THE coach of the Chinese AFL team came to see me. By name Darryl Hoffman, he seemed a decent bloke. The Chinese want to compete at the AFL's International Cup later this year and need $100,000 in funding.

Seems the team has a former shot putter at full-back who has come down from 140 kilograms and answers to the name of Plugger. They've got a 197-centimetre ruckman who answers to the name of Lurch.

Apparently, The Addams Family hasn't made it to Chinese television. If it ever does, it will be interesting to know if the Chinese ruckman has got an Australian sense of humour.

And they've got a half-back flanker from Inner Mongolia, a flash character who is loud in his views. He was given a video of a Dogs game to watch by the team management. He came back saying he didn't like the little guy with the white hair and the black beard.

We all know who that was. He described Aka by using a term employed by Chinese taxi drivers in thick traffic that translates roughly as smart-arse.

To me, Aka's like a character out of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. You can just see him as a street urchin running messages for Fagin.

But what makes Aka different from the other urchins is that he runs a lot faster. I further fancy that Aka and Fagin would soon have fallen out because Aka thinks for himself. That's how he has survived and prospered. Quick legs, quick wits.

My first memories of Aka are of him going toe-to-toe with a little bald Irishman in an international series a decade ago. The Irishman was famously skilful in the Irish version of the game — more skilful, I suspect, than Aka with a round ball since so much of Aka's skill is to do with our odd-shaped ball.

My second memory of Aka is as a back-pocket who came out of the Brisbane defence like a man with a rocket in his pants. It was as if they had put him as far away from the goals as they could and he was intent on showing he could still kick them.

Then, of course, he was part of the Fab Four, Brisbane's fabled midfield, three of whom were Brownlow medallists. Aka won his in 2001. I well remember his comment at the time. "Fair dinkum," he said, "I'd have to be the ugliest bloke to have ever won the Brownlow".

Well, yes, probably. Then Aka started saying a lot of things publicly about the club and it seemed like he seriously ran out of friends but he was still grinning and unrepentant.

And so he came to the Dogs. It seems he had a tense first year with his new teammates, but things look better now. Certainly, Aka's form is better. Last year, to be frank, I thought he was finished. His legs looked heavy, the fine edge to his play blurred. Now he's setting the place alight again.

The Dogs' style suits him since they are trained to look for small forwards, not having any big ones. They think more like soccer strikers, opening defences, running through. Aka's finesse as a finisher puts him in the top handful in the league.

I went to Saturday's game between the Dogs and Brisbane Lions at the 'G and sat on the fence, as is my habit, to get as close as I could to the play.

An Aka moment happened about 20 metres from where I sat. It was an early touch, possibly his first of the game. He took the ball at his feet and basically, in the same motion, curved a 20-metre pass at 90 degrees to the direction he was running, which hit the chest of a waiting teammate.

An instant was all he had to conceive and execute the move, since a Brisbane defender was upon and above him like a great avenging wave. It was a breathtaking piece of play.

The Dogs are a chance this year. They've recruited well. They lack a power forward, none are on the market or none they can afford, so they got Scottie Welsh. He's one class down from a power forward — a strong forward. It's the difference between a truck and a ute.

He will never control a game but he surprises you by the number of times he bobs up with the ball. From Adelaide, they also got ruckman Ben Hudson, who has a head like a 1890s bushie. His build is not what you would call athletic, but in spirit he's a Bulldog.

Huddo is teamed with Will Minson. Big Will, as he is known to all, is like something out of Robin Hood, a cross between Will Scarlett the minstrel and Little John the enforcer. The Dogs have suddenly got two of the best crash-and-bash ruckmen in the business. Suddenly, any team coming up against them knows it will meet a constant aggressive presence in the middle of the field for the whole day.

The Dogs also have a crop of young talent that's chosen to blossom at once. Adam Cooney now has his own sound, a sort of low crowd whistle. When he gets the ball, the Bulldog fan moans: "Coooooo."

Cooney used to look like a young punk rocker with his range of hair colours and styles. He's now settled on his native colour (ginger), mown his hair short and become a father. Suddenly, there's a keen, hard edge to his extremely skilful game. He is third favourite in Brownlow calculations. Aka is fourth.

The Bulldog I most enjoy watching is Cooney's young fellow South Australian, Ryan Griffen. Griffen has the awkward shuffling gait of a farm boy. He even shuffles when he runs — short steps, at blurring speed. In his approach to the ball, he is totally open.

He finds ways to win possession that require both thought and skill, which is clear to the onlooker. When he joins the line in the Bulldog attacks, there is immediate authority in what he does. Then, in the moment when he kicks the ball, you see he's all class.

On Monday, Aka said the Dogs were more skilful than the Brisbane team with which he won three premierships. Provocative? Extremely.

There's usually a logic to what Aka says and I would like to hear him expand on the idea, but I also think I know what the half-back flanker from Inner Mongolia would say.