A CONVERSATION about the AFL between two English brothers in a Nottingham hospital room was the unlikely catalyst that drastically altered the course of their lives.

That chat saw both of them eventually settle in Melbourne and the eldest, Luke Matias, is playing in his fifth AFL International Cup as a midfielder-forward with the Great Britain Bulldogs.

"We live in the best city in the world, play football, have businesses and families and great lives and it's all because of Australian Football," Matias said.

Matias was a 21-year-old soccer goalkeeper and university student in Manchester when his younger brother Paul, an elite ice hockey player who had represented the United Kingdom, was introduced to Aussie Rules when a coach decided to use the game for off-season fitness.

"Paul gave me a call one day and said, 'Luke, I've finally found a game we can play together'. He told me I had to try this game called Australian Rules Football," Matias said.

"I headed down on the train from Manchester to Nottingham one night and that day Paul was in a bad car accident on his moped that seriously injured his legs and hips.

"I rocked up to the hospital late that evening and he was in braces and on morphine and he looked at me and said, 'What are you doing here? You should go to training, you'll love this game'. That moment changed my life."

It was 18 months after the hospital chat that Matias came to Melbourne, in 2005, to play in the inaugural AFL International Cup. Planning to be home for Christmas, he took a couple of phone calls from football clubs while on a sightseeing trip up Australia's east coast following the carnival.

After a pre-season with VFL club Port Melbourne, he eventually landed at VAFA club Caulfield Grammarians, for whom he has played since 2006 while gravitating from a personal trainer to a business in finance.

"I was enjoying sport (in the UK) and didn't think I was looking for the next challenge. But looking back, I probably was and this came along at the right time. It was exactly what I needed," Matias said.

"I remember late one afternoon walking across the bridge in Swanston Street [in the Melbourne CBD], looking up the Yarra River and seeing that glow of Melbourne and thinking, ‘Wow, I've got to stay here. This is me. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I've got to stay here'.

"It's incredible looking back and reflecting on that conversation with my younger brother. That inspired me to play, to give it everything and he was always on my back, making sure I was training hard enough."

Paul, who's five years younger, eventually recovered from the motor scooter injuries to play football in Nottingham and his older brother and his wife helped him move to Australia in 2012.

"It took him a couple of years, but he got back to playing football. When I went back in 2008 for a holiday, we actually played a game together. And there was a beautiful moment where I roved the ball and kicked it up to him and he kicked the goal. It was one of those memories I will always cherish," Matias said.

The long-serving Caulfield Grammarian has taken time away from his adopted to be a mainstay of the Bulldogs' campaign.

"I'm sure they're loving not hearing the Pommy voice in the change rooms. They know how important this is to me."