Sav Rocca Story

Want to make sure the Aussies don't miss this long Sav Rocca profile in today's Daily News:

Rocca didn't drag his family 10,000 miles from his homeland for a free trip to Hawaii. The Pro Bowl would be nice, but . . .

"I want to win a championship. I want a ring. No one from Australia's done that before," Rocca said.

In fact, the main reason Rocca isn't lounging on the 200-acre property he owns with his brother 2 hours north of his native Melbourne is, despite his 748 goals in the Australian Football League, he never won the big one. Or even the medium-big one.

"That was my goal in Australia: to play in the championship," Rocca said. "I played in three postseason games and we lost all of them. I've still yet to experience a winning postseason game."

And:

He has had much to learn: catching snaps; recognizing keys on the line; different kicks in different situations; cutting his time from catch to kick from 1.5 seconds to an acceptable 1.3 seconds; recognizing what defenses are trying to do, such as, if only one blocker is lined up wide on each side, he knows the other team is rushing eight, so he will have less time.

Sav is getting pretty savvy.

He can sometimes see the returner cheating forward, so he'll sacrifice hang time for distance and try to drive his punt over the returner's head.

Sure, he can pound one 70 yards . . . but sometimes those maximum-effort shots misfire and only go 30 yards. Instead, he tries for a 50-yarder with 4.7-second hang time and puts his faith in the coverage team.

"I can land the ball within a 5-yard circle," said Rocca, once known for 60-yard scoring kicks.