away from our end zone, and hit a nice high drop punt and put it on the left-hand side there. And our guys got there down there and made a tackle, made a play at the seven-yard line. It was a nice old punt to start with, and ended up having a pretty solid game."
By 2023, Siposs had gone from being delisted by St Kilda to standing on the biggest stage in American football.
He had recovered from an ankle injury in time to play in Super Bowl LVII against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Then, late in the game, came the moment he would rather forget — a botched punt that became one of the defining images of Philadelphia's loss.
It was one of the plays that shaped the Super Bowl...#Eagles punter Arryn Siposs takes us through *that* punt.#SuperBowl #NFL #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/rhD3goQCqe
— SEN 1116 (@1116sen) February 21, 2023
Siposs wanted to remain at the Eagles but ultimately returned to Australia, and signed with Hawthorn as a development coach.
Now, he's working full-time at ProKick, helping the next generation live out their American-NFL dream.
"I'm coaching the next generation coming through, which has been really, really exciting, and there's a lot of talent there, so it certainly makes my life easier to kind of play that mentor role and help out wherever I can," he said.
"I think there's certainly a knack for it, which is great. We've still got guys that are down there that are wanting to transition after a couple of years of being in the system and not getting an opportunity.
"Now that the American game is certainly more on the map from a punting point of view, and Australia's doing so well over there, it's naturally led to the want to be able to do it, which is exciting. So I'm hoping that trend continues, and I can be an advocate for it."
From an AFL delisting to the NFL and a Super Bowl, Siposs' career took him much further than he could have expected when his time at St Kilda came to an end.
Now, he's helping the next generation find out just how far a football can travel.
