THE AFL draft camp has come and gone, trade week is upon us, the draft follows soon and with it, an inkling of the way the game will be five years hence.

Imagine if this curriculum vitae turned up: "Upside: Fast, strong, brave, poised, steely nerve, proven temperament, reads play beautifully, sure handling, decent kick. Downside: already 25, only 178 centimetres, never handballs."

Watching the National Rugby League grand final, two thoughts recurred constantly. One was "ouch". The other was that Billy Slater would, with a bit of tuition, make a hell of an AFL footballer. So, for that matter, would Greg Inglis: "21 years old. 196 centimetres, 100 kilograms, quick, athletic, courageous, big leap, able to kick on both feet." So would Israel Folau: "19 years old, 195 centimetres, 93 kilograms, etc …"

It won't happen. It can't happen. For one, accomplishments in one code are no guarantee of success in another. For another, Slater and Inglis are under contract. Folau is switching to Brisbane, but the Broncos, not the Lions.

It won't and can't happen — yet. The football landscape is changing seismically. The codes are invading each other's territories as never before, each fearful that if it does not lead the rush, it will be trampled by it.

Some friction is inevitable. So is some cross-pollination. For years, some have said that the Swans play rugby league. Watching the Storm — Slater's marking, Inglis' kicking, for instance — it was easy to see an AFL influence. Both observations are simplifications, of course. But they contain truths.

It is not so surprising. Fans turn their noses up at one another's codes, claiming superiority for their own and at least incomprehension of, often disdain for, all others. Players mostly are more sanguine. Exposed for any length of time to another code, they become admirers. A born footballer is a born footballer.

In the reshaped football world, all codes are scrambling for players from a common pool. Increasingly, as the premium on athleticism grows, all are looking for similar body types and skill sets. Mostly, this battle takes place at the bottom end, in the juniors. Kieren Jack and Tom Williams, both from rugby league backgrounds, already have appeared in the AFL. League great Laurie Daley played AFL as a junior and, in different circumstances, might have had an equally great career in the indigenous game.

There is no reason why, in time, there cannot be competition for players at the elite level. Nor why codes will not seek to poach from the top as well as the bottom. Already, there is much traffic between league and union, lifting salaries, sometimes causing aggravation.

Australian football is a different proposition, as is soccer. But not impossibly so. At the start of the Irish experiment 30 years ago, Ron Barassi was thought to be a crackpot. Now look at how many Gaelic footballers have learned the Australian game well enough to play it at the highest level. One won a Brownlow, another cannot have been far away from a Norm Smith. Neither of them could handball to begin with.

Globalisation dissolves borders and boundaries, too. Of course, it will take a gambler or a visionary to make the first move, or simply another crackpot, the next Sheedy? But it can and will happen. This Billy Slater won't play AFL, but the next might. For that matter, the next Wayne Carey or Paul Kelly, from border football country in southern NSW, might play NRL. Or — don't forget — the A-League.

As entertaining, if idle, is the thought of Slater on a half-back flank for Collingwood, it has to be matched by Luke Hodge at five-eighth for the Storm, or Lance Franklin on the wing for league's Kangaroos.

Trade week is all about getting the deal done. How about this one: Luke Hodge to Cricket Australia (he was an under-17 star at cricket), Andrew Symonds (once sought by the Broncos, no longer wanted by Cricket Australia) to St George, Wendell Sailor to Sydney (he's switched codes twice before), Ryan O'Keefe to Storm (he gets to come home), Billy Slater to Hawthorn (we get to see him play AFL).